A red state community bet on carbon capture. Trump is blocking it

Source: The Detroit News/Washington Post

Sept. 2, 2025, 3:15 p.m. ET


The Trump administration’s zeal to eviscerate incentives to reduce global warming has swept up a community in deep red Indiana, where supporters of the president say his targeting of a local cement factory is hurting the region and an entire industry.

The Heidelberg plant in the town of Mitchell was meant to be a model for the world, a place where the United States could take the lead in cutting carbon dioxide emissions from cement manufacturing - an increasingly urgent goal for construction projects. Yet the administration’s cancellation of the $500 million grant for machinery to trap and bury the plant’s greenhouse gasleft the staunchly Republican community stunned and cement industry officials questioning if the U.S. will be equipped to keep up with a fast-evolving global marketplace.

“This was going to be a demonstration project for the entire country,” said Don Caudell, the Republican mayor of Mitchell, with a population of 4,000. “Part of what is disheartening for us is so much had already been done and spent on this project, and now it has all come to a halt.”

The demand for lower-carbon cement is surging, as regulators in the states and other countries mandate cleaner products. Cement is one of the most carbon-intensive products, creating as much as 8 percent of the planet’s greenhouse gas.

Read more: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2025/09/02/a-red-state-community-bet-on-carbon-capture-trump-is-blocking-it/85943967007/