US announces $6bn to clean up heavy manufacturing

The first new US aluminum smelter in 45 years may be built as part of about $6-billion in grants the Biden administration is awarding to companies in a bid to clean-up hard to decarbonise industries including metal, paper and glass. Century Aluminum Co., once a central beneficiary of former President Donald Trump’s trade war, is set to receive as much as $500-million in funding to build the facility, according to a statement Monday. That would double the size of the nation’s current domestic production of the energy-intensive metal while also reducing emissions by an estimated 75%.