Pacific Steel and Recycling works on cutting carbon emissions

A Great Falls-based recycling company with a Havre branch is stepping into climate change reduction as the first Montana business awarded the first certificate by a foundation working to reduce greenhouse gas in the environment.

Pacific Steel & Recycling is the first Montana business to purchase carbon offsets from the Well Done Foundation offsets and was issued the very first Climate Benefit Unit Certificate from the foundation.

The certificate represents the removal of 21 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

Pacific Steel & Recycling Vice President Patrick Kons said he has been working with Well Done Foundation Chairman of the Board Curtis Shuck Jr. for several months on this project. 

"These guys immediately jumped on board with it, no hesitation. It's pretty exciting to see where this can go as far as into the future," Shuck said. 

As the foundation was developing the project, a significant amount of scrap steel was generated.

Shuck said he had worked with Pacific Steel and Recycling in North Dakota and Shelby prior to forming the foundation.

"I knew those guys backgrounds and their work ethic and their commitment to the community  and their commitment to the environment, so it seemed like a really good fit to bring the pound-for-pound project to them," he said.

Pacific Steel & Recycling is leading the industry in this type of work, Shuck said. 

The Well Done Foundation Inc. was founded in 2019 to cap or plug orphaned or abandoned oil and gas wells and is not publicly funded.

Schuck said Well Done Foundation is the bridge between the oil and gas industry and the conservation community that provides a cost-effective solution that improves the environment by the offset or elimination of methane gas or other harmful greenhouse gases through well plugging and surface restoration. 

"Mr. Shuck is working to really get this launched to cap oil wells that are releasing methane gas into the environment which is very potent and damaging to the environment," Pacific Steel & Recycling Great Falls Safety and Environmental Director Kirby Farner said.

Pacific Steel & Recycling has provided a price incentive to participate in the project through the purchase of scrap metal associated with the capping projects, Farner said.

"That's pretty exciting, I think," he said. "It has a lot of potential throughout the state of Montana and the country."

"We're excited certainly to be a partner with them," Shuck said.