Battery recycling struggles

This roundup of U.S. energy news headlines is part of our Canary Media Daily newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

COAL

• Michigan’s top energy regulator says an Energy Department order to keep open a large coal plant for reliability purposes is unnecessary and will increase the cost of power to homes and businesses. (WOOD-TV8)

INDUSTRY

• Nippon Steel’s $14 billion investment as part of its purchase of U.S. Steel includes plans to build an electric arc furnace somewhere in the country. (Associated Press)

HYDROGEN

• Analysts say Republicans’ budget bill could be a ​“death knell” for green hydrogen as it ends incentives for the fledgling industry and for clean power projects that would be used to produce the fuel. (E&E News)

TRANSPORTATION

• A federal judge bars the U.S. government from following through on its threats to withhold highway funding from New York in retaliation for the state’s choice to continue Manhattan’s congestion pricing program in defiance of Trump administration orders. (Gothamist)

NUCLEAR

• Analysts warn President Trump’s nuclear executive orders won’t counteract major federal funding cuts and the gutting of the DOE’s nuclear energy division and Loan Programs Office. (Latitude Media)

• New Jersey attempts to position itself as a leader in nuclear generation, as it updates its clean energy plan to encourage new nuclear and gathers feedback from residents and experts about the role the technology should play in the state’s future. (Inside Climate News)

GRID

• A federal court revives the Tohono O’odham and San Carlos Apache tribes’ lawsuit seeking to block a segment of the SunZia transmission project in southern Arizona, saying a judge’s previous ruling was in error. (Courthouse News)

• California Independent System Operator’s board approves a $4.8 billion transmission plan that will see 31 projects built over the next 15 years. (Renewable Energy World)

CLIMATE

• The EU is on track to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions 54% by 2030, just short of its legally required 55% reduction. (Reuters)

• Cleveland’s work around reducing building emissions and installing EV chargers in underserved neighborhoods shows how U.S. mayors are taking climate action, with or without the help of the federal government. (Grist)

MINING

• The U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear a lawsuit from nonprofit Apache Stronghold seeking to block a proposed copper mine in central Arizona. (NBC News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Startup Talusag partners with farming cooperative Landus to produce green ammonia on a modular scale, hoping to create a model that could cut carbon and costs from fertilizer production nationwide, Jeff St. John reports.

• The collapse and bankruptcy of EV battery recycling startup Li-Cycle underscores the battery recycling industry’s challenges, especially as federal support dwindles, Julian Spector reports.