Department of Energy announces projects to remove carbon pollution

The Department of Energy announced on Friday that it would fund two projects, located in Texas and Louisiana, to capture and remove carbon emissions. According to the department, the projects are expected to create 4,800 jobs in the two states.

“With this once-in-a-generation investment made possible by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, DOE is laying the foundation for a direct air capture industry crucial to tackling climate change—transforming local economies and delivering healthier communities along the way,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

Project Cypress will be located in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, which the department predicts will create 2,300 new jobs. The department’s goal is for 10% of the people hired to work at the facility to be ex-fossil fuel industry workers.

The department will fund the South Texas DAC Hub in Kleberg County Texas, creating an estimated 2,500 jobs.

The two projects will use the direct capture process, which pulls carbon dioxide that has already been emitted into the atmosphere and stores it underground in existing geological structures.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is a significant contributor to global climate change. Reducing emissions is a key element in fighting climate change and its disastrous effects on the planet.

The projects being funded by the department are the first of their kind within the United States,  and are expected to process far more carbon dioxide than existing carbon capture projects. The department estimates that when both projects are operational, they will be able to remove 2 million metric tons of emissions from the atmosphere per year, the equivalent of the pollution produced by 445,00 gasoline-powered cars.

By comparison, a project in Iceland operated by Climeworks, one of the partners in the Texas and Louisiana projects, can remove a reported 10 metric tons per day. The American facilities will be able to process over 5,400 metric tons per day.

Funding for the carbon capture projects comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021. The law created four programs to help create a direct carbon capture industry within the United States. The Biden administration has stressed the creation of jobs as a key component in its climate and clean energy spending and has described these jobs as part of the “Bidenomics” economic agenda.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.