The Trump administration has canceled almost $8 billion in federal funding for sustainable energy projects that were set to move forward across more than a dozen states.
What’s happening?
The U.S. Department of Energy announced in early October that it was terminating 321 awards for 223 projects, saying it had determined the efforts “did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”
The now-canceled projects were planned to happen mostly in 16 states that President Donald Trump lost in the last election, namely California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
The initiatives were intended to advance hydrogen technology, enhance battery plants, update the electric grid, and improve carbon capture, according to the Associated Press.
The news agency observed that the cancellations come as Trump “threatens deep cuts in his fight with congressional Democrats over the government shutdown,” which followed the failure of the U.S. Congress to pass federal funding legislation before the fiscal year deadline, with disagreements largely along party lines.
White House budget director Russell Vought posted on social media that funding “to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled,” per the AP.
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Democratic senator Patty Murray of Washington state, noting that the project terminations appeared to have been in the works for months, said in a statement, “This is a blatant attempt to punish the political opposition.”
Why are the cancellations concerning?
Numerous climate programs and cleaner, more sustainable energy projects have already hit the federal chopping block so far in 2025. Many advocates have seen the funding cuts as direct blows to advancing renewable technology and addressing America’s increasing energy demands.
The costs of delaying these efforts could be far-reaching, hampering resilience for a strained power grid, leaving consumer utility bills to rise, letting U.S. reliance on foreign energy sources continue, and walking back the fight against heat-trapping pollution.
Investments to scale up more sustainable alternatives to oil, coal, and gas could also strengthen the U.S. position in the tech marketplace. With some of the now-canceled awards originally set to fund hydrogen projects, it’s worth noting that there can be significant drawbacks to the energy source, particularly when dirty fossil fuels are a part of the production process. But “green hydrogen” produced with renewable energy could help to diversify the energy mix. And Greg Keoleian, a professor and hydrogen expert at the University of Michigan, told the New York Times that the canceled funding was set to help the country compete with China and Europe.
What’s being done?
The DOE’s October 2 announcement said award recipients would have 30 days to appeal a termination. The Times noted, meanwhile, that if an appeal is unsuccessful in overturning a project termination, “recipients could potentially sue the Energy Department, much as award cancellations by the Environmental Protection Agency have faced legal challenges.”
As award recipients potentially consider the appeals process and legal action, individual states and the private sector appear committed to advancing more sustainable energy technology all the same.
“While the announcement is disappointing, it does not change the fundamentals,” Chris Green, president of the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association, wrote on LinkedIn after the DOE announced the cancellations. Green continued: “The future of hydrogen is not decided by Washington, D.C., alone. It is being shaped every day by nations and industries around the world that see the value of hydrogen to a host of industry verticals and a more resilient energy economy.”
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