$7.5 billion in funding just vanished. For construction professionals, that number means payroll, project timelines, and the next three years of work.
The DOE terminated 321 financial awards affecting 223 clean energy projects nationwide. The headlines miss what matters to builders, engineers, and architects.
The Job Loss Nobody’s Quantifying
The ARCHES hydrogen hub in California was projected to create 220,000 American jobs. The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub cancellation could cost 10,000 jobs, primarily in rural areas.
That’s crews, subcontractors, and engineering firms that were planning hiring schedules.
Manufacturing Projects Cut Before Ground Broke
Two cement projects were terminated that affect construction supply chains. The $500 million Lebec Net-Zero project in California aimed at producing carbon-neutral cement. An $87 million grant to Sublime Systems in Massachusetts for low-carbon cement manufacturing would have created 70-90 jobs.
Cement plants create construction jobs during the build-out and in the production and logistics chains.
Battery plants, electric grid upgrades, clean vehicle manufacturing facilities. All canceled. All gone.
Grid Infrastructure Gets Shelved
The cancellations include approximately $50 million in grid-reliability grants that would have gone to utilities like Portland General Electric. A $250 million project to upgrade power transmission lines on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon was canceled.
Former EPA adviser Zealan Hoover warned the longer-term impacts will be “a less dynamic and competitive electric power sector, higher energy costs and a less reliable grid.”
Fewer infrastructure upgrade projects. Grid modernization work that was creating steady revenue just dried up.
What This Costs
The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub had attracted $1 billion in federal investment set to unlock an additional $5 billion in private and non-federal funding. That’s $6 billion in local infrastructure work.
Gone.
The projects covered hydrogen production facilities, battery manufacturing plants, solar energy technology, electric grid upgrades, and building decarbonization.
Each category is a different construction specialty. Every cancellation cuts work across multiple trades.
The Question Nobody’s Answering
Call it green energy or call it infrastructure. Construction professionals were counting on these projects.
The DOE gave recipients 30 days to appeal. Appeals don’t rebuild project timelines or restore hiring plans firms committed to.
Which projects find alternative funding? Which contractors absorb the loss?
321 terminated awards. 321 fewer opportunities. The work isn’t delayed. It’s gone.
