Trump energy department axes funding for Northwest hydrogen hub

The Trump administration announced Wednesday night, the first night of the federal government shutdown, that it is revoking $7.6 billion in funding for clean-energy projects in 16 Democratic-leaning states, including a $1 billion cut to the Pacific Northwest’s multi-state hydrogen hub.

In a press release Thursday morning, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the agency reviewed the finances of each project thoroughly and determined many were not economically viable.

“President Trump promised to protect taxpayer dollars and expand America’s supply of affordable, reliable, and secure energy,” he said. “Today’s cancellation[s] deliver on that commitment.”

Democrats say the cuts target blue states as a way to punish Trump’s political opponents.

Sen. Maria Cantwell called the move “unprecedented and corrupt.”

“It is outrageous that this administration is using a government shutdown to punish blue states like Washington,” Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said in an emailed statement. “We’re working with the Attorney General’s Office to fight this illegal action.”

Democrats in the House of Representatives said the cuts would hurt or kill projects in 108 Democratic congressional districts and 28 Republican districts.

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Two hydrogen hubs—regional clusters of projects created during the Biden administration to accelerate production of hydrogen fuel from climate-friendly sources—in the Northwest and in California are losing $1 billion each.

“With or without federal support, this industry will continue to drive the innovation and infrastructure needed to fortify America’s energy economy,” a press release from the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub states. The hub includes industry and government partners in Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

Manufacturing hydrogen fuel is usually a highly polluting process, requiring large amounts of energy.

Nearly all commercially produced hydrogen in the United States is made by using high-temperature steam (at 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter) to strip hydrogen atoms away from methane molecules in natural gas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The high-energy processing makes conventional hydrogen fuel especially polluting.

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The Northwest hydrogen hub aimed to use clean electricity to turn water into climate-friendly hydrogen fuel instead.

Washington Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse, who had advocated for creation of the hydrogen hub, calling it “essential to driving a hydrogen future” in April, blamed Democrats in an emailed statement.

“Unfortunately, this decision by DOE occurred because Senate Democrats did not pass the House’s clean continuing resolution to keep the federal government open, and the administration has broader authority on funding decisions,” Newhouse said.

Newhouse said he would work with stakeholders to reverse the decision.

Sen. Cantwell’s office said enough funds are being stripped from the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub to cost 10,000 jobs. Hydrogen grant cancellations in Washington state include:

• Alare Renewables (Whatcom County): $103 million

• Atlas Agro (Benton County): $157 million

• Lewis County Transit: $36 million

• Northwest Seaport Alliance (King/Pierce Counties): $12 million

Other big money losers in the Northwest include the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation of Oregon, which is losing a $250 million grant for major power grid upgrades.

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Bellevue-based truck maker PACCAR is losing about $45 million from two grants for developing zero-emission trucks.

PACCAR spokesperson Ken Hastings declined to comment.

The exact amounts of funding at stake are unclear since some grantees have already begun spending funds that are supposedly being taken back.

According to USAspending.gov, PACCAR has already received $19 million of the $65 million in ostensibly canceled grants.

The list of canceled funds also includes $9.9 million in four grants to Washington State University to boost resilience of the power grid, expand tribal access to electric vehicles, and develop climate-friendly concrete.

Spokespeople for Washington State University and for Warm Springs Power and Water Enterprises said the Department of Energy had not notified them of any funds being terminated.

Grant recipients have 30 days to appeal the decision to terminate their funding.

This story has been updated with information from the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.