The Trump administration has revealed in court documents that it canceled $7.6 billion in grants for clean energy projects. These cancellations affected projects in 16 states that supported Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
This statement stands in opposition to previous declarations by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other officials. They had claimed that cancellations were due to the projects not sufficiently advancing national energy requirements or having other issues making them unworthy investments of taxpayer funds.
“This administration has now admitted in court what has long been obvious: it terminated nearly 300 cost-cutting energy projects for no reason other than the fact that the states they were in did not vote for the president in the 2024 election,” stated Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state.
Both representatives are prominent Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations committees. They accused the administration of “weaponizing” government resources, punishing families based on political affiliation.
The Energy Department previously announced in October the termination of 321 funding awards across 223 projects. Officials claimed these projects did not adequately serve national energy needs or were not economically viable. This move was part of broader attempts by President Trump to cut climate programs and clean energy funding.
White House Budget Director Russell Vought criticized the funding as supporting a “climate agenda” not aligned with Trump administration priorities. Despite inquiries, the Energy Department has not commented.
The cuts affected projects in multiple states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
Legal challenges quickly emerged, with over two dozen Democratic members of Congress requesting a formal probe from the Energy Department’s inspector general. An investigation began in December.
Earlier, government lawyers confirmed in filings that grant selections were influenced by whether recipients were based in states typically voting for Democratic candidates. These specifics were revealed through a case called Thakur v. Trump, ongoing since last spring.
According to the Sierra Club’s Holly Bender, this approach results in canceled infrastructure projects at the expense of economic stability. Instead of advancing clean energy, billions intended for these projects benefit a few fossil fuel companies instead. The Trump administration allocated nearly $3 billion to fossil fuel projects like natural gas and coal, sidelining offshore wind initiatives.