U.S. Axes 24 Clean Energy Projects, Including Exxon’s Baytown Hydrogen Plan
(Reuters) — The U.S. has axed awards to 24 green energy projects including to an Exxon refinery complex in Texas issued during former President Joe Biden's administration that totaled more than $3.7 billion, the Energy Department said on May 30.
The administration of President Donald Trump has said it is evaluating publicly-funded awards and loans issued to emerging technology projects during Biden's administration. It's occurring as the Trump administration pursues the maximization of already record-high oil and gas output while dismantling swaths of Biden's policies on climate and clean energy.
The Office of Clean Energy Demonstration awards the department axed include nearly $332 million to a project at Exxon Mobil's Baytown, Texas refinery complex, $500 million to Heidelberg Materials, U.S. in Louisiana, and $375 million to Eastman Chemical Company in Longview, Texas.
The Baytown award was meant to cut carbon emissions by enabling the use of hydrogen instead of natural gas for the production of ethylene, a feedstock used in producing textiles and plastic resins.
The department said nearly 70% of the awards had been signed between the November 5, 2024, election day and January 20, Biden's last day in office.
The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Carbon capture projects aim to help curb climate change by removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide directly from the air or from the pollution streams of facilities including refineries, and plants that burn coal, and make ethanol for storage underground. Sometimes the gas is injected into aging oil fields to push out remaining crude.
A list seen by Reuters in April of clean energy projects that could be cut by the Trump administration had about two dozen funded by OCED. Four of those were carbon capture pilot projects that were awarded a total of $309 million last year, and three later-stage demonstration projects in California, Texas and North Dakota that received $890 million for integrated carbon capture, transport, and storage technologies.
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