Nearly $7.6 billion worth of previously awarded energy decarbonization projects—reportedly targeting mostly Democratic-led Congressional districts and many approved late in President Biden’s term—have been terminated by the Trump Administration this month.
All of these terminations involved grant or loan guarantees already moving forward, for more than 220 clean energy projects. The technologies for these projects now thrown into limbo included hydrogen, solar energy, carbon capture, electrification, utility interconnection and electric vehicle charging, among others.
The Trump Administration has not been shy in opposing Biden-era clean energy projects.
Democratic party documents detailing those projects losing DOE support reported the cuts focused mainly on 16 Democratic states. The Energy Department statement said its rationale was purely financial, not political.
“On day one, the Energy Department began the critical task of reviewing billions of dollars in financial awards, many rushed through in the final months of the Biden administration with inadequate documentation by any reasonable business standard,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in an October 1 statement. “President Trump promised to protect taxpayer dollars and expand America’s supply of affordable, reliable, and secure energy.
“Today’s cancellations deliver on that commitment,” Wright added. “Rest assured, the Energy Department will continue reviewing awards to ensure that every dollar works for the American people.”
Those terminated projects were evaluated and determined not to meet the administration’s standards for economics, national security or energy security, according to the DOE announcement. The administration has shown some support to battery storage, fuel cell and small nuclear project efforts.
Project developers can appeal the terminations by the end of this month. Those terminated total 223 projects across the nation.
Among those entities now scrambling to either appeal the termination, find alternate funding or stop the project include Electric Power Research Institute, the University of Vermont, Washington State University, Ballard, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, University of Hawaii, American Lung Association, CalStart, Daimler Truck North America, Pacificorp., Deere and Co., Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Fuel Cell Energy, Linde, University of Maryland, GKN Hydrogen and more.
A website run by the Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee criticized the broad and what it sees as politically punitive nature of the terminations. Some of these projects are underway and will result in worker layoffs.
“The termination of these critical energy projects will increase energy prices, eliminate jobs, and make the energy grid less reliable,” reads the Democratic Appropriations Committee page. “Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought) canceled these projects despite the fact that DOE currently remains open and fully operational using unexpired financial resources (during the government shutdown). The terminated projects were previously appropriated and competitively selected. These awards are relevant to 136 Members of Congress, including 108 Democrats and 28 Republicans.”
During the first nine months of the Trump Administration, energy policy has been redirected favorable to fossil fuel and nuclear energy projects. The Department of Interior also issued a stop-work order on an offshore Atlantic Coast wind power project which was nearly completed and previously approved by the same agencies.
Earlier this year, the American Society of Civil Engineers' quadrennial infrastructure report graded U.S. energy infrastructure as a D+, saying the nation was more than $1 trillion behind in needed capital investment to prepare for the future of data center and electrification demand.
