The Department of Energy has proposed canceling billions of dollars in funding for four of the seven Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs, and at least one direct air capture hub, according to a document reviewed by Latitude Media.
Hubs recommended for termination include those in California, the Pacific Northwest, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Midwest. Those marked for retention are the Appalachian hub (spanning West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania,) the Gulf Coast Hydrogen hub (in Texas) and the Heartland Hydrogen hub (Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin). Those three projects support “advancing American energy dominance,” the document said. DOE has not made any formal announcement about funding cancellations, and representatives have said decisions haven’t been finalized.
The Biden administration rolled out the hydrogen hubs program in late 2023, allocating $7 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The California hub expected to receive as much as $1.2 billion, the Pacific Northwest and Midwest hubs each expected up to $1 billion, and the Mid-Atlantic hub, in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, expected up to $750 million.
The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, which is facing potential shutdown by the Trump administration, is currently responsible for the hubs. Lawmakers are already pushing back against the reported cuts. Republican legislators in Washington state wrote to Energy Secretary Chris Wright this week asking him to protect the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub, which would create more than 10,000 jobs in the region.
As for the direct air capture hubs, also operated by OCED, the document also recommends the South Texas DAC Hub, run by Occidental Petroleum subsidiary 1PointFive, for termination. Project Cypress, the second large-scale hub, located in Louisiana, doesn’t yet have a recommendation. “OCED requests more time to evaluate this project,” the document says.
Louisiana’s Secretary for Economic development, Susan Bonnett, has reportedly urged the state’s representatives in D.C. to contact Secretary Wright and ask him to protect Project Cypress’ up to $600 million DOE grant. To date the project has only received an initial $50 million tranche.
Heirloom, one of the DAC companies affiliated with Project Heirloom, spoke to Latitude Media last year about its efforts to build local community support for the project.
Work on that front was underway even before Heirloom and its partners Climeworks and Battelle had secured the DOE funding, the company’s head of climate policy Vikrum Aiyer said.
The company embedded representatives in the communities adjacent to the project trying to “assess the mood.” That included conducting focus groups, meeting with parish administrators and mayors, workforce development groups, and local community colleges, Aiyer said — all before being sure of funding.
Applicants for federal funding coming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act previously submitted community benefit plans, as required by the Biden administration. That requirement, Aiyer said last year, created “a really interesting fiber within the DNA of carbon removal startups,” who were forced to engage with communities from square one.
The Trump administration has removed any community benefit plan requirements from its funding solicitations, and has said it will not require already-funded projects to submit or adhere to them.
Editors note: This story was updated on April 11 to correct the states included in the Heartland Hydrogen Hub; they are Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. An earlier iteration of this story incorrectly attributed the states for the Midwest Hydrogen Hub to the Heartland Hub.
