April 20, 2021
By:
Walter G. Wright
Category:
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
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The Aluminum Association (“TAA”) issued an April 14th report titled:
Aluminum Sector Snapshot: Environmental Reporting (“Report”)
The TAA characterizes the Report as showing positive environmental impact trendlines for the United States aluminum industry on virtually every measure over the past 25 years.
The seven environmental issues that are the focus of the Report include:
- Air (stating total air emissions reported to the United States Environmental Protection Agency decreased by 65 percent between 1996 and 2019)
- Energy (usage dropped 55 percent between 1998 and 2018)
- Greenhouse gas (decline of emissions by nearly 60 percent between 2005 and 2018)
- Land (chemicals released to land reduced more than 60 percent since what are described as peaks in the mid-2000s [though slightly elevated from the mid-1990s])
- Waste (generation dropped 93 percent between 2001 and 2019)
- Water (listed chemicals discharged to surface water reduced 84 percent from 1996 to 2019)
- Aluminum scrap (United States manufacturers increased their use of recycled aluminum scrap by more than 25 percent between 1993 and 2018)
The aluminum industry as described in the Report is stated to be comprised of companies and facilities that:
- refine bauxite into alumina
- produce primary aluminum for alumina (smelting)
- produce secondary aluminum from scrap (recycling)
- produce semi-fabricated aluminum products (i.e., sheet, foil, extrusions, and cable)
A copy of the Report can be downloaded here.
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