California is leading a multistate lawsuit against the Department of Energy, the White House Office of Management and Budget, and their respective heads after they cut $1.2 billion in federal funding last year for a clean hydrogen energy hub in the state.
The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday, alleges the Trump administration unlawfully ended the congressionally appropriated funding for the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems. The $1.2 billion program was designed to cut fossil fuel use in favor of clean hydrogen for public transit, among other areas.
Joining California in filing the federal lawsuit are Colorado, Washington, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
The ARCHES hub effectively stopped operating after its federal funding was pulled, leading to the layoff of its entire full-time staff. Other energy programs across a dozen more states were also affected.
At the start of the government shutdown last October, OMB announced that more than $7.5 billion in grant funding for the “green new scam” would be terminated. The move affected 16 blue states, including California.
The DOE effected the cuts shortly thereafter by sending a “flurry of termination letters to public and private DOE awardees across the country,” according to the lawsuit.
“Throughout the first year of the Trump presidency, DOE has quietly abandoned projects, some of which were contained in various ‘kill lists,'” the complaint states. “But all were funded as elements of high-profile energy and infrastructure legislation passed during the previous presidential administration.”
As the lead plaintiff, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) maintains the blue-state funding cuts violate the Administrative Procedure Act because Congress already authorized the clean energy funds before President Donald Trump acted to rescind them.
Furthermore, the attorney general claims the cuts will only lead to higher energy prices and more air pollution.
“The President claims to seek ‘American Energy Dominance’ but, in California, his unlawful termination of over $1.2 billion in total funding for crucial clean energy projects means over 200,000 union job cuts, rising energy prices, and higher rates of pollution that wreak havoc on our health,” Bonta said in a statement.
“The President is cherry-picking this funding at the expense of hardworking Americans and stifling innovation and the economy for the sake of partisan retribution,” he added. “My office will continue to hold the President and his administration accountable for breaking the law.”
All 13 states named in the suit lost an estimated $2.7 billion in funding as a result of the Trump administration’s actions.
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In addition to its $1.2 billion hydrogen hub, California saw a $4 million cut in federal funding for a program designed to update building codes for energy efficiency.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright and OMB Director Russell Vought are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
