The Trump administration has confirmed in court documents that it canceled $7.6 billion in grants meant for clean energy projects based on the political leanings of the states involved. The affected states, 16 in total, had voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. This admission contrasts with earlier statements by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other officials, who claimed that the cancellations were due to inadequate project performance or other investment concerns.
Democratic representatives and environmental organizations have spotlighted this court filing. They accuse the administration of using federal resources to harm jobs and penalize families based on their political preferences. According to Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, both high-ranking Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations committees, the admissions confirm what they perceived as an obvious political bias. They criticize the administration’s actions as a misuse of federal power, harming families already facing high costs.
In October, the Energy Department announced the termination of 321 funding awards across 223 projects, claiming they either failed to advance energy needs or lacked economic viability. These cuts align with broader climate and clean energy funding reductions by President Donald Trump. Notably, projects aimed at building battery plants, developing hydrogen technology, upgrading the electric grid, and capturing carbon dioxide emissions were affected.
Russell Vought, White House budget director, supported the cutbacks on social media, stating that funding for the ‘Left’s climate agenda’ was being halted. The Energy Department has not responded to requests for comment about this action.
The cuts impacted projects across several states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, and others, all of which voted for Harris. Despite this, Energy Secretary Wright described the cuts as business decisions, unrelated to the states’ political leanings. The funding terminations faced immediate legal challenges, prompting more than two dozen Democratic members of Congress to demand an investigation by the Energy Department’s acting inspector general. The internal watchdog began examining the matter in December.
Court documents from last year confirmed that the grant selections were influenced by whether a grantee’s location was in a state favoring Democratic candidates. This admission appeared in a lawsuit involving clean energy groups and the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, against the funding cuts. A similar disclosure emerged in the ongoing Thakur v. Trump case, highlighting how federal lawyers used criteria like diversity and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy to screen projects against the administration’s priorities.
Holly Bender, chief program officer for the Sierra Club, criticized the administration’s actions. She claims the intentional cancellations disregard job losses, air pollution, and rising utility costs impacting people nationwide. Instead of supporting necessary energy projects, the administration’s decisions seem to benefit fossil fuel executives, evidenced by $3 billion being redirected from offshore wind projects to fossil fuels like natural gas and coal.
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