The Department of Energy (DOE) canceled $3.7 billion in Biden-era awards on Friday — most of which were rushed out the door weeks before President Donald Trump took office.
Sixteen out of the 24 projects were granted by the Biden administration between the November 2024 election and Trump’s January 20 inauguration, according to the list provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation and the DOE’s press release. This comes two weeks after DOE moved to audit $15 billion in energy grants and is the latest move in the Trump administration’s cancelation of pricey Biden-era green energy projects.
“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,” DOE Secretary Chris Wright said in the press release. “Today, we are acting in the best interest of the American people by cancelling these 24 awards.”
The canceled awards included a $331 million hydrogen project, a $500 million low-carbon cement project, and $189 million in “clean energy demonstrations,” according to the list provided to the DCNF.
Under former President Joe Biden, the federal government doled out billions in awards and loans for green energy projects as part of his climate agenda.
Notably, the rush to approve some of these loans led to a November inspector general report, which flagged several potential risks to taxpayers concerning the Loan Programs Office (LPO) — including worries that the office might be distributing funds too rapidly, potentially compromising the thorough vetting of loan applicants.
Other noteworthy projects greenlit under Biden’s tenure included a $2.5 billion award for electric vehicle technology, $1.45 billion for a solar manufacturing plant in Georgia, and $584.5 million for a solar photovoltaic (PV) system with an integrated battery energy storage system in Puerto Rico.
Trump campaigned against the Democrats’ climate agenda, labeling it the “Green New Scam.” Upon taking office in January, the president declared a national energy emergency to boost conventional energy production. Since then, he has issued multiple executive orders to support the growth of affordable and reliable energy technologies in the private sector, such as nuclear and coal.
The LPO did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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