Portland, OR – As reported on July 24 by The New York Times, new court filings reveal that the Trump administration canceled billions in clean energy funding – including electrical grid upgrade projects in Oregon – based solely on how states voted in the 2024 election.
Trump officials said that of the energy grants terminated last year, all but one hit states that voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris and are represented by two Democratic senators. The cuts were part of a $7.6 billion nationwide rollback that hit 223 clean energy projects across 16 states that voted for Harris in 2024.
“President Trump punished Oregon families for how our state voted. It’s outrageous and unacceptable,” said Governor Tina Kotek. “We are building a clean energy economy that’s creating jobs and lowering costs, and I’ll keep fighting to protect that no matter what the Trump administration throws at us.”
In Oregon, canceled clean energy grants meant pulling support for electrical system upgrades and a regional hydrogen hub in the Pacific Northwest, projects designed to strengthen grid reliability and build clean energy. Instead of investing in job-creating infrastructure, the Trump administration chose to defund transformative projects for crass political reasons.
“Governor Kotek is fighting to protect the clean energy jobs and investments Trump is trying to take away out of political spite,” said OLCV Executive Director Lindsey Scholten. “Christine Drazan wants to finish what Trump started. Oregonians deserve a governor who fights for their future, not one who is promising to tear it down.”
As Trump has made clean energy work more difficult throughout the nation, Governor Kotek, with support from climate organizations like OLCV, has continued pushing Oregon’s work forward by signing executive orders to speed up permitting for solar and wind, strengthen the grid, and scale up climate resilience.
While Trump targets Oregon’s clean energy investments, Christine Drazan wants to finish the job herself. She has promised to repeal Governor Kotek’s executive orders, cutting pollution-cutting regulations Oregonians rely on.
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ABOUT GOVERNOR KOTEK
Governor Tina Kotek has spent her career making history and fighting for others. Over the last three years, Governor Kotek has expanded access to affordable childcare, created thousands of new shelter beds, protected abortion access and vote-by-mail, and funded early literacy and summer learning programs. She has also been a national leader in pushing back against Donald Trump’s attacks on our communities, our healthcare, and our rights by blocking his illegal attempts to deploy the Oregon National Guard in our communities and working through the night to reverse his decision to strip food assistance from Oregonians by taking away SNAP benefits.
Governor Kotek is running for reelection to continue defending Oregon values and tackling the state’s biggest challenges – lowering costs, reducing homelessness, strengthening schools, expanding mental health and addiction care, and bringing affordable childcare to every corner of the state.
ABOUT OLCV
The Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV) is a non-partisan organization that works to pass laws to protect our natural legacy, elect pro-environment candidates, and hold all of our elected officials accountable. OLCV is made up of a statewide team of members, volunteers, full-time staff, and board of directors.