Colorado Businesses, Universities Impacted by Trump’s “Politically Motivated” Grant Terminations

Colorado businesses, universities and state agencies say they have been left in the dark about the Trump administration’s cancellation of half a billion dollars in federal clean energy grants following the federal government shutdown.

The terminated grants include over $300 million to Colorado State University, $70 million for Xcel Energy and $50 million for the Tribal Energy Consortium.

“The attempt to use a government shutdown to unlawfully rescind already appropriated funds and terminate federal employees is illegal, pure and simple,” U.S Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday. “These acts of retribution are intended to stoke fear, and Democrats must use every legal and legislative tool to reverse these decisions and hold the administration accountable — which is exactly what we intend to do.”

The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week the cancellation of about $7.5 billion in funding for over 200 clean-energy projects across the country. Many of the awards came from the Biden-era Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

In a social media post last week, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote that the cuts targeted “Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda,” referring to the proposed framework to address climate change championed by progressive Democrats called the Green New Deal. Vought then listed affected states, most of which are led by Democratic governors and voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week that the administration “can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them,” as reported by NPR. The federal government shut down last Wednesday as congressional Republicans and Democrats grappled over how to fund the government and whether to extend expiring health care subsidies.

“While we have not formally received any official federal notices of termination, we understand that two Colorado projects that total $5 million are on DOE’s list, which specifically targets states where a majority of Americans cast their votes in favor of the Democratic nominee for President,” Ari Rosenblum, a spokesperson for the Colorado Energy Office, wrote in an email. “This clearly politically motivated targeting of grants by the Administration will balloon energy costs, threaten grid reliability, increase pollution, and create instability in our business community.”

CEO has two grants on the termination list, each for $2.5 million. One funds local governments to support work to implement new building energy codes and another provides technical assistance to building owners to comply with standards.

Trump Administration, Department of Energy Cancels Clean Energy Grants in Colorado

The affected Colorado grants are in five of Colorado’s eight congressional districts and include $2.9 million for a Denver company to study how barges off the coast of Louisiana could transport carbon dioxide, $5 million for a solar thermal energy company in Broomfield and $27 million for Westminster-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission to enhance electric grid flexibility against extreme weather.

“We had been working with DOE over the last two years on the award, after being selected in October 2023,” Tri-State CEO Duane Highley said in a statement. “Over the next few days, we will review our appeal options. While disappointing, the withdrawal of this award does not change our plans to increase grid resiliency and reliability in the most affordable manner for our rural members in Wyoming, Nebraska, New Mexico and Colorado.”

Amanda Bybee, the CEO of Amicus O&M Cooperative in Boulder, called the grant cancellations politically motivated. The company’s three-year, $1.5 million grant was meant to help develop a standardized training process for solar operation and maintenance technicians. It has technically been on pause since February, when their continuation application did not get processed by the new presidential administration, but Bybee said the company has not received an official termination notice following last week’s announcement.

“We had spent about a third of the money, so we had a million dollars to go, and the sad truth is that we will not be able to make that up with other sources,” she told Newsline. “I really don’t see what we’re doing as political. We’re trying to train the technicians who are out here maintaining energy assets, and making sure that they are safe and efficient in the way that they do this work.”

Hank Price, the managing director of SolarDynamics in Broomfield, said the company was also waiting for DOE to approve the next phase of work for two projects under the grants — combined at about $5 million — when the presidential administration changed. That put the projects in “limbo,” Price said.

“As a result, we were expecting this outcome. So, in some sense it is good to have DOE make a decision so we can move on. We can at least contest the decisions now, not that we are optimistic that it will make a difference,” he wrote in an email.

The funding to CSU was awarded to research and create methane-cutting technologies and prevent leaks from oil and gas operations. That contract had been delayed already in January, according to Colorado Public Radio.

“These seven projects support critical research that directly serves the oil and gas industry, energy companies, and energy-producing communities nationwide,” Tiana Kennedy, the university’s associate vice president for communications, wrote in an email. “The cuts would eliminate research positions at the university and halt collaborative work that provides industry and policymakers with trusted data and develops technologies to make the nation’s energy infrastructure safer, more efficient, and competitive.”

The Colorado School of Mines had about $48 million worth of grants canceled, and the University of Colorado system lost about $8.3 million.

Award recipients have 30 days to appeal the decision to the Department of Energy.

Sara Wilson is a reporter for Colorado Newsline, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Follow Colorado Newsline here.