Support the Bill to Clean Up the Steel Industry

Please co-sponsor the Modern Steel Act to propel this vital U.S. industry into the future.

I am writing to ask for you to co-sponsor and support Representative Ro Khanna’s Modern Steel Act. This bill is important to communities like ours because it promotes the country’s competitiveness in producing iron and steel—a must for a prosperous modern economy—all while reducing pollution that heats the planet and makes workers and families sick. The U.S. is stepping to the plate to clean up ironmaking. One promising alternative to pricey and polluting steelmaking is a pollution-free hydrogen-based process, which produces water as a byproduct. The technology dramatically reduces negative health impacts and makes it possible to completely eliminate the iron and steel industry’s climate emissions. This process was already successfully piloted and due to funding in the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a major facility leveraging the technology is planned in Mississippi to support steelmaking in Iowa and leverage hydrogen production in the Gulf South. In addition to climate and public health benefits, these new technologies promise to boost the productivity of the U.S. steel industry and protect good union jobs. Steel companies in other parts of the world have been catching up to U.S. producers by copying what has worked here: electrification and greater recycling. These practices had been the key behind the American steel industry’s global competitiveness in both sustainability and efficiency. Adopting new ironmaking technologies as quickly as possible will give the domestic steel industry an important leg-up to stay competitive in the global market, especially as the European Union and the United Kingdom prepare to levy a tax on our steel and iron exports based on their emissions intensity, and countries ranging from Japan to Australia consider following suit. Rep. Khanna’s Modern Steel Act: Shares the cost of building new facilities and refitting existing steel mills with equipment that does not use expensive and polluting fuels to accelerate domestic innovation. Protects and creates good union jobs in the very manufacturing communities left behind by generations of bad trade deals Gives community residents agency to determine the benefits they want industry to direct to their neighborhoods We have no time to waste—economic prosperity, good jobs, healthy communities, a liveable climate, and national security are on the line. We need public support to make the transition to competitive clean steel possible now. Please co-sponsor the Modern Steel Act to propel this vital U.S. industry into the future.