Trump Administration Terminates Award for Kentucky Carbon Capture Project

A federal award funding a collaboration between Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities, the University of Kentucky and other partners to implement a new system capturing greenhouse gas emissions is among two dozen energy-related awards the Trump administration terminated last week.

The $72 million award terminated by the U.S. Department of Energy funded the testing of a carbon capture system on a natural gas-fired turbine operated by electric utility Louisville Gas and Electric and Kentucky Utilities at its Cane Run Generating Station in Jefferson County.

>> In Other News: A New Protocol for Carbon Removal via Direct Ocean Capture & Storage

Carbon capture refers to technologies that seek to reduce climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels by capturing and storing carbon dioxide before it’s released into the atmosphere. The utility described the project last year as an “important step in assessing the future viability” of carbon capture technology for natural gas-fired power plants. LG&E and KU, which serves more than 1 million customers in the state, would have captured a portion of carbon dioxide emissions to be potentially reused by a nearby manufacturer, according to a press release.

Liz Pratt, a LG&E and KU spokesperson, in a statement said the utility was “disappointed” the award was terminated but remained “focused on driving innovation and important research and development in this space.”

“Together with our project partners, we will review our options for advancing this important research project,” Pratt said.

Among the other awards terminated Friday by the DOE included a number of other carbon capture and storage projects and a project by multinational alcoholic beverage company Diageo that sought to add batteries to decarbonize production facilities including in Shelbyville, Kentucky.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright in a Friday statement said canceling the approximately $3.7 billion in total awards was “in the best interest” of Americans.

"While the previous administration failed to conduct a thorough financial review before signing away billions of taxpayer dollars, the Trump administration is doing our due diligence to ensure we are utilizing taxpayer dollars to strengthen our national security, bolster affordable, reliable energy sources and advance projects that generate the highest possible return on investment," Wright said in a statement.

Investment into carbon capture systems played a large role in the energy policy of the former Biden administration, which sought to require utilities with coal-fired power plants operating past 2039 to capture 90% of carbon dioxide emissions from the plants or have those plants retire by 2032. That carbon capture requirement also applied to new natural gas-fired power plants. The Trump administration has swiftly reversed course, reportedly planning to eliminate any caps on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired and natural gas-fired power plants.

Supporters of carbon capture technologies generally say it’s necessary in transitioning to clean energy and addressing industries that are hard to decarbonize, while skeptics, including environmentalists, question whether the technologies will allow for the further burning of fossil fuels.

Byron Gary, an attorney with the environmental legal organization Kentucky Resources Council, told the Lantern the award termination fits into the Trump administration’s “broader strategy” of “trying to undermine climate regulation.”

**E&E News** reported Friday that the Trump administration is expected to argue the U.S. power sector, a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, doesn’t contribute “significantly” to climate change.

Gary said while his organization would rather see investment into zero-emission renewable energy paired with utility-scale batteries, the award terminations appear to ensure carbon capture technology isn’t a “viable option” for the future.