Happy
Friday! We close the
week with big news for clean
steelmaking. U.S. Steel is
building a new “direct reduced
iron” plant at its Big River Steel
Works complex in Oklahoma, Maria
Gallucci reports. This kind
of gas-fueled ironmaking facility
can halve the emissions of a coal
furnace, and in this case, the hot
new metal can be fed right into
electric arc furnaces to make
steel.
Meanwhile,
prices at the gas pump continue to
soar this week, but more and more
Americans are finding a way out.
While sales of new EVs may have
stalled last year, used EV
purchases are on the rise. Dan
McCarthy charts the closing gap.
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WIND
- The Trump
administration pays
TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion
to abandon its offshore wind
leases, even as Democrats in
Congress launch an investigation
into the deal. (E&E
News, Associated
Press)
- Maine utility
regulators reopen bidding for
the development of onshore wind
projects in the far northern
part of the state, saying the
move will allow them to choose
between even more qualified
proposals. (Bangor
Daily News)
BATTERIES
- A large swath of
untapped lithium deposits along
the East Coast could provide the
U.S. with enough of the crucial
battery metal for hundreds of
years, a new federal report
finds. (E&E
News)
ELECTRIC
VEHICLES
-
Rivian
amends its $6.57 billion loan
agreement with the DOE down to
$4.5 billion, enabling the
company to access the funds
sooner while increasing its
production expectations from
200,000 units across its first
phase to 300,000. (TechCrunch)
-
A
Sierra Club report finds
states have been slow to roll
out EV chargers, including
because of the Trump
administration’s attempts to
undermine federal funding, but
their pace is now
accelerating. (Sierra
Club)
-
Tesla
begins mass-manufacturing its
Class 8 electric semi at its
production line in Reno,
Nevada. (Hoodline)
SOLAR
- U.S. panel maker
First Solar reports record-high
first-quarter revenue thanks to
rising sales in India and
elsewhere. (Reuters)
SHIPPING
- Negotiators at
the International Maritime
Organization say they’ve faced
fierce fossil fuel lobbying as
they work on an agreement to
decarbonize global shipping. (The
Guardian)
FOSSIL
FUELS
- President Donald
Trump gives a key approval for a
Keystone-like pipeline that
would carry oil from Canada
through Montana and Wyoming,
though it still needs some
additional state and
environmental permits. (Associated
Press)
- The Ohio Supreme
Court unanimously rules that
state regulators were correct to
allow American Electric Power to
collect subsidies to support two
unprofitable and scandal-ridden
coal plants, and the utility
does not need to reimburse
customers. (WEWS)
GRID
- California’s grid
operator expects today’s launch
of its extended day-ahead
regional power market to be
“very solid.” (Utility
Dive)
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