US cancels 24 clean-energy projects, including Exxon Baytown
Energy Department announced on Friday that the U.S. had canceled 24 awards totaling more than $3.7billion, including one to Exxon's refinery complex in Texas. The award was made during former president Joe Biden’s administration.
Donald Trump's administration has announced that it is evaluating public-funded awards and loan programs issued to emerging technologies projects during Biden’s administration. The Trump administration is pursuing the maximization and expansion of oil and gas production, which has already reached record levels. It is also destroying large swathes of Biden’s climate and clean energy policies.
The Office of Clean Energy Demonstration Awards that the Department axed includes nearly $332 millions to a project in Exxon Mobil’s Baytown, Texas Refinery Complex, $500,000,000 to Heidelberg Materials US in Louisiana and $375,000,000 to Eastman Chemical Company, Longview, Texas.
The Baytown Award was intended to reduce carbon emissions by using hydrogen instead of natural gases for the production ethylene, which is a feedstock that's used in the manufacture of textiles and resins.
Department officials said that nearly 70% of awards were signed between November 5, 2024 election day and January 20, Biden’s last day as president.
Requests for comments were not immediately responded to by the companies.
Carbon capture projects are designed to reduce climate change. They remove greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from the air and pollution streams from facilities, including refineries and plants that produce ethanol and burn coal. Occasionally, the gas is injected in aging oilfields to force out any remaining crude.
In April, OCED funded about 20 of the clean energy projects on a list that Trump could cut. Four of them were carbon capture projects, which received a total award of $309 millions last year. Three later-stage demonstrations projects in California Texas and North Dakota, each receiving $890 million, were also funded by OCED. (Reporting Timothy Gardner. Sheila Dang contributed additional reporting from Houston. Mark Potter (editing)
(source: Reuters)
