Billions Slashed—But the Savings Don’t Add Up
On Oct. 2, the U.S. Department of Energy said it was terminating 321 awards supporting 223 projects, touting about $7.56 billion in taxpayer “savings” press release. But an Inside Climate News analysis using USAspending data suggests the savings are overstated: after excluding expired awards and subtracting funds already paid out, potential cuts from the Oct. 2 list are closer to ~$4.87 billion, and a leaked, broader list of 327 additional targets shows apparent immediate cuts of ~$7.84 billion—not the headline totals. Hydrogen hubs figure prominently; for example, the Gulf Coast HyVelocity hub is authorized for “up to” $1.2 billion but only about $22 million has been obligated for planning project page. The policy fight lands amid market tailwinds for renewables: wind and solar helped push global renewables past coal in H1 2025 Ember report, and the IEA still sees global renewable capacity roughly doubling by 2030 IEA.
The Trump administration’s Department of Energy (DOE) has moved to cancel hundreds of clean-energy grants. In an Oct. 2 announcement, DOE said it would terminate 321 awards across 223 projects, claiming about $7.56 billion in savings for taxpayers press release. The cuts span programs from grid resilience to manufacturing supply chains. DOE says the awards failed to advance national energy needs or meet economic tests.
A closer look suggests the savings figure is inflated. An Inside Climate News investigation, built on a dataset and code the newsroom published on GitHub dataset, found many awards on the first list had already ended—or had partially or fully disbursed funds—shrinking the pool of money that could actually be reclaimed. ICN estimates the Oct. 2 terminations translate to roughly $4.87 billion in cuts when measured against obligated-but-not-yet-spent dollars. A separate, leaked list being circulated on Capitol Hill adds 327 more awards with headline totals of $15.83 billion, but ICN calculates nearer-term cuts around $7.84 billion after excluding expired awards and subtracting outlays ICN. Additional coverage of the “second list” has appeared in specialized outlets Latitude Media and Heatmap.
Hydrogen hubs illustrate the accounting gap. DOE’s own fact sheets say some hubs carry “up to” billion-dollar federal cost shares, but Phase 1 awards so far are in the tens of millions to cover planning and design. The Gulf Coast HyVelocity hub shows a federal cost share of up to $1.2 billion, yet only early-stage funds have been obligated to date hub page. In January, DOE similarly announced Phase 1 awards of $18.8 million for MACH2 in the Mid-Atlantic and $20 million for the Heartland/ARCH2 hub DOE release. Those figures help explain why large “headline” totals don’t equal immediate taxpayer savings if projects are canceled mid-stream.
Some projects were already halted months earlier. In late May and June, DOE revoked funding for 24 industrial decarbonization awards, including roughly $87 million for a low-carbon cement plant planned by Sublime Systems in Massachusetts WBUR and more than $300 million for an ExxonMobil hydrogen project in Texas, according to regional reporting Houston Chronicle. DOE’s termination letters cite a portfolio review standard; one such letter is posted publicly DocumentCloud.
The political fallout is immediate. Democratic officials argue the cuts target blue states and will raise costs while weakening grid reliability. Pennsylvania leaders, who had praised the jobs and investments promised by MACH2 and ARCH2, previously celebrated the hubs as a “win for the Commonwealth” with bipartisan backing PA DCED and local reporting WHYY. DOE, for its part, says awardees can appeal within 30 days and that reviews are ongoing press release.
The market backdrop complicates the calculus. In the first half of 2025, renewables surpassed coal in the global electricity mix for the first time, according to an Ember analysis widely covered by outlets from Reuters to Canary Media. The International Energy Agency’s new outlook still expects global renewable capacity to roughly double by 2030—driven mainly by solar—even as U.S. projections are revised down under current policies IEA. Coal’s economic headwinds are visible: the biggest U.S. coal lease sale in more than a decade drew a single bid—about $186,000 for rights to mine 167 million tons in Montana AP.
For companies and local agencies, the practical question is how much real money is actually being pulled—and whether projects can survive with state, local or private capital. Some recipients say they’ll proceed at reduced scale or speed; others are weighing appeals and legal options. Until DOE publishes a definitive list with clear accounting of awarded, obligated and disbursed funds, the size of the supposed “savings” will remain in dispute—and so will the ultimate cost to innovation, jobs and grid reliability.