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Saturday, 22 August 2026

11 briefs so farlast update 18:52 UTC

Key points

  • DOE Puts USD 500 Million Behind Rescoped Cleveland-Cliffs Blast Furnace Upgrade in Ohio.
  • Interior Unit Sets November Auction for First US Deep-Sea Mining Leases off American Samoa.
  • China Orders Door-Unlock Recalls at Eleven Automakers Covering Over Four Million Cars.
  • Texas Railroad Commission Drops Guaranteed Public Comment at Open Meetings.
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Policy & Geopolitics

Texas Railroad Commission Drops Guaranteed Public Comment at Open Meetings

The Texas Railroad Commission, the state's oil and gas regulator, adopted a participation policy that ends guaranteed public comment at its open meetings, Inside Climate News reported. Under the change, a commissioner must individually request a public comment agenda item, and if none does, no public comment is guaranteed.

The vote split the three-member panel. Commissioner Christi Craddick opposed the policy, saying she thought people should have the opportunity to speak at open meetings, according to Inside Climate News. Commissioners Wayne Christian and Jim Wright supplied the votes that carried the motion.

The agency's name has drawn scrutiny before. A Texas Sunset Advisory Commission Review, which evaluated state agencies, recommended in 2016-17 that the Railroad Commission change its name to "eliminate confusion" and "increase transparency," per Inside Climate News. The commission has not acted on that recommendation.

Source: insideclimatenews.org (opens in a new tab)1 sourcePermalink

Policy & Geopolitics

Interior Unit Sets November Auction for First US Deep-Sea Mining Leases off American Samoa

Federal waters off American Samoa would host the nation's first commercial deep-sea mining lease sale under plans being advanced by the Marine Minerals Administration, a unit of the Department of the Interior, with polymetallic nodules the target resource, according to Offshore Magazine.

A tentative sale date of November 19, 2026 appears in a proposed leasing notice, which puts two blocks covering more than 31 million acres on the block, Offshore Magazine reported.

Bidders would face a floor of USD 3 million per block, according to Offshore Magazine. Awarded leases carry a 20-year term, and royalties start at 2% of mineral production value for five years before stepping up to 5%.

President Donald Trump's 2025 executive orders on expanding domestic critical minerals output sit behind the program, which began with an unsolicited lease request from California-based Impossible Metals, Offshore Magazine reported.

Mapping work preceded the notice. NOAA spent roughly USD 20 million on a hydrographic survey spanning more than 30,000 square nautical miles of the area, according to Offshore Magazine.

Earthjustice filed suit on August 18, 2026 in the US District Court for the District of Hawaii, acting for Fa'asao Amerika Samoa and the Conservation Council for Hawai'i, and challenging a National Marine Fisheries Service determination.

Source: offshore-mag.com (opens in a new tab)1 sourcePermalink

Dark polymetallic nodules scattered across pale sediment on the deep ocean floor lit faintly from above.
AI-generated image

Policy & Geopolitics

DOE Puts USD 500 Million Behind Rescoped Cleveland-Cliffs Blast Furnace Upgrade in Ohio

A USD 500 million federal award will back a USD 1 billion investment at the Middletown Works facility run by Cleveland-Cliffs in Middletown, Ohio, the U.S. Department of Energy said.

DOE said the award safeguards 2,300 jobs at the site and backs the domestic steel supply chain.

The project reaching construction is not the one first planned. Buyers were unwilling to pay a "green premium" for steel, and on that basis the steelmaker concluded the original scope no longer held up commercially, according to DOE. The company and the department then settled on a different route: keep the existing coal-fired blast furnace and raise its efficiency instead of swapping it out.

Under the revised plan, co-product blast furnace gas from the site will be captured and sold rather than lost.

DOE said crews will break ground at Middletown Works within weeks.

Source: energy.gov (opens in a new tab)1 sourcePermalink