The Trump administration is eyeing additional major cuts to green energy projects beyond the billions of dollars that it has already halted.
A list that circulated in Washington this week and was reviewed by news outlets including The Hill detailed billions in further projects whose funds could be on the chopping block. It comes on top of $7.6 billion in cuts announced last week and $3.7 billion announced earlier in the year.
While the Energy Department says no final decisions have been made on which additional projects to cut, Secretary Chris Wright has said his department plans to cancel additional funding issued for green projects under the last administration.
“This is evaluations we’ve had ongoing, and we release these periodically. We released some announcements a few months ago, we’ll have many more coming this fall,” Wright recently told CNN on the $7.6 billion in funding cancellations.
“As this fall goes on, you’ll see cancellations in red and blue states,” he added.
The $7.6 billion included billions under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for “hydrogen hubs” in California and the Pacific Northwest.
After that, a list obtained by The Hill details hundreds of additional projects whose “latest status” is listed as “terminate.”
While the cancellations announced last week primarily affect projects in blue states, the new one contains additional and equivalent projects in red states.
The new list contains cancellations of billions of dollars in investment in hubs for carbon capture and hydrogen energy, as well as cancellations for red states themselves and utilities that operate there and grants for universities.
It was first reported on by Semafor, which said that it was described as a “kill list”. E&E News confirmed the list with seven people familiar with the Energy Department’s internal operations.
Energy Department spokesperson Ben Dietderich said in a statement that final decisions had not been made on further impacted projects.
“No determinations have been made other than what has been previously announced,” Dietderich said.
“As Secretary Wright made clear last week, the Department continues to conduct an individualized and thorough review of financial awards made by the previous administration. Rest assured, the Department is hard at work to deliver on President Trump’s promise to restore affordable, reliable, and secure energy to the American people,” he added.
However, the list met much criticism from supporters of such projects.
“DOE is slashing funding to American companies, investors, and communities across the U.S.,” Conrad Schneider, U.S. senior director at Clean Air Task Force, said in a written statement.
“Over the last several years, the U.S. has rightly invested in innovative energy projects that have supported economic growth and workforce development, strengthened global leadership, catalyzed additional investment in local economies, while positioning the country to meet rising energy demands and lowering electricity bills for consumers and businesses. Today’s move jeopardizes the investments and benefits that companies and investors have made,” Schneider added.
The blue state list released last week came amid a moment of particularly heightened partisan tensions during the ongoing government shutdown.
White House Office of Management Budget director Russell Vought, who has threatened federal layoffs during the shutdown, tweeted about the project cancellations impacting blue states.
However, the Energy Department’s review of Biden-era projects it may want to cancel has been longstanding.
Wright told Congress in May that the administration was looking to cancel previously funded projects based on a range of criteria, including whether they aligned with the Trump administration’s agenda.
“The simple little criteria we’re looking at is [is it] legal? … Is the technology viable? Is the engineering done competently? Is there a market for the thing that’s being built? Is there a financial model that that cofunding is coming in together with the DOE funding so the project can be complete, and does it add to national or economic security? … And is it aligned with this agenda?” he said at the time.
TheTrump administration has also repeatedly sought to put up barriers for other climate-friendly technologies, especially renewable energy.
In particular, the administration slashed billions of dollars in tax credits for renewables and has even tried to cancel prior approvals of offshore wind projects.
Other agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, have also sought to claw back previously appropriated green funds.
Source: The Hill