The Trump administration canceled a $375 million federal grant on May 30 intended for Eastman Chemical Co.’s planned chemical recycling facility in Longview, Texas. The funding cut was part of a broader Department of Energy (DOE) decision to withdraw support from 24 renewable energy and decarbonization projects totaling $3.7 billion.

Originally approved by the Biden administration in March 2024, the Eastman funding came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. DOE officials under President Donald Trump said the projects lacked economic viability and would not advance U.S. energy interests.

Eastman did not comment on how the decision might impact the $1.2 billion facility, which would be the company’s second chemical recycling plant. On an April 25 earnings call, Eastman Chairman and CEO Mark Costa expressed confidence in the project’s future.

“We're not getting an indication that the project is at risk,” Costa said. “We think that our project actually holds up well in the way President Trump thinks about U.S. manufacturing.” He added that the Longview plant aligned with national security priorities, helping to onshore jobs from Asia and produce domestic raw materials for food packaging and medical uses.

The Longview facility would use depolymerization technology to break down plastic waste into virgin-quality materials for packaging and textiles. Eastman said it would process approximately 240 million pounds of plastic waste annually. The company’s first molecular recycling plant operates in Kingsport, Tennessee, where Eastman is headquartered.

A DOE press release did not identify all 24 canceled projects, and department officials declined to respond to media inquiries. However, reports from the Longview News-Journal and NOTUS, a government-focused news site, confirmed Eastman's project was among those losing funding.

In a statement, DOE Secretary Chris Wright criticized the Biden administration's earlier funding decisions. “While the previous administration failed to conduct a thorough financial review before signing away billions of taxpayer dollars, the Trump administration is doing our due diligence,” Wright said. “We are acting in the best interest of the American people by canceling these 24 awards.”

Wright noted that 16 of the 24 projects were approved between Trump’s election in November and his inauguration in January, primarily targeting carbon capture and decarbonization technologies.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy criticized the move, warning it could harm U.S. industrial competitiveness. “Locking domestic plants into outdated technology is not a recipe for future competitiveness,” the organization said.

The cancellation follows the collapse of another major plastics recycling effort—International Recycling Group’s $182 million project in Erie, Pennsylvania—which was scrapped due to financial uncertainty and DOE delays.