HOLYOKE — In June, officials at Sublime Systems said they hoped to reverse the Trump administration’s decision to cancel an $87 million award for a low-carbon cement plant on Water Street.
Plans to keep that project on track skidded to a halt Friday, though, when Sublime Systems said that without the grant, which was to fund 50% of the plant project, it was pausing work in Holyoke, and cutting its workforce by 10%.
“We are actively working through a robust set of alternative scale-up plans and have several exciting options to bring our first commercial plant online,” Sublime Systems said, adding that it was continuing federal talks “to demonstrate how scaling our efficient, next-generation cement technology will onshore manufacturing of a critical building material, reducing our reliance on imports and increasing quality jobs for Americans.”
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright rescinded 24 grants totaling $3.7 billion in awards issued by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations on May 30. The money for Sublime had come as part of $6 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
Based in Somerville and founded in 2020 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Leah Ellis and Yet-Ming Chiang, Sublime Systems had suggested in the days following that decision that even with the grant lost, it could have the Holyoke plant open by 2028, though the company cautioned then that it was reviewing backup options.
Sublime signed a lease-to-own agreement for a 16-acre former industrial property on Water Street in January 2024. The company, with a fossil-fuel-free, low-carbon alternative to traditional cement, is already running a pilot plant in Somerville producing up to 250 metric tons of cement year.
U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey said the project would have created hundreds of union construction jobs and more than 70 full-time jobs, “all while cornering the market on the next generation of clean cement technology.”
Knocking “illegal cuts to federal grant funds that were rightfully awarded following a rigorous review process,” Markey said, “Sublime Systems and the city of Holyoke did their part to bring forward a top-tier project. The Trump administration sold them out and betrayed the workers of Massachusetts.”
In its statement detailing its pause, the company added, “it has been an immense honor to work alongside our talented team members, the Holyoke community and local policymakers as we developed our demonstration project in a city with a rich industrial legacy, and we recognize the pain and challenges that this shift of direction will cause.”
U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal criticized the rescinding of the grant in June, calling it “deeply irresponsible” and “a betrayal of American innovation, workers and the fight against climate change.
“Scrapping funding for projects for innovators like Sublime Systems in Holyoke undercuts years of progress in decarbonizing heavy industry, and it jeopardizes good-paying jobs and economic development in communities that need it most,” Neal said.
Markey, a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Environment and Public Works Committees, pledged to help Sublime and Holyoke officials.
“I will continue to work with Sublime and leaders in Holyoke to pursue opportunities for the future,” Markey said. “America deserves a President committed to doing the same.”
In October, Markey led the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation in writing a letter to Wright, the energy secretary, demanding answers about the list of Department of Energy grant cancellations attributed to Massachusetts companies and organizations, and in August he also led his colleagues in writing to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, detailing how the Trump administration has increased energy costs for families and calling on the Trump administration to take immediate action that will actually support energy affordability in New England and across the country.
Material from the Statehouse News Service was used in this report.