US awards record $6 billion to back industrial emissions reduction projects
TheU.S. Energy Department on Monday announced $6 billion in federal funding to subsidize 33 industrial projects in 20 states to cut carbon emissions, saying the investment would support well-paying union jobs and boost U.S. competitiveness.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will unveil the awards during a visit to a Cleveland-Cliffs Steel Corp (CLF.N), opens new tab 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.
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https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/us-awardsrecord-6-bln-back-industrial-emissions-reduction-projects-2024-03-25/
Biden says federal government will fund Baltimore bridge rebuild
U.S. President Joe Biden pledged that the federal government will pay the full cost to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, one of the nation's busiest arteries that collapsed hours earlier on Tuesday after being struck by a massive freight ship.
“It's my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge and I expect the Congress to support my effort," Biden said, speaking from the White House ahead of a trip to North Carolina.
A massive freight ship stacked high with containers smashed into a bridge while sailing out of Baltimore, Maryland, early on Tuesday, sending cars and people into the river below and closing one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.
US court keeps Texas border security law on hold in win for Biden
A U.S. appeals court has kept on hold a Republicanbacked Texas law that would let state authorities arrest and prosecute people suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border - a statute that President Joe Biden's administration has argued intrudes on the authority of the federalgovernment.
In a 2-1 ruling late on Tuesday, a panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by Texas to let the law take effect while the state's appeal of a judge's ruling blocking it plays out.
The law, formally called S.B. 4, has become a flashpoint in a broader battle between Texas and the Biden administration over border security and immigration. It would make it a state crime to illegally enter or re-enter Texas from a foreign country and would empower state judges to order that violators leave the United States, with prison sentences up to 20 years for those who refuse to comply.
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https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-court-keeps-texas-border-security-law-holdwin-biden-2024-03-27/
New York to test gun-detection systems for city's subway
New York City will begin testing gun-detecting technology in a pilot program at several subway stations, Mayor Eric Adams said on Thursday.
The announcement comes after several shootings on the subway system, one of the biggest and busiest in the world, including an argument on a train in March that ended with a man being shot in the head with his own gun.
After a 90-day notice period under city law for new surveillance technology, the New York Police Department will begin testing portable scanning machines at several stations, though Adams did not say which ones.
In Thursday's event at the Fulton Street subway station in lower Manhattan, Adams showed a scanner made by Evolv, a Massachusetts company that makes security technology.
Massive crane put in place to clear Baltimore bridge debris as crews assess damage
The biggest operational crane on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard towered over Baltimore's port on Friday, ready to begin clearing the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge days after a cargo ship crashed into it, sending the span crashing into the harbor.
Crews were still surveying the damage as of midday Friday. The crane, which can lift up to 1,000 tons, arrived late Thursday night and will probably start hauling debris out of the water on Saturday morning, according to U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Carmen Carver.
A second crane is en route and expected to arrive soon to assist the effort, she said.
State and federal authorities are focused on clearing the busy port and rebuilding the bridge after the Dali, a massive container ship that had lost power, plowed into a support column early on Tuesday, toppling the structure and leaving six workers presumed dead.
Souce:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/massive-crane-put-place-clear-baltimorebridge-debris-crews-assess-damage-2024-03-29/