Trump’s Funding Freeze Will Hit These Climate and Energy Programs

UPDATE: On Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget rescinded the memo cited in this story, according to multiple reports.

The Trump administration has specifically targeted many large federal energy and climate programs in its sweeping freeze and review of grant funding, according to a list obtained by Heatmap News.

The list follows the release of a two-page memo dated January 27 and released Monday evening, in which the Office of Management and Budget ordered a pause on federal grant programs that “advance[s] Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies.” The memo was first reported by independent journalist Marisa Kabas and stated that the pause would go into effect at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Targeted programs include vast swathes of the federal government most relevant to the energy sector, from major Energy Department cleantech research offices and labs to all implementations of energy tax credits, including those in the Inflation Reduction Act. It also includes essentially all work at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a Commerce Department subagency that produces climate science and weather forecasting.

The document states that programs targeted by the administration will be reviewed to determine whether they “impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources.” Programs will also be reviewed to discover whether they’re funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act or implicated under the president’s Day One executive order to terminate activities related to “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,” or whether they “promote gender ideology” — terms defined vaguely, if at all, in the document.

It’s too early to know how the legal system will handle this maneuver by the new administration, or how the U.S. political system will respond to the chaos. Already, impromptu protests are being convened outside of the White House, a group of high-powered plaintiffs has filed a lawsuit, and moderate Republicans — namely Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — are worrying publicly over the sweeping pause.

Heatmap has reached out to the Office of Management and Budget for comment on the document, and we will update this story if we receive it. The full list of targeted programs was first reported by Jennifer Shutt at States Newsroom. Among those named relating to the energy sector are:

• United States Department of Agriculture’s commodity loans and conservation payments
• USDA’s Powering Affordable Clean Energy program
• Department of Commerce’s climate and atmospheric research, including National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration programs
• Department of Energy cybersecurity and emergency response
• DOE’s nuclear legacy cleanup activities
• DOE’s renewable energy research and development office
• DOE’s fossil energy research and development office
• DOE’s energy efficiency and conservation grant block program
• ARPA-E spending
• DOE’s state heating oil and propane program
• DOE’s manufacturing and energy supply chain demonstrations office
• DOE’s clean energy demonstrations office
• Department of Health and Human Services’ low-income home energy assistance program
• Department of Homeland Security’s disaster assistance programs, including post-disaster grants, community disaster loans and flood mitigation assistance
• DHS’ fire management assistance grant program
• Department of Housing and Urban Development’s healthy homes weatherization grants
• Department of Labor’s coal mine workers’ compensation fund
• Department of the Interior’s energy community revitalization program
• Interior Earth mapping resources initiative
• Interior wildfire management and preparedness funding to local governments
• Interior Tribal energy development grants
• Interior abandoned mine land reclamation
• Interior regulation of surface coal mining
• Interior’s threatened and endangered species protection program
• Interior implementation of the Mineral Leasing Act
• Many Department of the Treasury tax credit implementation programs, including:
  • Oil and gas exploration and development expensing
  • Enhanced oil recovery credit
  • Energy production credit
  • Energy investment credit
  • Advanced nuclear power production credit
  • Zero-emission nuclear power production credit
  • Reduced tax rate for nuclear decommissioning funds
  • Clean vehicle tax credit
  • Refueling station tax credit
  • Energy efficiency tech deductions
  • Advanced manufacturing production credit
  • Carbon oxide sequestration credit
• Department of Transportation’s highway funding
• Transportation clean fuels program
• Transportation electrification for passenger ferries
• Transportation pipeline safety grant programs
• Environmental Protection Agency’s diesel emissions reduction programs
• EPA climate pollution reduction grants
• EPA Solar for All program
• EPA clean heavy-duty vehicles program
• EPA Clean Ports program
• EPA environmental justice programs and grant funding
• EPA pollution prevention grants program
• EPA Toxic Substances Control Act monitoring cooperative
• EPA consolidated pesticide enforcement cooperative
• The Export-Import Bank
• The International Development Finance Corporation
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission research and scholarship programs
• Small Business Administration disaster loans

This story is still developing. It was last updated Tuesday, January 28, at 6 p.m. ET.