The Department of Energy said Wednesday night it was canceling 321 awards worth $7.56 billion that were largely focused on clean energy.
The agency hasn’t publicly released a list of the affected projects and, at the time of publication, it had not provided one to TechCrunch. According to E&E News and Heatmap, which have obtained the list, the majority of the cuts have hit states that went for Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, though some were in “red” states that voted for President Trump.
Direct air capture and hydrogen hub projects appear to have been wiped out as a result. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that one of the canceled projects included $1.2 billion for the state’s hydrogen hub, the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems, and E&E News is reporting that hubs in Texas and Louisiana were also on the chopping block.
At least 10 direct air capture (DAC) projects totaling $47.3 million were cut, though those in Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Dakota have survived. The oil and gas industry has been supportive of DAC projects because the captured CO 2 can be injected into underperforming oil wells to boost production.
Other states affected by the billions in 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 Harris-voting states with canceled projects were confirmed in a tweet from Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget. He teased the cancellations earlier yesterday in an apparent effort to deepen partisanship during the shutdown, adding that “the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.”
All 16 states that he listed voted for Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, and many are controlled by Democrats at the state level. Conspicuously, Vought omitted Trump-voting states that were on the list.
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The awards were originally granted by the office for 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 said 26% of the awards were granted between Election Day and Inauguration Day in January; the president’s authority doesn’t end after Election Day, but runs until Inauguration Day.
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