The U.S. Energy Department under President Donald Trump and Secretary Chris Wright is committed to saving taxpayers' money.
In an Oct. 1 press release, the Energy Department announced that it had axed 321 awards which were to fund 223 different projects. The sheer scope and size of our federal government is mind-blowing. And with the national debt nearing $38 trillion, it has never been so important to cut federal spending, which is why the work of the Trump administration to reduce federal bloat is a massive win.
Altogether, the Department of Energy (DOE) clarified, ending those projects saved American taxpayers $7.56 billion. The projects in question were either unnecessary or not “economically viable,” per the DOE press release.
Secretary Wright emphasized how many unnecessary and woke grants the Biden-Harris administration had tried to sneak in at the last minute. “On day one, the Energy Department began the critical task of reviewing billions of dollars in financial awards, many rushed through in the final months of the Biden administration with inadequate documentation by any reasonable business standard,” he said. The Biden administration was fully committed to unscientific and impoverishing climate alarmism.
Wright boasted, “President Trump promised to protect taxpayer dollars and expand America’s supply of affordable, reliable, and secure energy. Today’s cancellation[s] deliver on that commitment. Rest assured, the Energy Department will continue reviewing awards to ensure that every dollar works for the American people.”
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Wright’s team found that over a fourth (26%) of the 321 terminated financial awards had been awarded between Election Day 2024 and Trump’s Inauguration Day, and were to cost taxpayers no less than $3.1 billion. Fortunately, that outgoing Democrat ploy didn’t succeed.
The awards identified and ended by the new leadership included one from the Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), and Grid Deployment (GDO). Others came from the Offices of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), and Fossil Energy (FE), per the DOE press release.
In May 2025, Secretary Wright issued a Secretarial Memorandum entitled, “Ensuring Responsibility for Financial Assistance," establishing a new policy for evaluating financial awards. The policy authorized program offices to request additional information from awardees. It also required that awards be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to identify waste, safeguard taxpayer dollars, protect America's national security, and advance President Trump's commitment to deliver affordable, reliable, and secure energy for the American people.
Awardees of now-terminated grants can appeal for up to 30 days after, which some have already begun to do, but it seems unlikely that they will convince the Trump-Wright DOE to alter its decisions.
The more money we can save by terminating useless, climate alarmist, money-sucking projects, the better.
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