Washington state clean-energy funding re-frozen by Trump White House

More than $500 million in federal funding for clean energy in Washington state is being held up by the Trump administration.

Washington state leaders say Trump officials have ignored court orders to release that congressionally mandated funding.

Most of the money was intended to help the state’s low-income and moderate-income residents adopt climate-friendly technologies like solar panels and heat pumps.

“Thousands of low-income families will be impacted,” Washington State Department of Commerce Director Joe Nguyen said. “You will see sky-high heating bills and drafty homes with no relief in sight because some of these funds are frozen.”

Washington Commerce officials said they were not notified the state’s $156 million “Solar for All” grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had been frozen a second time. They only noticed when they were unable to withdraw cash from their federal account.

“Solar for All was suspended, technically was open, and then, as of this morning, was suspended again,” Nguyen said Thursday.

Nguyen said a $3 million grant to help local communities devise strategies for decarbonization was also newly frozen as of Thursday morning.

RELATED: Trump funding freeze could leave communities on their own as climate threats grow

At least $92 million in funding for electric-vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling stations along major highway corridors in the state has been frozen, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

“Washington’s and WSDOT’s commitment to decarbonization and electric vehicles remains strong,” spokesperson Barbara LaBoe said by email. “WSDOT will continue to make investments necessary to create a robust, reliable charging infrastructure available to all citizens throughout the state.”

Since 2023, Washington state has been charging major polluters to keep emitting climate-harming gases. The state-run auctions of pollution permits have brought in $3 billion — money to be spent mostly on fighting and preparing for climate change and helping communities overburdened by pollution.

RELATED: Washington carbon auctions resume after surviving election challenge

“We can move forward on some of these efforts, but it will not be at the same pace and the same aggressiveness as we were doing before,” Nguyen said.

Federal judges ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze funds it had blocked from being disbursed. The administration responded by adding a new round of “compliance review” to the congressionally mandated grants.

Sen. Patty Murray said the Trump administration was blocking “tens of billions” in clean-energy funding nationwide.

“Presidents don't just get to pick and choose what laws they feel like following, but Trump is blocking funding, and it's not merely illegal. It is also devastating for communities like the ones I represent, who are counting on these resources,” Sen. Patty Murray said.

Trump administration officials declined to be interviewed for this story. In an emailed statement, Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said agency personnel had identified grants with “potential inconsistencies with necessary financial and oversight procedural requirements or grant conditions.”

“We have a responsibility not only to be good stewards of our earth, but of the taxpayer resources with which we are entrusted,” Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said in an all-staff email on Feb. 7.

“The agency must make every effort to support and enable the oversight functions of the [Office of Inspector General] and [Government Accountability Office] to identify waste, fraud, and abuse,” Zeldin told his staff.

Trump fired EPA Inspector General Sean O’Donnell, along with 16 other inspectors general, on the night of Friday, Jan. 24.

Trump had appointed O’Donnell, a University of Washington graduate, to the position in 2019.

Trump has vowed to slash government spending and shrink the federal bureaucracy.

Another stated goal of his administration is to “unleash American energy,” specifically fossil fuel production, rather than switching America to climate-friendly energy.

The now-frozen EPA grants authorized by Congress during the Biden administration were aimed at kick-starting that transition.