The Department of Energy said Wednesday night it had cancelled 321 awards worth $7.56 billion, largely focusing on clean energy.
The agency did not publish a list of affected projects and did not provide it to TechCrunch at the time of publication. Most of the cuts have hit states that went to Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, but some were in the “red” states that voted for President Trump, according to E&E News and Heatmap.
As a result, it appears that direct air capture and hydrogen hub projects have been wiped out. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said one of the cancelled projects includes $1.2 billion in the state's hydrogen hub, the Alliance of Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems, with E&E News reporting that Texas and Louisiana hubs were also on the chopping block.
Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana and North Dakota have cut at least 10 direct air capture (DAC) projects totaling $47.3 million. The oil and gas industry is supporting DAC projects by allowing captured CO2 to be injected into low-performance oil wells to accelerate production.
Other states affected by billions of people with cancelled contracts include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Belmont and Washington.
The state voting for Harris with cancelled projects was confirmed in a tweet from Russell Vote, director of the Office of Management and Budget. He teased the cancellation yesterday with obvious efforts to deepen partisanship during the closure, adding that “the climate agenda on the left has been cancelled.”
All 16 he listed voted for Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, many being dominated by state-level Democrats. Standing out, Vought omitted the states that voted for Trump that were on the list.
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The award was originally awarded by the office for advanced research projects energy, clean energy demonstrations, energy efficiency and renewable energy, fossil energy, grid deployment, manufacturing and energy supply chains.
The Department of Energy said 26% of the awards were awarded between election and inauguration dates in January. The president's authority will not end after election day, but will run until inauguration.
Winners will have 30 days to appeal the decision.
The Trump administration has kept its secret that it hopes to undermine the transition from fossil fuels. Last week, the Department of Energy banned staff from using certain words such as “climate change” and “emissions.”
In May, the agency cancelled $3.7 billion worth of clean energy and manufacturing awards. These cancellations ranged across a wide range of industry lists, from metal manufacturers and cement companies to plant operators and chemical plants run by the fossil fuel giant.
The Trump administration's aggressive cancellation has prompted many recipients to sues the government and maintain the award. The Environmental Protection Agency, which promptly cancelled a $20 billion worth of contract, has become an early target for legal action. So far, the plaintiffs have had a variety of successes.
The federal district court said the EPA's actions were “arbitrary and whimsical,” but the appeals court ruled in favour of the agency, saying that cancellation of the contract was valid, indicating that the government would exercise “appropriate monitoring and control.”
In the recent example of DOE cancellation, several award winners have already appealed the decision, the agency confirmed.
Update: Articles and headlines have been updated, with details on which states and programs will be affected.