funding cut
Houston-area clean energy projects lose more than $700M in federal funds
The federal government has canceled more than $700 million in funding for three clean energy projects in the Houston area.
In all, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently wiped out $3.7 billion in funding for 24 carbon capture and decarbonization projects across the country.
Houston-area projects that took a hit are:
- $331.9 million for a planned ExxonMobil Corp. low-carbon hydrogen plant in Baytown. ExxonMobil is a Spring-based energy company.
- $270 million for a Calpine Corp. carbon capture and storage facility in Baytown. Calpine is a Houston-based electric company.
- $99 million for an Ørsted e-methanol decarbonization facility in Chambers County. Ørsted, a Danish producer of renewable energy, has an office in Houston.
It’s unclear how the loss of federal funding will affect the three Houston-area projects.
All $3.7 billion from the DOE was awarded in 2024 and 2025 during the Biden administration—in some cases days before President Trump took office.
“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,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a release.
Advocates for clean energy sharply criticized the DOE’s action:
- Jessie Stolark, executive director of the Carbon Capture Coalition, said cancellation of the 24 DOE-funded projects “is a major step backward in the nationwide deployment of carbon management technologies. It is hugely disappointing to see these projects canceled — projects that had already progressed through a rigorous, months-long review process by technical experts at DOE.”
- Iliana Paul, deputy director for the Sierra Club’s industrial transformation campaign, complained that the Trump administration “killed dozens of major investments in American competitiveness, good jobs, and cleaner air to support Trump’s tax cuts and line the pockets of billionaires. These projects were not just pro-climate; they were pro-jobs, pro-innovation, and pro-public health. American workers, fenceline communities, and forward-thinking companies have had the rug pulled out from under them.”
- Conrad Schneider, senior U.S. director of the Clean Air Taskforce, said the DOE’s move “is bad for U.S. competitiveness in the global market and also directly contradictory to the administration’s stated goals of supporting energy production and environmental innovation. Canceling cutting-edge technology demonstrations, including support for carbon capture and storage projects, undercuts U.S. competitiveness at a time when there is a growing global market for cleaner industrial products and technologies.”
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