The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday announced it has terminated $7.56 billion in financial awards to 223 clean energy projects — all in states that voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
“Following a thorough, individualized financial review, DOE determined that these projects 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 agency said in a statement.
A list of impacted projects was not immediately available. DOE said award recipients have 30 days to appeal a termination decision and “some of the projects included in this announcement have already begun that process.”
In total, DOE said it terminated 321 financial awards issued by the Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Grid Deployment, Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and Fossil Energy.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said DOE has been working to review “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.”
Of the financial awards terminated, DOE said 26% were awarded between Election Day and Inauguration Day. “Those awards alone were valued at over $3.1 billion,” the agency said.
Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in a post on X that the terminated projects were in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
“Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled,” Vought wrote.
Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocates said DOE’s funding cancellation is illegal, and an example of a presidential administration executing a political vendetta that will hurt all Americans.
“Our democracy is badly broken when a president can illegally suspend projects for Blue states in order to punish his political enemies,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wrote on X.
Vought, who also warned the administration would make mass firings of federal employees in the coming days if the shutdown continued, did not specify which projects the administration was targeting.
The Energy Department later on Wednesday said it terminated 321 awards supporting 223 projects, worth about $7.56 billion. Roughly a quarter of those were awarded between Election Day and Inauguration Day, the department said.
DOE did not provide a list of the impacted projects. A senior administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly said funding for wind, solar and EV charging projects would be cut, but referred to DOE for more specifics. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that the cuts would also include the Arches hydrogen hub project in California, and a Bloomberg News report also listed another hydrogen project in the Pacific Northwest would be cut.
In fact, it is the red states that overwhelmingly have benefitted from the federal government’s infusion of clean energy money, according to a report released today by E2, a national nonpartisan group of more than 10,000 business leaders that advocates for a cleaner economy and environment.
Friday marks two years since Biden inked his signature on the IRA. Companies have announced roughly 330 clean energy and vehicle projects since that time, efforts that could create 109,278 jobs and bring in a whopping $126 billion in private investments, if completed, according to the E2 report.
E2’s report breaks down IRA-boosted projects by state, sector and industry as well as by congressional district. It found that “nearly 60% of the announced projects — representing 85% of the investments and 68% of the jobs — are in Republican congressional districts.”