Trump halts over $300 billion in US green infrastructure funding: FT

NEW YORK: Donald Trump’s return to the white house has put more than $300 billion of potential federal infrastructure funding at risk, US investors said, as they grappled with the scale of his move to unpick Joe Biden’s climate agenda.

Within hours of his inauguration on Monday, Trump signed scores of executive orders rescinding Biden’s policies, including one halting federal disbursements to manufacturers and infrastructure developers.

The funds affected were provided under two of Biden’s signature legislative achievements – the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law – and include almost $50 billion in Department of Energy loans already agreed and another $280 billion worth of loan requests under review, according to Financial Times.

“All agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated,” through the acts, the Trump administration said in an executive order titled “Unleash American Energy”.

Among the disbursement now immediately in peril are a $9 billion conditional loan to Michigan-based utility DTE Energy and another of $3.5 billion to Oregon-based utility PacificCorp.

The executive order was among dozens signed by Trump in a late-night blitz after he was sworn in for a second presidential term and promised to end Biden’s ‘Green New Deal’ and boost fossil fuel output.

Trump’s move to halt the funding sent a shockwave through the clean energy sector and signalled his intent to undermine Biden’s industrial policy, particularly his programme to speed up an energy transition.

“The executive orders indicate that federal funding for EV and battery manufacturing will be harder to access, increasing the risk of stranded capital for manufacturing projects already under way,” said Shay Natarajan at Mobility Impact Partners, a private equity fund based in New York.

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The 2021 infrastructure law offered $1.2 billion to improve the country’s transport system, while the IRA offered $370 billion in tax credits, grants and loans.

Both programmes vastly expanded the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, which was responsible for doling out $400 billion to developers and has been a favourite target of Republican attacks.

Trump also wants to stop construction of wind farms on federal lands and waters and said he would end ‘unfair subsidies’ for electric vehicles. Share in Tesla, Rivian, Orsted and other EV and wind companies fell on Tuesday.

Nearly 25GW of offshore wind projects, 65 percent of the US projects in development, are unlikely to progress under the Trump administration, Rystad Energy said on Tuesday.