In 2003, a steel giant finally crumbled.
Once the second-largest steel manufacturer in the United States, Bethlehem Steel had filed for bankruptcy two years earlier. The cause of death was attributed, in part, to cheaper imports that ate into the domestic steel market.
But now, two brothers are resurrecting the Bethlehem Steel name, and they’re turning to K Street’s professional influencers for help.
The new Bethlehem Steel hired two sets of federal lobbyists this spring: a team of lobbyists at K&L Gates that includes former Rep. Michael Doyle (D-Pennsylvania), and another at Steptoe LLP that includes Kevin Garvey, a former senior trade official during President Donald Trump’s first term.
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Bethlehem Steel’s resurgence comes amid major changes in the domestic steel industry, including the recent merger of U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel and higher tariffs on steel imports that are steering business toward domestic producers.
“There’s increasing demand for American-made steel, and then what we saw with Nippon and U.S. Steel is those steelmakers that have a presence in America are much more valuable,” Brandon Farris, an executive vice president at the Steel Manufacturers Association, told NOTUS In a phone interview.
Bethlehem Steel declined interview requests through K&L Gates.
“We’re working to revitalize that company and bring it back and to be the sort of tip of the spear of the reinvigoration of American manufacturing,” James Ganley, who “re-founded” Bethlehem Steel with his brother, Micheál Ganely, told the independent media company RocaNews in December. “The rest of American manufacturing is dependent on a company like this being able to come back.”
Government documents give some clues about the new Bethlehem Steel’s emergence.
Bethlehem Steel Corporation was incorporated by A Registered Agent, Inc. in October 2024 in Delaware, according to the company’s certificate of incorporation.
At that point, Trump was still a few weeks away from winning the 2024 election.
But one policy from his first term had already planted seeds for the regrowth of the domestic steel industry, according to Farris.
In 2018, the Trump administration slapped a 25% tariff on imported steel, making it more expensive to import foreign steel and nudging buyers toward domestic steel.
In June 2025, months into his second term, Trump increased steel tariffs to 50%. Steel product imports have since declined from 13.3 million metric tons for the calendar year ending June 2025 to 10.3 million metric tons for the year ending June 2026, according to Census Bureau data.
Meanwhile, domestic steel production was up 5.7% between Jan. 1 and Aug. 8 this year, or nearly 5.1 million metric tons, compared to the same period 2025, according to the most recent data published by the American Iron and Steel Institute.
“We have another 4 million tons that’s expected to come online over the next two years,” said Farris, citing data tracked internally by the Steel Manufacturers Association.
Declan Ganley, CEO of Rivada Networks, announced in an X post last February — around two weeks after Trump was sworn in for a second term — that his sons had “secured the name Bethlehem Steel” and “want to make it the Tesla of steel.”
Micheál Ganley, a former nominations counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee under the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, signed the amended statement of incorporation in November 2025.
Micheál and James Ganley also stood up a branch of the business in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, last October, according to state incorporation records. Micheál is the CEO while James is president, according to their LinkedIn pages.
It’s not whether the company has begun large-scale commercial steel production. Its hired lobbyists have so far sought funding opportunities while connecting with government officials on capacity issues, according to federal lobbying records.
Bethlehem Steel paid K&L Gates $60,000 between April 1 and June 30 to lobby on “funding opportunities and incentives for project” during the second quarter, the records indicate. The lobbyists disclosed lobbying the Senate, Export-Import Bank of the United States, Department of Energy, Office of Management & Budget, U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce.
Steptoe reported receiving less than $5,000 to lobby the Department of Commerce on ”industrial capacity and procurement issues,” according to the firm’s second quarter filing.
Neither Micheál nor James Ganley responded to a list of questions from NOTUS, including what specific project they were working on or the status of the business.
“Not knowing exactly what Bethlehem’s looking for, I can tell you the equipment piece, writing off the equipment, is something that’s big for every one of our members making investments,” Farris told NOTUS.
He also said “the credit for building a new manufacturing facility is also something that our members are looking into heavily.”
Bethlehem Steel’s lobbying operation remains relatively modest compared to other steel giants. The top three domestic steel producers last year were Nucor, Cleveland Cliffs and U.S. Steel, according to the International Trade Administration.
Nucor spent $510,000 on federal lobbying during the second quarter of 2026. The company also hired Miller Strategies, run by prominent Republican lobbyist Jeff Miller, in June to lobby on “issues related to steel production.”
Cleveland Cliffs spent $630,000 during the second quarter of 2026 to lobby on a range of issues including “maintenance and strengthening of Section 232 steel and auto/auto parts tariffs,” according to federal lobbying records. Cleveland Cliffs has significantly increased its lobbying spending from $630,000 during the first six months of 2025 to nearly $1.3 million through the same period in 2026.
U.S. Steel spent $270,000 during the second quarter of 2026 to lobby on a range of issues, including “U.S. manufacturing strategy” and national security issues, according to its most recent lobbying disclosure. The steel giant spent $1 million during the same period last year as it pushed the Trump administration to approve its merger with Nippon Steel, which was finalized in June 2025.
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