The Middletown Works steel plant will receive a federal grant of
up to $500 million to replace its coal-burning blast furnace to a hybrid unit
that burns hydrogen and natural gas, a project that is expected to create 1,200
construction jobs and dramatically reduce carbon emissions.
Energy Secretary Jennifer
Granholm will unveil the awards
during a visit to a Cleveland-Cliffs Steel Corp facility in Middletown, Ohio,
which will receive up to $500 million to install two new electric arc furnaces
and hydrogen-based technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 million
tons.
Granholm said the initiative, the single largest industrial
decarbonization investment in U.S. history, would leverage a total of $20
billion, including the companies' share of the costs. Together, the projects
are expected to eliminate 14 million metric tons of pollution each year,
equivalent to taking some 3 million gas-powered vehicles off the road, she
said.
The Portland Cement Association, an industry group, said the
funding "is a welcome acknowledgement from the government that America’s
cement manufacturers are taking ambitious and significant steps toward reaching
carbon neutrality."
Manufacturing of construction materials is a significant source
of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Production of cement, the main
ingredient of concrete, accounted for 7% of global CO2 emissions in 2019, the
International Energy Agency estimates.
The awards come as President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection
campaign kicks into high gear, with the Democratic president and other key
officials traveling to battleground political states to tout the
administration's economic policies and job creation.
Granholm said the projects would slash emissions from industries
such as iron and steel, cement, concrete, aluminum, chemicals, food and
beverages, pulp and paper, which account for about a third of U.S. carbon
emissions.
Century Aluminum will receive up to $500 million to build the
first new U.S. primary aluminum smelter in 45 years in the Mississippi River
basin. The project will double the size of the current U.S. primary aluminum
industry and avoid 75% of emissions from a traditional smelter.
The United States was the leading primary aluminum producer in
the world in 2000 but is now ninth with four U.S. smelters in operation, down
from 23 in 1993, said energy group SAFE.
"A new domestic smelter puts the U.S. back in the game and
reverses our dangerous, decades-long decline in primary aluminum
production," said 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 facility to use approximately 100,000 tons of CO2 annually to produce key
components of electrolyte solutions needed for electric vehicle batteries,
while Kraft Heinz will get up to $170.9 million to upgrade and decarbonize
operations at 10 facilities, reducing annual emissions by more than 300,000
tons of carbon dioxide annually.
ExxonMobil won a $331.9 million award to enable the use of
hydrogen in place of natural gas for ethylene production in Baytown, Texas for
the key chemical feedstock in textiles, synthetic rubbers, and plastic resins.
The Energy Department said nearly 80% of the projects are in
disadvantaged communities that had experienced years of divestment.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing
by Sonali Paul)
Roberts revealed what happened after Utah lost to
Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAAs on Monday night.
Roberts didn’t go into detail but said there were several incidents that
happened last Thursday night after the team arrived in the area for the
tournament and were disturbing to the traveling party to the point there were concerns
about safety.
Utah was staying about 30 miles away in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho,
and was relocated to a different hotel on Friday.
“We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes
toward our program and (it was) incredibly upsetting for all of us,” Roberts
said. “In our world, in athletics and in university settings, it’s shocking.
There’s so much diversity on a college campus and so you’re just not exposed to
that very often.”
Utah, South Dakota State and UC Irvine were all staying at
hotels in Idaho even with
Gonzaga as the host school because of a lack of hotel space in
the Spokane area. Several years ago, the city was announced as a host for the
first and second rounds of the men’s NCAA Tournament and there was also a large
regional youth volleyball tournament in the area during the weekend.
That left limited hotel space and Gonzaga received a waiver from
the NCAA to allow teams to be housed in Coeur d’Alene.
“Racism is real and it happens, and it’s awful. So for our
players, whether they are white, black, green, whatever, no one knew how to
handle it and it was really upsetting,” Roberts said. “For our players and staff
to not feel safe in an NCAA Tournament environment, it’s messed up.”
Roberts said the NCAA and Gonzaga worked to move the team after
the first night.
“It was a distraction and upsetting and unfortunate. This should
be a positive for everybody involved. This should be a joyous time for our
program and to have kind of a black eye on the experience is unfortunate,”
Roberts said.
Gonzaga issued a statement after Roberts finished speaking
saying that the first priority is the safety and welfare of everyone participating
in the event.
“We are frustrated and deeply saddened to know what should
always be an amazing visitor and championship experience was in any way
compromised by this situation for it in no way reflects the values, standards
and beliefs to which we at Gonzaga University hold ourselves accountable,” the
statement said.
Far-right
extremists have made a presence in the region. In 2018, at
least nine hate groups operated in the region of Spokane and northern Idaho,
including Identity Evropa, Proud Boys, ACT for America and America’s Promise
Ministries, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
But with all this art comes many, many haters. Though the
documentary dropped at the end of last month, TikTok users have flooded the
algorithm in recent days with criticisms of the pop star, labeling her work as "creative
narcissism" and pouncing on her perceived callousness.
They accused her of inauthenticity in
her documentary, a failed attempt at relatability. They're also resurfacing old
interviews she's done and tearing her quotes to shreds.
"People weren’t loving her even before all this
anyway," one TikTok user wrote. Another added: "People are done with
all stars!"
Watching rich
and famous people crumble is an appetizing pastime for many –
particularly when it comes to reality TV, or in Lopez's case, this documentary.
But the lampooning of JLo may say more about us than it does
about her.