Two hulking towers nearly 300 feet high rise from the steelmaking complex that dominates the shoreline of the faded industrial city of Port Talbot. These two blast furnaces are centerpieces of Britain’s largest steelmaking facility, a 4-square-mile complex of cavernous factories and rusting metal conveyors on Swansea Bay that produce steel eventually used in cars, cans for baked beans and sports stadiums.
But these massive structures may be gone in a few years or even months if the plant’s owners, Tata Steel, and the British government have their way. Their plan could turn this Port Talbot facility into one of Europe’s most sweeping efforts to slash greenhouse-gas emissions in heavy industry.
