Maria Gallucci

Loss of green smelter highlights Kentucky’s need for clean electricity • Kentucky Lantern Century Aluminum chose Oklahoma over Kentucky as the site for a green smelter. Some say it's a ​'wake-up call' for Kentucky to modernize and decarbonize.

Loss of green smelter highlights Kentucky’s need for clean electricity.

Century Aluminum chose Oklahoma over Kentucky. Some say it’s a ​’wake-up call’ to modernize — and decarbonize — the state’s grid.

@mariagallucci.bsky.social @canarymedia.com
kentuckylantern.com/2026/02/12/l...

It takes two aluminum firms to build one power-hungry smelter,… Century Aluminum was eyeing Kentucky for a new smelter, but in a surprise move says it’s teaming up with Emirates Global Aluminium to build one in…

Century Aluminum & Emirates Global Aluminium are teaming up on a new aluminum smelter. Huge test of whether the companies can find affordable, clean power fast enough to actually build a low-carbon aluminum backbone in the U.S.
✍🏽 @mariagallucci.bsky.social

www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

2025 wasn't a great year for green steel ambitions. What happens now? A hydrogen bust and a pro–fossil fuel administration stymied U.S. progress on decarbonizing steel. But companies are still advancing plans for low-carbon…

Green steel has an uncertain year ahead. Here’s what @mariagallucci.bsky.social predicts will happen:
➡️ Coal-fueled furnaces will continue firing up
➡️ Scrap recycling will scale with clean energy
➡️ Global pressure for greener steel will only grow

Inside the Colorado factory where AtmosZero is electrifying steam Many facilities need steam, but making it is CO2-intensive. AtmosZero is working to scale production of its heat-pump boiler to help decarbonize…

Many factories need steam, but making it is carbon-intensive. @alisontakemura.bsky.social visited AtmosZero's new-ish manufacturing site in Colorado to learn how the startup is working to decarbonize steam with its novel heat-pump boiler @canarymedia.com
www.canarymedia.com/articles/hea...

How Trump gutted the team meant to build America’s energy future The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations had over $25 billion to help companies scale novel low-carbon technologies. Trump is working to erase it.

DOE's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations was meant to
be a launchpad for ambitious projects that could help the U.S. lead on everything from decarbonizing factories to boosting rural energy resiliency. Now it's a shell of itself. My latest for @canarymedia.com www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

My friend Alec is missing. Please share this widely incase it reachers any hikers who have seen him over the past 5 days during his solo hike in a Norwegian national park.

Meet Minnesota’s electric coffee roasting pioneers Minneapolis-based Coffeewomple is one of the first U.S. roasters to use a commercial-scale electric coffee roaster, navigating higher costs for climate…

Loved this profile by @danhaugen.bsky.social on a couple who turned a pandemic-era hobby — electric coffee roasting — into a business determined to kick gas out of the coffee shop. (His swan song for @canarymedia.com!) www.canarymedia.com/articles/ele...

US aluminum producers need cheap, clean power. That may be tough to… Century Aluminum and Emirates Global Aluminium want to build the nation’s first smelters in decades, but must compete with data centers for a limited…

It’s getting harder to secure clean power. That’s a problem for aluminum producers looking to build two new smelters in the U.S. From @mariagallucci.bsky.social:

Also, what a totally chill and normal time to return from leave 🫠

Geothermal survives in 'big, beautiful' budget bill — but hurdles… The new law preserves tax credits for geothermal, an industry that’s poised to grow with next-gen tech. But anti-China rules and tariffs still pose risks.

Geothermal energy was largely spared in Trump’s sweeping budget bill, which made deep cuts to incentives for wind, solar & residential projects. But developers of the heat-driven energy source may still face difficulties ahead due. Me for @canarymedia.com www.canarymedia.com/articles/geo...

Melting ice is a gift to the fossil fuel tankers navigating the Arctic Good for oil and gas companies. Not so good for the planet.

My older kid also nearly shares a birthday with another random story I was working on at the time. (My children respect deadlines but not their due dates.) Precious memories!
grist.org/energy/clima...

States are moving forward with Buy Clean policies despite Trump… New York, Washington, and other states are forming coalitions to cut carbon emissions from building materials even as the federal government bows out.

My baby and my article both entered the world around the same time on the morning of February 20. So...happy one month to all of us?
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

GOP think tank that tried to stop VA offshore wind now says ‘go ahead’ The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy said canceling America’s biggest offshore wind project under construction no longer makes economic sense.

Steve Haner used to hate the idea of offshore wind coming to Virginia. For years, he used his conservative think-tank to try and stop America’s largest project from being built.

Now, he’s no longer trying to stop it: “Virginia needs the power.”

My latest 👇

www.canarymedia.com/articles/off...

Chart: Global clean industry investment fell sharply in 2024 Money to clean up steel, ammonia, chemicals, and other sectors dropped by more than half compared with 2023.

A yikes story from @mariagallucci.bsky.social — and I'll be very curious to see where that bar goes in 2025:
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

Global Air Travel Surges While Switch to Clean Jet Fuel Lags To reach 2030 climate targets, airlines will need to increase their consumption of sustainable aviation fuel more than 30-fold.

Two recent grim numbers in the quest to decarbonize air travel: Flights jumped 10% last year (reaching an all-time high), while use of cleaner jet fuel (SAF) missed industry expectations, reaching just 0.3% of all jet fuel.

We break it down here (gift link):

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

those aluminum tariffs are really meant for Drake

NEW: Trump is freezing money for clean energy — batteries, EVs, renewables, heat pumps, and more.

Nearly 80% of manufacturing investments spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act have flowed to Republican congressional districts.

w/ Lisa Friedman & @bradplumer.bsky.social

👇 Gift link in reply

The Trump administration is burying renewable-energy studies “It just goes into a black hole,” said a Department of Energy researcher.

The interference in clean energy science during Trump 1.0 actually went far deeper, as I showed for Grist in a followup to that initial @theatlantic.com + @investigatewest.bsky.social coproduction. grist.org/energy/trump... @gristnews.bsky.social

Trump moves to halt $5B EV charging program The administration ordered states to rework plans for using federal EV charging money, putting hundreds of projects in limbo. Experts say that’s illegal.

The Trump administration has ordered states to rework their plans for using $5B in federal NEVI funds to build public fast-charging sites along highways across the country, putting hundreds of projects in limbo. Experts say that’s illegal:
www.canarymedia.com/articles/ev-... #energysky

Here's the full list of appointments:
www.energy.gov/articles/us-...

Who Killed the Supergrid? Trump appointees short-circuited grid modernization to help the coal industry In 2018, Trump appointees short-circuited U.S. grid modernization to help the coal industry by suppressing the Interconnections Seam Study.

A few of the Energy Dept's new senior staff appointees also make cameos in @pfairley.bsky.social's excellent 2020 investigative feature on the suppression of a grid-interconnection study during the first Trump admin www.investigatewest.org/investigatew...

thanks for all your great reporting over those years, wishing you the best on your next chapter!

Under Biden, DOE’s Loan Programs Office issued 53 loans & loan guarantees worth over $107B for things like EV factories, a nuclear plant restart & aviation biofuel refineries. Now that's all under threat, @jeffstjohn.bsky.social & @danmccarthy.bsky.social report
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

Clean cement startup Brimstone can make another key material: alumina The U.S. imports lots of alumina, which is a key component of aluminum. Brimstone says it can produce the ingredient domestically using cleaner methods.

The US imports lots of alumina, a key part of aluminum—the lightweight metal used in everything from soda cans & smartphones to solar panels & (energy) storage systems. Startup Brimstone says it can make alumina at home w cleaner methods. Me for @canarymedia.com
www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

Your guide to the new and improved Canary Media — now teamed up with… Check out our increased regional and state coverage, new newsletters, and more, all thanks to our merger with the Energy News Network.

At least one nice thing is happening this week: @canarymedia.com's merger with ENN is official! Very excited that we're expanding our regional and state coverage and doubling down on clean energy reporting at this exact moment
www.canarymedia.com/articles/can...

Trump admin’s attack on clean energy and climate funding continues Federal funding portals are down. Binding contracts are at risk. And a legal battle is sure to come. What happens next?

A Friday morning reminder — the federal funding freeze continues. The Trump administration is still withholding energy and climate funds mandated by Congress in the IRA and IIJA and due to recipients under legally binding contracts. Here's the latest: www.canarymedia.com/articles/pol... #energysky

Are you following @canarymedia.com yet? If you care about the energy transition, you should be!

Let me demonstrate with the help of this week’s stories…

#energysky

Really interesting piece. Just learned a lot about how roads are built and what makes them uniquely vulnerable to climate change, depending on where they're located & what they're made from

Power companies pressure Trump EPA to roll back rules on toxic coal… A letter signed by executives from a dozen firms asks the EPA to let the companies off the hook for cleaning up scores of harmful coal-ash sites.

Meanwhile, execs from a dozen US power companies are asking Trump's just-confirmed EPA head Lee Zeldin to roll back federal regs on toxic coal ash—which can contaminate groundwater—and to rescind recent enforcement actions, Kari Lydersen reports in an exclusive www.canarymedia.com/articles/pol...