Watt’s Happening aims to provide breaking news, sharp analysis, and thoughtful commentary from the cutting edge of the energy sector as this dynamic area of the world continues to expand and grow before our eyes.
Weekly Highlights:
Green Steel Production Returns to Middle America?
A major part of President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign was to use tariffs to encourage companies to produce things in America again. Indeed, representatives from Nippon Steel, which had recently made headlines regarding its purchase of US Steel, announced that the company planned to build a $4 billion steel plant in an as-of-yet undisclosed location. In November, Nippon Steel representatives also announced that they also planned to have an iron plant at the Big River Steel Works campus in Osceola, Arkansas. It is this plant that might prove to be the vanguard of a new wave of green steel plants across the United States.
China’s Spreads Green Energy Abroad…
The good news is that China’s investment money is serving the purpose of spreading the good news of green energy abroad. For instance, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. is building what might be Europe’s largest battery factory outside of Debrecen, Hungary. That’s the good news. The bad news is the pollution and waste that will be produced as a byproduct of the manufacturing process. That has yet to be addressed, and some Hungarians fear a return to the pollution attained during the Soviet rule of yesteryear.
Higher Electric Bills Roil the Nation
According to the organization Climate Power, energy bills have risen by thirteen percent over the course of 2025, and, at least according to Climate Power, the “Big, Beautiful Bill” is to blame for “removing cheaper, cleaner energy sources from the grid, all while funding new tax breaks for the oil and gas industries.” Others point to the old culprit — energy-hungry data centers and rising demand, especially due to the presence of ever-more intense heatwaves in the summer.
New NDAA Clears Congress
While much of the policy world is focused on the new National Defense Authorization Act that was just passed by the Senate and sent to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature, relatively few people have noticed its energy-related dimensions. Indeed, it strongly reflects President Trump’s energy dominance plan, with many provisions targeting critical minerals and the onshoring of nuclear power.
Department of Energy Embraces Nuclear Fusion
Representative Don Beyer (D-VA), along with Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Lori Trahan (D-MA), all of whom chair the House Fusion Energy Caucus, recently introduced legislation to establish an Office of Fusion at the Department of Energy. In the meantime, companion legislation was introduced in the Senate as well. Indeed, nuclear fusion (despite many critics, including Elon Musk) seems to be the clear, bipartisan path forward towards clean and safe energy.
About the Author: Toni Mikec
Toni Mikec is the managing editor for Energy World, a publication of the Center for the National Interest. Before that, he worked as a political consultant for Your Voter Guide in Sacramento and as a senior editor at Eagle Financial Publications in Washington, DC. He holds a B.A. in International Relations (summa cum laude) from the University of California, Davis and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Image: Shutterstock/Hari Mahidhar
