The US Department of Energy has canceled about $3.7 billion in government support for clean energy projects.
This was reported by Bloomberg.
The department explained this decision by the fact that the projects “failed to meet the energy needs of the American people, were not economically viable, and would not have generated a positive return on taxpayer money.”
16 of the 24 projects received positive funding decisions during the Biden administration, between Election Day and the inauguration of President Donald Trump on January 20. Among the canceled grants are the following:
- $331 million to Exxon Mobil Corp. for a project to use hydrogen instead of natural gas at its olefins plant in Baytown, Texas;
- $170 million to Kraft Heinz Co. for a series of clean energy projects;
- $500 million to Heidelberg Materials AG for a low-carbon cement project;
- $375 million to Eastman Chemical Co. for a molecular processing project in Longview, Texas;
- $270 million to a subsidiary of Calpine Corp. for a carbon capture project at Exxon's Baytown facility;
- $270 million to Calpine subsidiary Sutter CCUS for another carbon capture project near Yuba City, California.
The Department of Energy made the announcement about the funding cutoff about 2 weeks after it launched an audit of more than $15 billion in grants and other support provided by the administration of previous US President Joseph Biden for grid modernization and energy technology development. The agency also informed the beneficiaries of the grants and support that they must respond quickly to requests for information, otherwise their grants may be canceled.
The full list of canceled grants looks like this:
The ministry also proposed to close the $27 billion Clean Energy Office, which during the former US president's term was developing a network of hydrogen hubs, carbon capture projects, and other clean energy technologies.
Recently, EcoPolitic reported that the Trump administration will eliminate the Extreme Weather Database, which has been tracking the cost of climate disasters for 45 years.
We also told you that officials of the current US president want to force the International Energy Agency to withdraw its support for green energy.
