Here are the worst of the worst climate polluters in 2022

EPA’s annual greenhouse gas report for large emitters shows some facilities slashed their emissions while others polluted more than ever.

The U.S. Steel Corporation Gary Works, Tennessee St. gate, in Gary, Indiana, in September. The Gary Works was the largest greenhouse gas emitting iron and steel plant in the U.S. in 2022 with 10.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Credit: Vincent D. Johnson / for Inside Climate News
The U.S. Steel Corporation Gary Works, Tennessee St. gate, in Gary, Indiana, in September. The Gary Works was the largest greenhouse gas-emitting iron and steel plant in the U.S. in 2022 with 10.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Photo credit: Vincent D. Johnson / for Inside Climate News


By Phil McKenna, Inside Climate News October 29, 2023

Emissions from the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the U.S. were down slightly in 2022, but thousands of industrial facilities with substantial emissions remain, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently released Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program data.

Emissions from large industrial sources decreased by approximately 1 percent to 2.7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022, according to the annual update of emissions data released on Oct.  5. The data represents emissions from 7,586 industrial facilities across nearly all sectors of the economy and represents about half of all U.S. emissions.

An Inside Climate News analysis of the data highlights the top 10 greenhouse gas emitters as well as the top emitter for each of six leading greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride, the world’s most potent greenhouse gas. 

Related

The assessment also identified top emitters of CO2 and methane, the two leading drivers of climate change,  from each of several significant sectors of the economy for greenhouse gas emissions—refineries, steel mills, liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals, and underground gas storage facilities. 

Some of the country’s largest climate polluters slashed their emissions in 2022 or said they are in the process of doing so, either voluntarily or by government mandate.

Moving off this year’s list was an underground natural gas storage facility, the Petal Gas Storage Compressor Station in Petal, Mississippi,  a once-leading climate polluter that reduced its methane emissions by 91 percent from 2018 to 2022 and is no longer the highest emitter among gas storage sites. Other industrial facilities remained top polluters in 2022 but said they have reduced or will reduce, their emissions by 99 percent or more by the end of this year. Still, others reported their highest emissions yet in 2022.  

Click for two ‘worst’ lists

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Appalachian hydrogen hub companies and projects finally revealed

By ANYA LITVAK, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After more than a year of speculation, the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub finally lifted the cloak and named names.

The mammoth consortium that has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for up to $925 million in funding to establish a hub for methane-derived hydrogen production and use, includes 15 projects and more than a dozen companies. 

Shawn Bennett, energy and resilience division manager at Battelle, and a former DOE assistant secretary, said he’s never been involved in anything this big. What some have derided as a lack of transparency has been a mad-dash, super-competitive process that’s still not over, he said. Negotiations with DOE are slated to last the next few months until the award is secured.

Still, “the cloak of competition has been removed,” said Melanie White, director of strategic engagement with Allegheny Science and Technology who is leading community engagement efforts for the hub. 

Ms. White and Mr. Bennett unveiled the projects at a DOE-run public webinar. 

The map they presented on Tuesday was different from the one Mr. Bennett showed during a presentation at an oil and gas industry conference, Shale Insight, last month. Most notably, it included the names of the companies and which projects they were developing. It also slimmed down its Pennsylvania inventory.

The map shows two dots in the Keystone State: one, in Fayette County, is EQT’s planned natural gas-derived hydrogen facility that would turn some of it into aviation fuel and sell the rest to Air Liquide, a French chemical company that plans to turn hydrogen into ground transportation fuel. The other is KeyState Zero’s project in Clinton County. This expanding effort has been in the works for years. It aims to marry onsite gas drilling with hydrogen, ammonia, and urea production and carbon sequestration.

Read the full story here

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Hydrogen Storage, Distribution, and Transportation: Developments in Hydrogen Carriers

Hydrogen Carriers


By Clare Frederick, Jason A. Engel of K&L Gates

According to the joint EPO-IEA report summarizing patent trends in the hydrogen economy  (summarized here), technologies related to storage, distribution, and transportation of hydrogen are among the most critical challenges for large-scale deployment. Standardized infrastructure for hydrogen trade is essential to allow the market to function and flow.

While trends show that established technologies have generated high levels of patent-related activities, emerging technologies such as the use of hydrogen carriers are key to encouraging widespread hydrogen distribution systems. Patent filings in the fields of liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) and ammonia cracking, two example hydrogen carriers discussed below, have increased since 2011.

Conventional storage and transportation of hydrogen relies on liquid-compressed hydrogen, which is stored at either extremely high pressures or extremely low temperatures. LOHCs and ammonia cracking enable hydrogen to bond with a stabilized carrier, which allows for safer and more economical transportation. The two examples below illustrate the types of improvements that have been patented recently.

Ammonia Cracking

Ammonia cracking is the process of using ammonia as an energy carrier for transporting hydrogen. In this process, hydrogen is first produced through means such as electrolysis and then combined with nitrogen extracted from ambient air using an air separator to produce green ammonia, which can be transported using conventional means. Once the green ammonia arrives at its destination, the compound is separated into hydrogen and nitrogen using an ammonia-cracking process.

Topsoe A/S recently received US Patent No. 11,511,991 (‘991 Patent) issued 29 November 2022, entitled “Autothermal Ammonia Cracking Process.” The ‘991 Patent discloses a process for ammonia cracking that reduces or eliminates the need to remove residual nitrogen oxides from the cracked gas.  (NOx), a common byproduct of ammonia cracking, are gases that contribute to air pollution and present health hazards.

Read the full story here

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EPA pours $128M into environmental justice projects

The EPA chose 186 projects led by community groups and local governments and counts several waste and recycling initiatives among its recipients.

Man wearing a suit speaking into a microphone while seated
EPA administrator Michael Regan has named environmental justice an EPA priority, echoing the Biden administration’s calls to fund more environmental justice projects. The EPA recently awarded $128 million in grant funding for such projects. Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images


By Megan Quinn, Senior Reporter, Waste Dive

  • The U.S. EPA has announced about $128 million in funding for 186 different environmental justice projects, including some addressing waste diversion, illegal dumping prevention, and community recycling efforts.
  • Community-based organizations received grants between $150,000 and $500,000 under the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving program. Local governments received up to $1 million as part of the Government-to-Government funding program.
  • Grants will fund projects such as recycling dropoff events in Nashville, Tennessee; anti-dumping initiatives in Memphis, Tennessee, and in New Mexico; an SB 1383-related school food waste diversion education program in California; public permitting outreach efforts in New Jersey and other initiatives, according to a project summary. 

Read the full story here

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Introducing: The NJ-NY, EPA Thriving Communities Tech Center

Do you want to learn how to access and pursue environmental justice funding opportunities, ranging from federal environmental health grants to state workforce development programs and private foundation grants? We can help!

Join WE ACT for Environmental Justice and our partners via Zoom on Monday, October 30 as we launch the New Jersey-New York Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center. The New Jersey-New York “TCTAC” is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy to provide training and other assistance to build capacity for navigating federal grant application systems, writing strong grant proposals, and effectively managing grant funding.

Monday, Oct. 30, 2023
5:30-7:00 PM
Click Here to Register

Our TCTAC also seeks to build power in environmental justice communities and environmental justice organizations in New Jersey and New York, by building networks and partnerships throughout the region.

At the launch event, we’ll discuss:

  • The technical assistance resources the TCTAC can provide to your organization or community
  • Upcoming funding opportunities
  • Our planned environmental justice and federal grants training
  • Our vision for building power across the region

Steering Committee Members:

  • Peggy Shepard, Executive Director, WE ACT for Environmental Justice Alliance
  • Melissa Miles, Executive Director, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance
  • Kim Gaddy, Executive Director, South Ward Environmental Alliance Al Huang, Environmental Justice Director, New York University School of Law Institute for Policy Integrity
  • Michelle Roos, Executive Director, Environmental Protection Network 
  • Abbe Ramanan, Project Director, Clean Energy Group 
  • Sheila Foster, Visiting Professor, Columbia Climate School
  • Yogani Govender, Dean of Science and Technology, Inter-American University of Puerto Rico-Metropolitan Campus

Questions? Contact us at ejtctac@weact.org or visit weact.org/tctac to learn more.

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The role of ISRI specifications in promoting recycled materials trade

By Arnulfo Moreno, ISRI Communications Manager

Recycled material trade flows between the U.S. and Canada were valued at more than $8.4 billion in 2022. ISRI Specifications help facilitate trade in recycled materials by providing a common language for buyers and sellers of recycled commodities including ferrous (iron, steel) and nonferrous metals (aluminum, copper, nickel, magnesium, zinc, etc.), electronics, paper, plastics, glass, tire, and rubber. Widespread adoption of the specifications also plays a key role in increasing the use of high-quality recycled materials within the North American supply chains.

These specifications are derived from many sectors of the metals, paper stock, plastics, glass, and electronics industries and are constructed to represent the quality or composition of the materials bought and sold in the industry. The specifications are internationally accepted and are used throughout the world to trade the commodities.

ISRI is hosting a webinar to provide U.S. and Canadian industry participants, government officials, and other stakeholders with more information about ISRI’s new online resource, and encourage the use of the specifications as a trade promotion tool for recycled materials.

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, at 1 p.m. The webinar is free for members and non-members. Registration required.

Register

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