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United States awards tape-record $6 bln to back commercial emissions reduction projects

The U.S. Energy Department on Monday announced $6 billion in federal funding to fund 33 industrial jobs in 20 states to cut carbon emissions, saying the investment would support wellpaying union jobs and increase U.S. competitiveness.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will reveal the awards during a check out to a Cleveland-Cliffs Steel Corp facility in Middletown, Ohio, which will receive as much as $500 million to install 2 brand-new electric arc heaters and hydrogen-based technology to minimize greenhouse gas emissions by 1 million loads.

Granholm said the initiative, the single biggest commercial decarbonization financial investment in U.S. history, would take advantage of a. total of $20 billion, including the companies' share of the. expenses. Together, the jobs are anticipated to remove 14. million metric tons of contamination each year, equivalent to taking. some 3 million gas-powered cars off the road, she said.

The Portland Cement Association, an industry group, stated the. moneying is a welcome recognition from the government that. America's cement makers are taking enthusiastic and. significant actions towards reaching carbon neutrality.

Production of construction materials is a substantial. source of international co2 (CO2) emissions. Production of. cement, the primary component of concrete, represented 7% of. worldwide CO2 emissions in 2019, the International Energy Firm. estimates.

The awards come as President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection. project kicks into high equipment, with the Democratic president and. other essential authorities traveling to battleground political states. to tout the administration's financial policies and task development.

Granholm stated the projects would slash emissions from. industries such as iron and steel, cement, concrete, aluminum,. chemicals, food and drinks, pulp and paper, which represent. about a 3rd of U.S. carbon emissions.

Century Aluminum will get up to $500. million to construct the first brand-new U.S. primary aluminum smelter in. 45 years in the Mississippi River basin. The project will double. the size of the present U.S. main aluminum market and avoid. 75% of emissions from a traditional smelter.

The United States was the leading main aluminum manufacturer. on the planet in 2000 but is now ninth with four U.S. smelters in. operation, below 23 in 1993, said energy group SAFE.

A new domestic smelter puts the U.S. back in the game. and reverses our unsafe, decades-long decline in main. aluminum production, stated Joe Quinn, director of the Center for. Strategic Industrial Materials at SAFE.

Dow Chemical will receive up to $95 million for a. U.S. Gulf Coast center to use approximately 100,000 tons of. CO2 every year to produce essential components of electrolyte options. needed for electrical vehicle batteries, while Kraft Heinz. will get up to $170.9 million to decarbonize and update. operations at 10 centers, minimizing annual emissions by more. than 300,000 tons of co2 yearly.

ExxonMobil won a $331.9 million award to enable the. usage of hydrogen in location of gas for ethylene production. in Baytown, Texas for the key chemical feedstock in textiles,. synthetic rubbers, and plastic resins.

The Energy Department stated nearly 80% of the projects are in. disadvantaged neighborhoods that had experienced years of. divestment.

(source: Reuters)