Eastman Chemical’s US$375M DOE grant for US$1.2B Longview, Texas, recycling plant remains under federal review, with construction set to create 1,000 temporary, 200 permanent jobs; funding for local community benefits, DEI initiatives remains uncertain

May 27, 2025 (Marshall News Messenger) –

Eastman Chemical Co's first quarter earnings call offered clues as to the status of a $375 million Department of Energy grant that was placed under review earlier this year, complicating expansion plans at the company's Longview-area plant.

On a late April call, Eastman executives signaled optimism about still receiving the grant.

The funding was awarded to Eastman in spring 2024 to facilitate the construction of a molecular recycling plant that would melt discarded plastic down for reuse using a patented process.

"We feel very good about where we are with the DOE ," Eastman CEO Mark Costa said on the cal. "They have been highly engaged with us. We think that we've got a good relationship there, and we think that our project actually holds up well in the way President Trump thinks about U.S. manufacturing."

Costa said the Longview-area plant has received grant funding disbursements for Q4 2024 as well as Q1 of 2025.

Earlier this year, two Trump administration executive orders targeting green energy projects and DEI initiatives appeared to put the funding in jeopardy by placing the awards under "review."

A much smaller fraction of the award was set aside for what's called a Community Benefits Plan (CBP), which was supposed to fund an ambitious social services nonprofit in South Longview, encourage diverse hiring and training practices, and invest in a part of the city most affected by the plant's harmful air pollution.

The earnings call did not address the CBP funding. Eastman did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the status of the benefits plan.

Costa went on to say that the molecular recycling plant aligned with the Trump administration's strategic goals in a number of ways, from "onshoring" plastic manufacturing jobs in the U.S. , which have moved to Asia , to supplying local manufacturers with plastic products and reducing plastic waste.

As the News-Journal previously reported, environmental advocates have vehemently disputed molecular recycling's value as a safe and effective way to manage plastic pollution. Still, the $1.2 billion plant expansion was considered an economic windfall for the Longview area.

Several local tax incentives were given to the company to secure the investment, which is projected to create 1,000 temporary jobs during construction and 200 permanent, full-time jobs after completion.

Most questions during the earnings call focused on how the Trump administration's tariffs are impacting the company's revenue and supply chains.

Costa said Eastman expects a $30 million impact in Q2 from the tariffs, though that was before the recent meeting between U.S. and Chinese trade officials. The high-level talks resulted in a 90-day rollback of tariffs from both parties to roughly the same levels seen before the escalation in trade tensions, PBS reported.

"Honestly, with all these uncertainties around tariffs and where they may negotiate, it's hard to predict what this impact is in the back half of the year," Costa said.