US senators urge energy secretary to follow law on clean energy grants, loans

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Democratic senators on Wednesday urged Energy Secretary Chris Wright to follow the laws that require his department to fund clean energy projects included in laws passed before Donald Trump became president, including four hydrogen hubs.

Wright's department is weighing funding cuts to four of seven of the hubs in a $7 billion program that is part of former President Joe Biden's effort to decarbonize the U.S. economy. The hubs are intended to jumpstart the production of "clean hydrogen" and infrastructure needed to get it to steelmakers, cement plants and other industrial users.

The senators are concerned that the department is seeking to defund projects including the hubs, carbon capture, critical minerals, and battery storage that have already received grant and loan funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and annual appropriations bills, signed by Biden.

Washington has slashed funding for clean energy projects since Trump took office in January. His administration is prioritizing production of fossil fuels including oil, gas and coal, as part of its "energy dominance" agenda.

"Our Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse and exclusive power to appropriate funds," Senators Martin Heinrich, Patty Murray and about 25 of their fellow Democrats said in a letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, sent to Wright, a Republican.

"Once a law is properly enacted, the Constitution requires the President to 'take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed,'" it said.

The senators said a president cannot substitute policy preferences for requirements in law, and cannot refuse to spend funds Congress requires an administration to spend.

The DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has said previously that it is conducting a department-wide review of projects.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)