According to a list of planned projects provided to Reuters, the U.S. government is considering canceling billions of dollars allocated to clean energy programs, such as car manufacturing awards and carbon capture awards.
Some of the projects on the list encompass two large direct air capture hubs that were awarded billions of dollars through the former President Joe Biden administration, one of which is a project involving the oil company Occidental.
Semafor announced the list previously and stated that it might affect $12 billion in projects.
Others on the list are $500 million granted last year to General Motors to convert its Lansing Grand River Assembly plant in Michigan to EVs; $335 million to Stellantis to convert the closed Belvidere Assembly plant in Illinois to make mid-size electric trucks; and $250 million to Stellantis to convert its Indiana Transmission Plant in Kokomo to assemble EV components.
The Department of Energy had announced last week that it intended to cancel hundreds of energy projects in its financing amounting to $7.56 billion of money because they could not give adequate returns to the taxpayer.
The Energy Department also plans to withdraw a $32 million award to Hyundai Mobis that runs a Stellantis part supplier in Ohio to make plug-in hybrid parts and battery packs, and $89 million to Harley-Davidson to expand its York, Pennsylvania, facility to manufacture EV motorcycles.
Now on the list includes an $80 million award to Blue Bird to convert one of a former Georgia plant to manufacture electric school buses; and a $75 million award to the engine company Cummins to convert a section of an existing Indiana plant to make zero-emission parts and electric powertrain systems.
In addition, the DOE contemplates reducing the funding of Volvo Group by 208 million to modernize plants in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania to expand the production of EVs.
In a statement, the Energy Department reported that “continues to conduct an individualized and thorough review of financial awards made by the previous administration. No determinations have been made other than what has been previously announced.”
Occidental, GM, Harley-Davidson, and Stellantis refused or did not begin commenting.
The overall amount of the grants under consideration was not certain. Some of the projects that DOE claimed to cancel in May were contained in the list.
The other cancellations were to carbon reduction of olefins plant at the Baytown refinery of Exxon in Texas; to Heidelberg Materials in the US, Louisiana; and to Eastman Chemical Company in Texas, amounting to $331 million, $500 million, and $375 million, respectively.
The Director of the White House budget, Russell Vought, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) last week, saying that the administration would cut almost $8 billion of climate-related funding in 16 states, all of which are led by Democrats, such as California and New York.
