Former President Joe Biden’s push to ensure local communities reap the benefits of big energy projects is all but dead less than a month into the new Trump administration, leaving advocates fearing the future and industry groups pleading for more funding.
On Inauguration Day, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to halt federal work on “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” a catchall to describe efforts to diversify the federal workforce and funnel money to minority and poor communities. That’s already impacting the Department of Energy, along with other agencies like the Department of Justice.
Under Biden, DOE required grant recipients to propose community benefit plans to make sure the tens of billions of dollars in federal subsidies provided jobs and better living conditions to communities impacted by new projects, such as a carbon capture facility or a hydrogen hub. The department also implemented Justice40, a directive to send 40 percent of the benefits of federal programs to poor and marginalized groups.
But following Trump’s executive order, acting DOE Secretary Ingrid Kolb suspended initiatives “requiring, using, or enforcing Community Benefits Plans, and requiring, using, or enforcing Justice40 requirements.”
