"Biden Administration Backs Plastic as Coal Replacement to Make Steel"

"After a Pennsylvania business scored $182.6 million in loan guarantees with promises the project would fight climate change, environmentalists called on Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to change course."

"Jane Williams read the announcement with dismay.

A Pennsylvania company was getting tens of millions of dollars in federal loan guarantees to turn plastic waste into a fuel for steelmaking, claiming the climate would benefit.

“This is one of the craziest ideas I’ve seen,” Williams said of the business plan by Erie-based International Recycling Group. Williams leads the environmental group California Communities Against Toxics, chairs the Sierra Club’s national clean air team and has worked on the technical aspects of environmental regulations for decades. “Have they lost their minds?”

She is among more than 100 representatives of environmental and community groups, including Beyond Plastics, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council, to this week call on U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to reverse the agency’s July decision to commit $186.2 million of Inflation Reduction Act funding to International Recycling Group."

James Bruggers reports for Inside Climate News August 30, 2024.

Source: Inside Climate News, 09/09/2024