Department of Energy cancels $7.5B of clean energy projects in mostly blue states
The Department of Energy said Wednesday night it was canceling 321 awards worth $7.56 billion that were largely focused on clean energy.
The agency hasn’t publicly released a list of the affected projects and, at the time of publication, it had not provided one to TechCrunch. According to E&E News and Heatmap, which have obtained the list, the majority of the cuts have hit states that went for Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, though some were in “red” states that voted for President Trump.
Direct air capture and hydrogen hub projects appear to have been wiped out as a result. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that one of the canceled projects included $1.2 billion for the state’s hydrogen hub, the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems, and E&E News is reporting that hubs in Texas and Louisiana were also on the chopping block.
At least 10 direct air capture (DAC) projects totaling $47.3 million were cut, though those in Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Dakota have survived. The oil and gas industry has been supportive of DAC projects because the captured CO2 can be injected into underperforming oil wells to boost production.
Other states affected by the billions in canceled contracts include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington.
The Harris-voting states with canceled projects were confirmed in a tweet from Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget. He teased the cancellations earlier yesterday in an apparent effort to deepen partisanship during the shutdown, adding that “the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.”
All 16 states that he listed voted for Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, and many are controlled by Democrats at the state level. Conspicuously, Vought omitted Trump-voting states that were on the list.
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The awards were originally granted by the office for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Clean Energy Demonstrations, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fossil Energy, Grid Deployment, and Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains.
The Department of Energy said 26% of the awards were granted between Election Day and Inauguration Day in January; the president’s authority doesn’t end after Election Day, but runs until Inauguration Day.
The awardees have 30 days to appeal the decision.
The Trump administration has made no secret that it wants to undermine any transition away from fossil fuels. Last week, the Department of Energy banned staffers from using certain words, including “climate change” and “emissions.”
In May, the agency canceled $3.7 billion worth of clean energy and manufacturing awards. Those cancellations spanned a broad list of industries, from metal manufacturing and cement companies to power plant operators and chemical plants run by fossil fuel giants.
The Trump administration’s aggressive cancellations have prompted many awardees to sue the government to retain the awards. The Environmental Protection Agency, which was quick to cancel contracts worth $20 billion, has been an early target of legal action. So far, the plaintiffs have had mixed success.
While a federal district court said the EPA’s actions were “arbitrary and capricious,” an appellate court ruled in favor of the agency, saying that the contract cancellations were valid and showed the government exercising “proper oversight and management.”
In the instance of the recent DOE cancellations, several award recipients have already appealed the decision, the agency confirmed.
Update: The article and headline have been updated to include further details about which states and programs are affected.
Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. He has written for a wide range of publications, including Wired magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Ars Technica, The Wire China, and NOVA Next, where he was founding editor.
De Chant is also a lecturer in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, and he was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2018, during which time he studied climate technologies and explored new business models for journalism. He received his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA degree in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College.
You can contact or verify outreach from Tim by emailing tim.dechant@techcrunch.com.
