Good morning! The Senate’s plans for the “Big, Beautiful Bill” may just solidify green hydrogen’s demise. The budget legislation will quickly end hydrogen incentives, which could be the last straw for the already-struggling industry, Julian Spector reports in today’s top story.
Alexander C. Kaufman is next, diving into Cleveland-Cliffs’ seemingly abandoned plans to replace coal-fired blast furnaces with electric-powered and hydrogen-ready technology.
And a quick note: You’ll get this newsletter tomorrow and Friday, but it’ll only have the latest Canary stories and no news roundup, as we’ll be off for the Juneteenth holiday.
Renewable electricity is cheaper than power produced by fossil fuels, even without government subsidies, though low gas costs and rising prices for renewables threaten the clean energy buildout, Lazard’s annual report finds. (E&E News)
FOSSIL FUELS
The U.S. Interior Department releases a draft analysis advancing a plan to lift oil and gas drilling restrictions on 82% of the 23 million acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska in an effort to “unleash its vast resource potential.” (Reuters, news release)
The NAACP and Southern Environmental Law Center plan to sue Elon Musk’s xAI company for using 35 gas-fired turbines to power its supercomputer without a permit, generating air pollution that affects predominantly Black communities nearby. (Associated Press, Commercial Appeal)
SOLAR
Shares in residential solar companies fell yesterday after the Senate released budget bill text that would end rooftop solar incentives, with Sunrun’s shares plummeting 40%. (Heatmap)
OFFSHORE WIND
Faced with President Trump’s contempt for “windmills,” many offshore wind companies choose to stay quiet about progress and successes in a strategy to avoid attracting the administration’s attention. (E&E News)
CARBON CAPTURE
The U.S. EPA’s proposed repeal of Biden-era emissions rules signals the Trump administration is unwilling to support carbon capture and storage projects at power plants. (E&E News)
INDUSTRY
As part of a deal paving the way for Japan’s Nippon Steel to acquire Pennsylvania’s U.S. Steel, the federal government will own a single “golden” share of the company that will give the president an extraordinary amount of influence over key decisions like moving U.S. Steel locations, transferring jobs out of the country, and closing or idling plants. (New York Times)
A California mine’s effort to replace one of two onsite coal plants with a solar thermal system echoes heavy industry’s struggle to replace fossil fuels for heat generation. (New York Times)
GRID
Spain’s government says technical errors and poor planning by the country’s grid operator drove a surge in voltage that caused April’s blackouts across the Iberian peninsula. (Associated Press)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Environmental advocates in Maryland are disappointed that the state has not joined California and 10 other states in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s rollback of rules phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars, even though Maryland has adopted those rules. (Maryland Matters)
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