Latest news with #LourencoGoncalves
E&E News
2 days ago
- Business
- E&E News
Cleveland-Cliffs hydrogen-based steel project set to die
U.S. steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs is moving on from hydrogen. Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves on Tuesday voiced his strongest doubts yet that U.S. hydrogen production will grow fast enough to support his company's decarbonization plans. A $500 million Department of Energy grant under former President Joe Biden would have replaced a coal-based blast furnace in Ohio with a hydrogen-fueled plant. 'Without hydrogen, the entire thing falls apart,' Goncalves told reporters at an event hosted by the lobby group American Iron and Steel Institute. 'At the very least, I will not have hydrogen at the time I need for that specific project.' Advertisement Goncalves signaled in May that his company, one of the largest American steel producers, would 'substantially alter' and scale back plans to use hydrogen as a reductant at its coal-based steel plant in Middletown, Ohio. He vowed at the time to instead extend the life of a coal-using 'blast furnace' at the plant, adding that Cleveland-Cliffs was renegotiating a retooled grant with the Trump administration.
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
America's New Steel Curtain
The best that can be said about President Trump's blessing of Nippon Steel's purchase of U.S. Steel is that it blocks Cleveland-Cliffs' political power play to buy U.S. Steel instead. The worst to be said is that the purchase has become another opening to make U.S. companies less competitive with higher tariff walls on foreign steel. Mr. Trump on Friday held a rally in Pennsylvania to take credit for the Nippon Steel takeover he is finally approving. He announced a consolation prize to United Steelworkers boss David McCall, who had opposed the deal: Doubling steel tariffs to 50%. The President boasted about Nippon Steel's commitment to invest $14 billion in U.S. Steel, including $2.2 billion in Pittsburgh's Mon Valley plant. But the Japanese company had agreed to most of its commitments when it sought approval from the Biden Administration. President Biden still blocked the deal as a favor to Mr. McCall and Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves. They want to create a steel cartel with more leverage to raise prices. Nippon Steel had outbid Cleveland-Cliffs in 2023. Acquiring U.S. Steel would have given Cleveland-Cliffs control over 100% of U.S. blast furnace production, iron ore reserves, electrical steel production, and two-thirds of automotive steel production.
E&E News
20-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Trump policies threaten steel decarbonization push
Trump administration threats to cut clean steel funding are boosting coal and jeopardizing plans to reduce the industry's emissions, according to a new report from the Global Energy Monitor, a California-based clean energy group. 'The Trump administration has halted or attempted to roll back much of this funding that would support green steel development,' the report, published late Monday night, says. 'Trump is framing coal's use as central to his agenda of revitalizing domestic industry, despite the clear risks coal dependence poses.' The report points to recent developments at U.S. steel giant Cleveland-Cliffs. On an earnings call this month, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said the company plans to make big changes to a previously announced $500 million Department of Energy grant to 'better align with the administration's energy priorities.' Advertisement While the original Middletown Works project — announced in the Biden administration — aimed to replace coal with hydrogen energy in iron and steel production, the new approach is likely to 'instead rely on readily available and more economical fossil fuels,' Goncalves said, while adding that the company plans to extend the life of a coal-based blast furnace on site. Swedish company SSAB also withdrew from a similar award earlier this year.
E&E News
12-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Low-carbon steel project scales back on hydrogen
A major low-carbon steel project in the U.S. is increasingly in jeopardy because of the Trump administration's opposition to clean energy. Cleveland-Cliffs, one of the largest steel producers in the U.S., signaled last week that it aims to 'substantially alter' and scale back plans to use hydrogen to produce steel at its coal-based plant in Middletown, Ohio. The Biden administration selected the project for a $500 million Department of Energy grant, part of a roughly $6 billion program financed by the Inflation Reduction Act to decarbonize heavy industry in the United States. Advertisement But in an earnings call Thursday, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves said the project will be revised to 'better align with the administration's energy priorities.'
Business Journals
08-05-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Canadian tariffs 'not part of our plan,' Cleveland-Cliffs CEO says
Cleveland Cliffs chief Lourenco Goncalves, seen here speaking from his company's Cleveland Works steel mill in June 2024, said he was unprepared for the Trump administration's tariffs on Canadian goods.
