The end for green hydrogen?

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.

CLEAN ENERGY

• 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)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• Cleveland-Cliffs’ plan to replace its coal-blast furnaces with an ironmaking facility that uses hydrogen and electric furnaces appears dead as the company looks to align with the Trump administration’s pro-fossil fuel goals, Alexander C. Kaufman reports.

• Republicans’ ​“Big, Beautiful Bill” seems set on ending green hydrogen incentives, potentially dooming the already-struggling industry, Julian Spector reports.