On Wednesday night, the Department of Energy announced the cancellation of 321 awards worth 7.56 billion dollars. These awards were largely focused on clean energy projects. The agency has not publicly released a list of the affected projects and had not provided one to TechCrunch at the time of publication.
According to reports from E&E News and Heatmap, which obtained the list, the majority of the cuts impacted states that voted for Kamala Harris in the last presidential election. However, some projects in red states that voted for President Trump were also canceled.
Direct air capture and hydrogen hub projects appear to have been significantly affected. California Governor Gavin Newsom stated that one canceled project included 1.2 billion dollars for the state’s hydrogen hub, known as the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems. Additional reporting indicates that hydrogen hubs in Texas and Louisiana were also canceled.
At least ten direct air capture projects, totaling 47.3 million dollars, were cut. However, projects located in Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Dakota have survived. The oil and gas industry has often supported direct air capture projects because the captured carbon dioxide can be used to enhance oil production in underperforming wells.
Other states affected by the 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 list of Harris-voting states with canceled projects was confirmed in a public statement from Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget. He teased the cancellations earlier in the day, commenting that the Left’s climate agenda is being canceled. All sixteen states he listed voted for Kamala Harris, and many are controlled by Democrats at the state level. Notably, his statement omitted any mention of Trump-voting states that were on the cancellation list.
The awards were originally granted by several offices within the Department of Energy, including 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 noted that twenty-six percent of the awards were granted between Election Day and Inauguration Day in January. The president’s authority to make such awards continues until Inauguration Day. Awardees now have thirty days to appeal the decision.
The Trump administration has been clear about its intent to undermine a transition away from fossil fuels. Last week, the Department of Energy banned its staff from using specific words, including climate change and emissions.
This follows a previous action in May, when the agency canceled 3.7 billion dollars worth of clean energy and manufacturing awards. Those cancellations affected a wide range of industries, from metal manufacturing and cement companies to power plant operators and chemical plants run by fossil fuel companies.
The administration’s aggressive cancellation of awards has prompted many recipients to sue the government to retain their funding. The Environmental Protection Agency, which quickly canceled contracts worth twenty billion dollars, has been an early target of this legal action. The plaintiffs have had mixed success so far.
While a federal district court ruled that the EPA’s actions were arbitrary and capricious, an appellate court later ruled in favor of the agency. The appellate court stated that the contract cancellations were valid and demonstrated the government exercising proper oversight and management.
Regarding the recent Department of Energy cancellations, the agency confirmed that several award recipients have already filed appeals.