Trump Administration Says It Will Cut $8 Billion For Climate Projects In Blue States, Including California’s Hydrogen Hub

• Trump Administration Cuts $8 Billion In Climate Project Funding Across 16 Democratic States, Including California’s Effort To Develop Clean Hydrogen Energy

• All affected states voted against Trump in 2024, while Republican states with similar projects remain unaffected by cuts.

• Democrats denounce the move as political retaliation, with Senator Schiff calling it illegal punishment of political enemies.

The Trump administration on Wednesday said it will cut billions of dollars in funding for energy projects in Democratic states — including California’s massive effort to develop clean hydrogen energy.

“Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being canceled,” said Russell Vought, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, in a post on X.

“The projects are in the following states: CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA,” Vought said.

All 16 states listed did not vote for Trump in the 2024 election.

In a news release, the U.S. Department of Energy confirmed that it had terminated more than 300 financial awards associated with 223 projects, amounting to $7.56 billion. The department did not specify the project names or locations, but said the awards had been issued by multiple offices, including the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

California officials said the state’s hydrogen hub, the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES), was among the cuts. The hub had received $1.2 billion in federal grant funding from the Biden administration as part of a competitive nationwide effort to develop hydrogen projects that can replace planet-warming fossil fuels.

The announcement came only days after the Energy Department said it was ramping up the production of fossil fuels, including opening 13 million acres of federal lands for coal mining and providing $625 million to recommission or modernize coal-fired power plants.

“In Trump’s America, energy policy is set by the highest bidder, economics and common sense be damned,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “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 D.C. tries to dictate.”

According to the Energy Department, the projects were canceled following a review that found they did not “adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”

About a quarter of the awards had been issued by the Biden administration between election day in November and Trump’s inauguration in January, the agency said.

California Sen. Adam Schiff said the cancellations amount to political retaliation.

“Our democracy is badly broken when a president can illegally suspend projects for Blue states in order to punish his political enemies,” Schiff wrote on X. “They continue to break the law, and expect us to go along. Hell no.”

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) described the move as “purely vindictive” and said it will result in higher energy prices across the country.

“Terminating critical energy projects in Democratic states weaponizes policy for political revenge and will only drive energy bills higher, increase unemployment, and eliminate jobs,” DeLauro said in a statement. “It is reckless and betrays both common sense and public trust.”

California and other states on Vought’s list have been working to advance clean energy projects such as solar power and offshore wind. Republican states working on similar efforts — such as Texas, the largest producer of wind energy in the U.S. — were not among Vought’s list of cuts, despite also receiving funding from the Department of Energy.

ARCHES was one of seven regional hydrogen-power hubs to which the Biden administration had awarded funding. The others were in the Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Northwest, Midwest, Appalachia, Texas, and a “heartland” hub spread across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. It was not immediately clear whether the hubs in other Democratic states were among Wednesday’s cuts. ARCHES has also raised more than $10 billion in private funding agreements.

“Walking away from ARCHES threatens the future promise of hydrogen energy and will guarantee energy costs continue to rise for families while the rest of the world surges ahead in its development,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D–Calif.) said in a statement.

Vought, one of the authors of the conservative platform document Project 2025, has been actively involved in reshaping the federal government during the second Trump administration. Vought on Wednesday also announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation was freezing $18 billion for two infrastructure projects in New York City “to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] principles.” The projects include a train tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey and a subway line running along Second Avenue in New York City.

His posts came on the first day of the U.S. government shutdown.

>> In Other News: DOE Funding Cuts Hit 223 Blue State Energy Projects

The recipients of the canceled awards will have 30 days to appeal the termination decisions, according to the Energy Department, which said some of the projects included in the announcement have already begun that process.