The Trump administration has acknowledged in court filings that it canceled $7.6 billion in funding for hundreds of clean energy projects based on the political affiliation of the states receiving the grants.
According to the court documents, the grants were canceled because the projects were located in 16 states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
The admission differs from previous statements by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other administration officials, who had said the projects were dropped because they did not meet the country's energy priorities or represented poor use of taxpayer money.
Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups criticized the disclosure, accusing the administration of using federal funding for political purposes.
Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Senator Patty Murray of Washington said the court filing confirmed what they had long suspected—that nearly 300 energy projects were canceled simply because they were located in states that did not support President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
They called the move an abuse of power and urged congressional Republicans to hold the administration accountable.
Last October, the Department of Energy announced that it had canceled 321 funding awards covering 223 projects, saying they failed to meet national energy needs or were not economically viable.
The canceled projects included efforts to build battery manufacturing plants, develop hydrogen technology, modernize the electric grid and expand carbon capture systems.
White House budget director Russell Vought defended the cuts at the time, saying funding intended to support what he described as the political left's climate agenda was being eliminated.
The affected projects were located in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington—all states that supported Harris in the 2024 election.
The funding cuts were challenged in court, while more than two dozen Democratic members of Congress requested a formal investigation by the Department of Energy's inspector general. The department's internal watchdog launched an inquiry in December.
Earlier court filings had already indicated that grant selections were influenced by whether recipients were based in Democratic-leaning, or "blue," states.
In the latest case, federal government lawyers also acknowledged using keywords related to diversity, gender, COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy when reviewing projects to determine whether they conflicted with the administration's policy priorities.
Environmental groups said the court filing showed the administration had prioritized politics over energy infrastructure.
Holly Bender, chief program officer at the Sierra Club, said canceling the projects could lead to job losses, higher energy costs and increased pollution, while shifting billions of dollars toward fossil fuel projects instead of clean energy initiatives.