US slashes funding for hydrogen projects
Hydrogen projects in Democratic states are facing major financial cuts, with clean energy across the US at risk.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is reportedly preparing to cancel all remaining grants under the hydrogen hubs programme, according to POLITICO’s E&E News. The grants total to over $20 billion supporting more than 600 clean energy projects, including all five remaining regional hydrogen hubs supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The full list of terminations has not been confirmed or denied by the DOE.
$7.6bn has already been cancelled across clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for the Democrats in last year’s presidential election. Democratic senator Patty Murray has referred to the move as “a blatant attempt to punish the political opposition”.
Which projects are at risk?
The existing cuts include up to $1.2bn for California’s hydrogen hub and up to $1bn for a hydrogen project in the Pacific north-west. However, projects in Texas, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania were spared, according to clean energy supporters who obtained a list of DOE targets.
The full list of reported terminations is unconfirmed, but may put risk to the remaining hydrogen hubs across the Gulf Coast, Midwest, Appalachia, and Intermountain West. These hubs are seen as cornerstones of Biden’s decarbonisation strategy and established hydrogen as a major player in the US clean energy plan.
How does this reflect earlier changes?
Plans to revoke $13bn in Biden-era funding for green projects were announced last month by US energy secretary Chris Wright. He cited lowering household energy costs as the reason for the change.
In the briefing on the 24 September, Wright said: “No more cancel culture – you can’t say anything about climate change or you’d be shouted down.”
The Trump administration has not had a positive relationship with climate action and clean energy in the past. 13 million acres in Alaska lost federal protection from oil and gas drilling in June, and just last month, the DOE advised workers to avoid using the words “climate change”, “energy transition”, and “‘clean’ or ‘dirty’ energy”.
What has been said?
Russ Vought, the White House budget director, suggested that the recent cuts to funding was money “to fuel the Left’s climate agenda [is] being cancelled”.
California governor Gavin Newsom said, “In Trump’s America, energy policy is set by the highest bidder, economics and common sense be damned. Clean hydrogen deserves to be part of California’s energy future — creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs and saving billions in health costs. We’ll continue to pursue an all-of-the above clean energy strategy that powers our future and cleans the air, no matter what DC tries to dictate.”
Newsom suggested the cuts will threaten over 200,000 jobs.
What’s next?
Despite the list being unconfirmed, Wright has suggested that other hydrogen proposals in West Virginia, Texas and Louisiana are under evaluation, and more cancellations are ahead.
“We’ve announced project cancellations before in red and blue states. And as this fall goes on, you’ll see cancellations in red and blue states,” Wright said. “We’ve got to save Americans money.”
President Trump said in an interview with One America News this month that “favorite projects” of the Democrats may be “permanently cut”.
“We could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they’d be permanently cut. I am allowed to cut things that should have never been approved in the first place and I will probably do that.”
