California Democrats have denounced the Trump administration’s decision to terminate $3.7 billion in funding for two dozen clean energy projects, including Golden State’s three.
The 24 awards, recently cancelled by the U.S. Department of Energy, were issued by the Clean Energy Demonstration Bureau under the Biden administration, focusing primarily on carbon capture and sequestration and decarbonization initiatives. Trump officials said the project was to “not advance American energy needs” and would not generate positive investment returns for taxpayers.
“While previous administrations failed to carry out a thorough financial review before signing billions of dollars in taxpayer dollars, the Trump administration is doing our due diligence to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used to strengthen national security.
One of the biggest cuts was the National Cement Company’s $500 million award. Rebeck’s first net-zero project was directed at the development of carbon-neutral cement. Cement production is well-known for its emissions-intensive nature, accounting for 8% of the greenhouse gases that warm the planet due to both the high heat required in the process and its byproducts.
Officials at the National Cement Company said the project will acquire up to 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year – effectively all the entire emissions plant for cement plants near the Los Angeles and Kern counties borders – also serve as a roadmap for the entire cement industry.
“As we understand the new priorities of the U.S. Department of Energy, we would like to emphasize that this project will expand domestic manufacturing capabilities in key industrial sectors while also integrating new technologies to keep American cement competitive,” the company said in an email. Currently, we are looking for options to keep the project alive.
Fund cuts arrive in a sweep change driven by Trump’s order to curb federal spending and “unleash American energy.” The president has removed barriers to fossil fuel companies, including regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions, calling for increased oil and gas drilling and natural resource extraction.
Meanwhile, California has set some of the nation’s most ambitious decarbonization targets, including the aim of reaching carbon neutrality by 2045. Environmental experts, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said carbon capture and storage is essential to mitigate global warming, in addition to efforts to reduce overall carbon emissions.
California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla said in a letter dated Tuesday to Wright that the ending was “contrary to our common interest in energy production, innovation and improving economic vitality.” They urged Wright to revive the project.
“If the US wants to continue to control competitiveness and genuine energy around the world, it cannot afford to halt our progress and prevent efforts to hamper American businesses,” the senator wrote. “These irrational cancellations will raise energy prices, hinder innovation, and set them backwards as we strive towards a clean energy future.”
Cement projects were not the only ones cancelled in California. DOE also concluded its $270 million award at the air-cooled carbon capture and sequestration facility at Sutter Energy Centre, a natural gas power plant in Yuba City. Carbon sequestration is the process of preventing CO2 from entering the atmosphere by capturing and storing it in underground, aquifers, or other geological layers.
The Sutter project was projected to reduce emissions from the plant by up to 95%, capturing and storing up to 1.75 million tonnes of CO2 each year, according to the federal project page.
The federal government has also cancelled $75 million for a project at Modesto’s Gallo Glass Company. This demonstrates the potential to replace gas-powered reactors with hybrid electric melters, reducing natural gas usage by up to 70%, the federal database shows.
Schiff and Padilla said that all awards were offered through a legally binding contract agreement between the recipient and the federal government, so they cannot be cancelled on a “political whim.”
DOE said it reached a decision following a thorough and individualized financial review of each project.
However, the end also appears to be in opposition to the administration’s own pledges. White House Earth Day said Trump is trying to promote energy innovation “by supporting cutting edge technologies such as carbon capture and storage, nuclear energy and next-generation geothermal.”
DOE has eliminated funding for projects nationwide, including Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Wyoming, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Ohio, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas, Washington, Arizona and Nevada.
But the California cancellation marks yet another humiliation against a climate-conscious nation that saw the Trump administration set strict tailpipe emissions standards in recent weeks overturning its ability to ultimately ban the sale of new gas-powered GARs. The state is suing the administration over the decision.
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