Washington DC: The Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) commends elements of the Inflation Reduction Act that strive to provide American industry with the tools needed to spur economic growth while decreasing the emissions that are released into the air. These include the creation of a new office within the Department of Energy to help move forward toward a zero emissions future.
SMA president Philip K. Bell stated, “The true impact of this bill will have to be measured over time, as it will impact individuals, companies, and industries in different ways. But we know this for sure, America’s Electric Arc Furnace steelmakers, who today produce the highest quality steel with the lowest emissions found anywhere in the world, look forward to partnering with the Department of Energy’s new Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations to further decrease our already historically low emission rates. By working together, we will not only supercharge the fight against climate change today, but we will create a new model for low carbon steel that will lead the global steel industry into the future.”
The bill creates a new Department of Energy Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, which will jointly partner with industries to encourage the development and deployment of new Advanced Industrial Technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and fight climate change. This new $5.8 billion program will provide financial assistance to key sectors of our economy in the form of loans, cost shares, grants and cooperative agreements, which will be used to pay 50% of the cost of “new technology that is directly involved in an industrial process and designed to accelerate GHG reductions to net-zero at an eligible facility.”
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About the SMA
SMA is the largest steel industry trade association in the United States and is the primary trade association representing North American EAF steel producers. EAF steelmakers account for almost 70 percent of domestic steelmaking capacity using an innovative, 21st-century production process that is less energy-intensive and has lower carbon emissions than traditional steelmaking. For more information, check out our website at www.steelnet.org or our LinkedIn page.
