The cancellations, announced Wednesday night, are the latest in a long-running effort by the Trump administration to claw back money from projects related to climate change. But they also mark a new effort by the administration to inflict pain on Democrats during the government shutdown, which began on Wednesday and has no end in sight.
“It’s a long list of frustrating actions the administration has taken to slow our move toward clean energy and energy independence,” said Casey Bowers, the Environmental League of Massachusetts’ vice president of government relations.
In total, the Department of Energy pulled awards worth $7.56 billion from 223 projects across the country, according to a statement from the agency. The cuts mainly targeted states led by Democratic governors. It is unclear how much of that money would have gone to New England, but Massachusetts was among the states with the most awards terminated.
“Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled,” wrote Russell Vought, the White House budget director, in a social media post.
The statement said that the department had reviewed the projects and determined that they “did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”
The list of terminations included several New England colleges such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Rhode Island, and University of Connecticut. Awards for projects at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources were also listed. And large companies, including National Grid, were not spared.
Governor Maura Healey said in a statement that the state is facing nearly half a billion dollars in cuts. Among them, the Department of Energy Resources lost a $3.9 million award intended to help communities with energy-efficient building codes and ensure the safe siting of solar and battery projects.
“All of our residents will be harmed by this vindictive action,” she said.
Coonamessett Farm Foundation, an East Falmouth nonprofit that conducts research to support sustainable fisheries and agriculture, lost a $3.5 million grant to survey changes in commercial finfish and shellfish species and habitats related to building offshore wind.
Justin Potter, the foundation’s director of operations, said he was disappointed but not surprised when he learned that the grant had been canceled from the offices of elected officials. It had already been several months since he had heard from the Energy Department, and an invoice for roughly $10,000 the nonprofit submitted in November had not been paid.
He said the loss of funding would also be a blow to the local fishing community, which would have had the opportunity to work with the research team to earn a paycheck during the offseason. “This was a win-win for them,” he said.
Confusion abounded as organizations scrambled to determine what funding had been cut. Potter said he had not received official word from the federal government about the termination of his grant. The University of Vermont and Boston University, which both appeared to have lost awards, also said they had not heard from the Energy Department.
An $87 million award for Sublime Systems, a Somerville-based startup developing low-carbon cement, was also included on the list of terminated funds, though the company was informed that its funding was canceled in May. Cement manufacturing is responsible for about 8 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions and remains a difficult sector to decarbonize.
Sublime said in a statement that it remains “surprised and disappointed.” The company wrote that its technology “directly enables stated administration priorities,” including onshoring manufacturing, supporting critical minerals production, and creating jobs for Americans.
Democrats and environmental advocates said the cuts would hike energy prices and make the grid less reliable.
Senator Elizabeth Warren said in a statement that the terminations were “the latest example of Trump hurting Americans to suit his petty political agenda, and it’ll only make our communities worse off.”
Bowers of the Environmental League of Massachusetts said that some of the money would have gone toward “cutting-edge technology” and creating jobs.
“The Trump administration, across the board, is stifling innovation,” she said.
The administration has sought to dismantle environmental and climate initiatives, often by revoking funding that was awarded under the Biden administration. In Massachusetts, the administration has targeted money to prevent flooding and put solar panels on low-income housing, among other projects.
But the cuts also came as part of a salvo of about $26 billion in halted funds. Trump wrote in a social media post Thursday morning that he would be meeting with Vought to determine more cuts to federal agencies.
“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” he wrote.
The Energy Department said that award recipients have 30 days to appeal the termination decision, and some of the projects have already begun to do so.