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Hyundai Motor Group unveiled plans Monday for a $6 billion steel plant in Louisiana to provide the metal needed for its auto factories in Alabama and Georgia. The announcement came as part of a broader $21 billion investment into U.S. manufacturing facilities including EV factories.
Unlike much of the Midwestern, coal-based steel production that supplies the domestic automotive industry, the Hyundai Steel plant in Ascension Parish, roughly an hour west of New Orleans in the heart of the Bayou State’s so-called Cancer Alley, proposes to use an electric arc furnace. This technology is increasingly popular in the U.S. and around the world, and if powered by clean electricity it can produce steel without emitting nearly any CO2.
But electric arc furnaces can’t refine raw iron to produce “primary steel” — they rely instead on recycled scrap metal. Rather than using coal to turn iron ore into the precursor for making steel, Hyundai’s newly announced plant will likely use natural gas in the direct reduced iron (DRI) process, industry analysts say.
“Is this a step toward sustainable, green steel? Maybe not so much,” said Matthew Groch, senior director of decarbonization at the environmental group Mighty Earth. “But is it a step away from blast furnaces? Yes, which is the beginning part of transitioning the primary steel industry to low-carbon production.”
At peak capacity, Hyundai said the plant will produce 2.7 million tons of steel each year, including “low-carbon steel sheets using the abundant supply of steel scrap in the U.S.” The factory, on which construction is expected to begin later next year, will create upward of 1,300 jobs.
Hyundai made no mention of the DRI process in its press release, and a spokesperson declined to comment beyond what was in the official statement. But experts tracking the project have long expected the plant to use DRI, and an article in a Korean newspaper noted that it includes DRI. The 3.6 million tons of iron ore the Louisiana government said the plant would import each year will also need to be processed somehow, since the announced electric arc furnace won’t do the trick.
DRI with natural gas can cut carbon emissions in half compared to a coal blast furnace. Though the technology is catching on worldwide, it’s still eclipsed by traditional blast furnaces: DRI facilities accounted for about 36% of iron-making capacity under development, per a Global Energy Monitor report released last summer, but just 9% of operational capacity.
To truly produce low-carbon steel, however, the Hyundai facility would need to fuel its DRI process with green hydrogen — the version of the fuel made with completely carbon-free electricity — instead of gas, said Hilary Lewis, the steel director at climate advocacy nonprofit Industrious Labs.
As long as the Trump administration retains the 45V tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act, the price difference between DRI using gas and green hydrogen would be manageable. Gas-powered DRI yields steel at a levelized price of about $800 per ton, according to calculations by clean energy think tank RMI. Green hydrogen would raise the price to about $964 per ton.
Since the typical passenger car uses about one ton of steel, switching to green hydrogen instead of gas would raise the cost of manufacturing a car by less than one month of an average auto insurance payment.
“Hyundai has the opportunity to build the first truly clean iron and steel facility in the U.S.,” Lewis said. “I don’t think they should miss that opportunity. There’s still time.”
One challenge, however, is that there is little to no green hydrogen supply available in the U.S. today. Producers have struggled to get off the ground as federal policies to support production have failed to spur demand from potential customers. Earlier this year steelmaker SSAB canceled what would have been the first hydrogen-based DRI project in the U.S. after its supply partner Hy Stor Energy ran into “a series of headwinds” in the green hydrogen market.
How easily Hyundai’s plant could be retrofitted to use green hydrogen later depends on which of the two major manufacturers of DRI equipment the company ends up choosing if it goes this route.
North Carolina–based Midrex Technologies dominates the market, and its equipment would require some relatively inexpensive tweaks to use hydrogen rather than gas, Lewis said. The other major manufacturer, Tenova HYL — owned by the Buenos Aires–based Techint, with technology jointly developed with Italy’s steel giant Danieli — requires virtually zero changes to swap hydrogen for gas.
Just three existing steel plants in the U.S. use gas-powered DRI: a Cleveland-Cliffs facility in Ohio, ArcelorMittal’s Texas hub, and a Nucor production site in Louisiana. Cleveland-Cliffs is also planning to build a new DRI plant using money awarded under the Biden administration and gradually mix hydrogen in with gas as the cleanly produced version of the fuel becomes more widely available.
The fate of that project’s federal funding, and of the $6 billion the previous administration earmarked for industrial decarbonization projects in general, remains unclear as President Donald Trump has kept most Biden-era climate funding frozen.
The Seoul-based Hyundai — now the world’s third-largest automaker by sales — said the steel would supply its efforts to ramp up stateside production to 1.2 million vehicles per year. Hyundai Motor Group also owns Kia and Genesis Motor, and the combined EV sales make the conglomerate one of the biggest EV manufacturers in the country. Still, the company ranked 10th out of 18 automakers in the Lead The Charge scorecard, which examines efforts by car companies to reduce fossil fuel usage. Hyundai’s new Savannah, Georgia-based factory began churning out electric SUVs last fall.
Alongside the steel announcement, the company released plans to invest a total of nearly $15 billion in EVs, robotics, self-driving cars, renewables, and nuclear power infrastructure in the U.S.
“Hyundai will be producing steel in America and making cars in America,” Trump said at a press conference at the White House announcing the deal. He credited his recent tariff program as the main driver of the investment, though Hyundai Chairman Chung Eui-sun said at the event that the company had been working to expand its U.S. supply chain since Trump’s first term in office.
“Get ready,” Trump said. “This investment is a clear demonstration that tariffs very strongly work.”
CLIMATE: An environmental group says Vermont will fall short of its 2025 climate targets, and says officials used faulty modeling to determine the state was on track. (VT Digger)
ALSO: As states prepare to defend climate policy from anticipated Trump administration rollbacks, newly elected Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday’s reliance on fossil fuel industry campaign donations suggests the state will largely stay on the sidelines. (Capital & Main)
GRID: Six New England states are teaming up to push the region’s grid operator to advance transmission projects throughout the region, believed to be the first collaboration of its kind in the country. (Boston Globe, subscription)
CLEAN ENERGY:
BUILDINGS:
UTILITIES: Another credit agency downgrades its rating for Avangrid’s natural gas utilities in Connecticut, citing a “challenged regulatory environment.” (CT News Junkie)
OVERSIGHT: Some New York lawmakers are seeking more transparency from the state’s Energy Research and Development Authority, in part to help the public better understand how clean energy policies might impact rates. (Spectrum News 1)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
TRANSPORTATION: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says New Jersey officials are acting in bad faith by refusing to accept transit revenue from New York City’s congestion pricing plan in exchange for dropping a lawsuit. (Streetsblog)
SOLAR: A 229 MW solar project in western New York has begun operation. (PV Magazine)
This article was originally published by Floodlight.
A small town in North Carolina has taken a bold step, filing the first climate “deception” lawsuit against an electric utility in the United States.
In a civil lawsuit, the Town Council of Carrboro accuses Duke Energy, one of the largest power companies in the United States, of orchestrating a decades-long campaign of denialism and cover up over the dangers of fossil fuel emissions. The lawsuit claims Duke’s actions stalled the transition to clean energy and exacerbated the climate crisis.
Over the past decade, similar suits have been filed by states and communities against large oil companies and — in at least one instance — a gas utility. But Carrboro, N.C., is the first municipality to ever file such a suit against an electric utility.
“We’re a very bold group,” Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee told Floodlight. “And we know how urgent this climate crisis is.”
Duke Energy said in a statement, “We are in the process of reviewing the complaint. Duke Energy is committed to its customers and communities and will continue working with policymakers and regulators to deliver reliable and increasingly clean energy while keeping rates as low as possible.”
The suit, filed in Orange County, North Carolina, accuses Duke Energy of intentionally spreading false information about the negative effects of fossil fuels for decades, despite knowing since the late 1960s about planet-warming properties of carbon dioxide emissions. It claims the power company funded trade organizations and climate skeptic scientists who created doubts about the greenhouse effect and obstructed policy and public action on climate change.
“Duke misled the public concerning the causes and consequences of climate change and thereby materially slowed the transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy. Duke’s deception campaign served to protect its fossil fuel-based business model.” the lawsuit reads.
It accuses the power company, which in 2019 was the third largest emitter of C02 in the United States, of falsely marketing itself as a leader in clean energy while continuing to rely heavily on fossil fuels.
Between 2005 and 2023, the company reported reducing its CO2 emissions from electricity generation by 44%. But in 2023, at least 45% of the electricity Duke produced was still generated by burning coal or methane gas.
“(Duke) was one of the ringleaders behind deceiving the public and municipalities and governments about the causes and consequences of manmade climate change,” said Raleigh attorney Matthew Quinn, who is representing the town.
Carrboro is a town of about 20,000 with an annual budget of $81 million, Foushee said. Quinn, the attorney, estimates the town will incur some $60 million in costs in adapting to climate change impacts, including repairs to roads, upgrades to stormwater systems and increased heating and cooling costs.
At a press conference Wednesday, Quinn explained that expert analysts had arrived at that number based on the amount and cost of climate adaptation that Carrboro would have undertaken had it not been for Duke’s alleged deception.
“There’s a major gulf between where we should be at and where we are right now,” Quinn said at the press conference.
“Really, what this case is about is that Carrboro has been a victim of the climate deception campaign by Duke Energy, (and) as a result of Duke’s conduct, Carrboro has suffered a lot of damages and injustice,” Quinn said in an interview.
Added Danny Nowell, Carrboro Mayor pro tem: “We have paid for it. We have paid for excess road repairs. We have faced the effects of stormwater, and we will continue to pay for other expenses as we uncover them. It’s time for Carrboro to be repaid.”
Quinn’s fees are being paid by NC Warn, a climate nonprofit, Foushee said.
“People that run local governments and others and people that run corporations, they all better get heavily serious about the climate crisis,” said Jim Warren, executive director of NC Warn. “It’s already harming so many across this state.”
Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, called such lawsuits “cute.”
“And I use that term very, you know, intentionally. These lawsuits are cute in the sense that they’re trying to shame companies … into doing better,” said Jarvis, adding that they are rarely successful. “Companies have duties to their shareholders to maximize profits. And so what these lawsuits are really saying is that companies should be punished for maximizing profit.”
“It’s interesting with this as a case directly against a utility,” said Korey Silverman-Roati, a senior fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. “It’s a shift in perspective from companies just producing fossil fuels to those burning it.”
Although this is the first climate deception lawsuit ever filed against an electric utility, it is not the first time that electric utilities have found themselves in legal trouble for the climate warming pollution their power plants spew as they burn fossil fuels to generate electricity.
In 2004, electric companies faced federal litigation brought by eight U.S. states, New York City and several land trusts seeking to cap the companies’ CO2 emissions. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the plaintiffs.
Floodlight is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action.
OIL & GAS: A petroleum firm and a data center developer plan to install a natural gas-powered cryptocurrency mining facility at an oil and gas well on Alaska’s North Slope. (Northern Journal)
ALSO: A petroleum executive predicts only moderate oil and gas production increases during a more permissive Trump administration, with most of the gains coming from the Permian Basin. (Hart Energy)
HYDROPOWER:
SOLAR:
HYDROGEN: A New Mexico electrical cooperative proposes a solar-powered green hydrogen production facility and energy storage system using treated wastewater from an abandoned mine. (Clean Technica)
STORAGE: An Arizona utility proposes a 200 MW battery energy storage system with the capacity to power 45,000 homes for four hours during peak demand. (news release)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Oregon has recorded 102,461 zero-emissions vehicle registrations, a 400% increase from 2019. (OPB)
GEOTHERMAL: The federal Bureau of Land Management plans to auction 6,061 acres in western Utah for geothermal power development. (St. George News)
UTILITIES: A Washington state utility pushes back on Bonneville Power Administration’s preference for SPP’s day-ahead power market, saying the California grid operator’s competing proposal would yield more benefits. (RTO Insider, subscription)
LITHIUM: The developer of the contested Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine in Nevada plans to move forward even if the incoming Trump administration kills federal electric vehicle incentives. (NPR)
POLITICS: Nevada conservationists predict the incoming Trump administration will stifle clean energy development on public lands in the state and encourage new natural gas plants. (Nevada Current)
COMMENTARY: A New Mexico petroleum executive urges developers of a proposed liquefied natural gas export facility to draw from oil and gas fields across the West, rather than relying entirely on the Permian Basin. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
BIOMASS: Vermont environmental advocates say a wood-fired power plant, the state’s largest in-state power source, is both losing money and harming the environment, while the local electric department says the facility benefits ratepayers and the grid. (VTDigger)
CLEAN ENERGY: Pennsylvania, home to the country’s biggest shale gas production region, tries to balance a stable fossil fuel industry with emissions reductions and a clean energy transition. (Canary Media)
SOLAR:
OFFSHORE WIND: Supply chain issues are one of the major barriers to offshore wind’s progress in New Jersey, says a professor studying sustainable energy. (6abc)
NATURAL GAS: Twenty years since fracking began in southwestern Pennsylvania, there is growing evidence that the practice causes widespread adverse health impacts. (Observer-Reporter)
BUILDINGS: Maryland commercial property owners say a state requirement to report building emissions starting in 2025 is excessively burdensome, though environmental groups praise the measure. (RTO Insider, subscription)
TRANSIT: Philadelphia-area public transit is unlikely to get a state funding boost unless the legislature can agree to a new revenue source like increased taxes on gaming. (Spotlight PA)
GEOTHERMAL: The University of Massachusetts plans to power two new buildings on its flagship campus with geothermal energy, but neighbors are concerned about the disruptions the project could cause. (Greenfield Recorder)
ELECTRIFICATION: South Portland, Maine workshops a proposal to ban gas-powered leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and other lawn equipment, but could exempt commercial landscaping operations. (Maine Wire)
COMMENTARY: The possible reopening of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania would benefit the area’s union workers, says a representative from a state union coalition. (Lancaster Online)
CARBON CAPTURE: An oil and gas company plans to reduce emissions from its Pikka drilling project in Alaska by buying offsets and capturing and sequestering carbon from wells, power plants and directly from the air. (Northern Journal)
ALSO: A Western governors group’s decarbonization report calls for pioneering industrial and natural carbon capture and sequestration efforts, but says little about reducing fossil fuel burning or transitioning to clean energy. (Inside Climate News)
OIL & GAS:
CLIMATE:
TRANSPORTATION: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon joins 26 other Republican-led states in a lawsuit seeking to block the Biden administration’s fuel efficiency standards for gasoline powered vehicles, saying they are “unworkable.” (WyoFile)
UTILITIES: Public Service Company of New Mexico says its proposed rate hike — the largest in the utility’s history — is needed to fund decarbonization and energy transition efforts. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
SOLAR:
STORAGE: The Biden administration awards an Arizona electric cooperative $55.2 million to install three battery energy storage systems. (AZPM)
WIND: A developer proposes a 150 MW wind power facility in eastern Wyoming. (Cowboy State Daily)
GEOTHERMAL:
GRID: Portland General Electric signs on to join the California grid operator’s regional day-ahead power market. (RTO Insider, subscription)
OIL & GAS: A report by climate advocates dismisses third-party certification of “low-emission” gas facilities as greenwashing that does little to actually lower methane emissions, though certifiers dispute its findings. (Inside Climate News)
CLEAN ENERGY:
COAL: Residents of a former Pennsylvania coal community say the federal government has forgotten about them as they struggle to replace lost jobs and tax income, highlighting President Biden’s need to convince similar communities they won’t be left behind. (Washington Post)
POLITICS:
GRID:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A mapping tool finds electric vehicle charging deserts persist even in strong EV markets, including Los Angeles. (Axios)
EMISSIONS: North Carolina’s state consumer advocate criticizes Duke Energy for failing to leverage a federal loan program to save ratepayers hundreds of millions and build more clean energy. (Energy News Network)
GEOTHERMAL: Southern California Edison signs on to purchase 320 MW of power from an enhanced geothermal energy facility under development in Utah, boosting the nascent technology. (KTXL)
HYDROPOWER: Yakama Nation leaders criticize federal regulators for failing to consult with them on a proposed pumped hydropower storage project in Washington state after the tribe refused to reveal ceremonial and religious knowledge. (High Country News)
COMMENTARY: An editor celebrates Congress’ passage of a nuclear funding bill, saying it lays a roadmap for bipartisan climate action. (Washington Post)
CLIMATE: A group of climate scientists says the market for carbon credits needs to adopt significant oversight and reforms after finding many offsetting markets didn’t deliver their promised climate benefits. (The Guardian)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
SOLAR:
NUCLEAR: The eventual — but stalled and over-budget — success of Georgia’s Plant Vogtle is sparking optimism in the state and beyond, especially after the passage of $900 million for small nuclear development. (E&E News)
CLEAN ENERGY:
GRID:
UTILITIES:
OIL & GAS: A study finds more than half of the 47,000 oil and gas wells in Colorado don’t generate enough money to pay for their end-of-life plugging and remediation, potentially saddling taxpayers with the tab. (Colorado Sun)
COMMENTARY: California’s increasingly clean energy mix proves the rest of the country’s grid can be powered with 100% clean energy sources, a climate advocate argues. (The New Yorker)
When you see an “all natural” label on a snack, you might be tempted to think it’s a healthy choice. But there’s no way around the facts: organic potato chips just aren’t as good for you as a carrot.
A similar marketing strategy is popping up in the fossil fuel industry. As the world wakes up to natural gas’ emissions impact, some producers are adopting a “certified” or “responsible” label to convince customers they’re a climate-friendly choice. But according to a new report, it’s all a “scam.”
Gas producers have started working with third-party contractors they say will evaluate their gas extraction processes for leaks and “certify” those with a lower methane emissions. As industries increasingly seek out clean energy, gas producers hope this label will make them more desirable.
But as the report from climate groups Oil Change International and Earthworks details, gas certification isn’t yet regulated, and its monitoring systems often miss methane leaks. Dakota Raynes, an author on the study, summed up its findings to Inside Climate News: “Certified gas is a greenwashing scam.”
A third-party gas certifier disputed the report’s findings. But Democratic U.S. senators recently came to the same conclusion, calling gas certification a “dangerous greenwashing scheme” in a letter urging the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on the industry claims.
“The reality is that gas certification schemes allow the oil and gas industry to justify the continued expansion of methane gas use and undermine efforts towards a just transition to renewables,” the senators said.
⚛️ Seeking a magic bullet: Large tech companies are betting on atomic fusion and other unproven energy technologies to power AI data centers, which critics say are already increasing reliance on fossil fuels. (Washington Post)
⚖️ A just transition? Residents of a former Pennsylvania coal community say the federal government has forgotten about them as they struggle to replace lost jobs and tax income, highlighting President Biden’s need to convince similar communities they won’t be left behind. (Washington Post)
🥃 Distilling decarbonization: A growing number of U.S. food and beverage manufacturers are using heat pumps to decarbonize the process heat they need to distill liquor and make other products. (Canary Media)
☀️ Perfect places: Researchers map millions of acres of abandoned U.S. farmland that could potentially be reused for renewable energy projects. (Journal Sentinel)
⛈️ Keeping solar panels safe: Hailstorms will likely become more common as the climate changes, but researchers say monitoring technologies and protective equipment can protect solar panels from hail damage. (Inside Climate News)
🛢️ Playing the reverse card: In New Mexico, oil and gas giants partnered with environmentalists and politicians to develop an abandoned well cleanup bill, but turned against the final product and claimed it would “destroy” the state. (ProPublica)
📉 We’re lagging on clean energy support: The world’s largest ever climate survey finds 54% of Americans want a quick transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, among the smallest majorities among counties polled. (The Guardian)
📄 Making it happen: Advocates say the 18-year permitting saga for the SunZia transmission line in the Southwest is a success story illustrating the challenges of building large-scale clean energy infrastructure. (Heatmap)
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