Republicans are asking Energy Secretary Chris Wright not to block money for green energy projects in their states — and they may be in luck.
The administration last week said it was canceling nearly $8 billion in grants for hundreds of projects. Another list making the rounds suggests many more cancellations.
On the chopping block is $4.2 million for Project Tundra, a massive carbon capture and storage retrofit of a coal-fired power plant in North Dakota.
North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer said his staff contacted the Department of Energy about the money after they saw the list of potential cuts.
“We determined it’s real — the authenticity of the list,” Cramer said Thursday. So his offices moved to secure the “restoration of those things and to include that one — that’s the big one for us.”
The list circulating around Washington also includes the ARCH2 hydrogen hub in West Virginia, backed by Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).
“DOE told me that the list is just a broad list; there’s no real intent to cancel all those projects,” Capito said. “But some may get canceled, so it’s still just unclear.”
Last week, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought touted the nearly $8 billion in cuts as affecting blue states. But Republican House districts are also being hit.
Asked about concerns from Republicans about the additional project cuts, a DOE spokesperson said via email: “No determinations have been made other than what has been previously announced.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Sen. John Cornyn (D-Texas) said last week they weren’t aware their states could lose $1 billion for projects to suck planet-warming carbon dioxide from the air.
The speaker said, “I’ve been a little busy on the government shutdown.”
Asked Friday whether he’s trying to save funding affecting his Minnesota district, House Republican Whip Tom Emmer blamed the Democrats and the shutdown for any cuts.
“What’s happened is the White House has to make some very serious and difficult decisions about what’s essential and what’s not,” Emmer said.
Democrats say the administration is using the shutdown as an excuse to pursue cuts and layoffs it already wanted to make. Wright has said the grant cuts were not because of the shutdown.
The spokesperson said the department “continues to conduct an individualized and thorough review of financial awards made by the previous administration.”
The DOE grant cuts have caused tension within the department and with the White House, according to reporting by POLITICO.
Funding for Project Tundra is expected to move from the draft “terminate” list to the “modify” column, said a person familiar with the review, granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
“It’s our utilities, it’s our coal, it’s our research institution, and it’s what allows coal to remain competitive in this carbon-restrained future that we’re creating,” Cramer said. The president has dismissed the need to reduce carbon emissions because of climate change.
The senator said he would also speak with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the former North Dakota governor, about the project. “He knows that project very well,” Cramer said.
Reporter Nico Portuondo contributed.
