The following statement may be attributed to David Soll, Industrial Decarbonization Manager at the Great Plains Institute. The Industrial Innovation Initiative (I3) is a coalition of leaders from industry, labor, and nonprofit organizations focused on strengthening American industry and reducing industrial emissions.
“Today’s announced cancellation of 24 DOE-funded projects will slow progress in modernizing America’s industrial sector. I3 is particularly disappointed that DOE canceled 18 awards totaling more than $2.9 billion made through the Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP). This decision will delay the implementation of projects intended to demonstrate and scale various technologies, including carbon management, electrification, and thermal energy storage. The commercialization of these technologies is critical to ensuring American competitiveness. The canceled awards include projects across the United States, with cuts to projects in the Gulf Coast region alone exceeding $1 billion.
“Suspending federal investments will discourage private investment. IDP grant recipients must match federal funds, and many had plans to invest far more than the federal government in these projects. In most cases, awardees have already made significant investments in planning these projects. An analysis by Greenlight Insights, in partnership with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), finds that the cancellation of the 24 Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) projects could result in the loss of 25,000 jobs and $4.6 billion in economic output. By canceling these projects, DOE risks creating a scenario in which the American taxpayer and businesses have invested billions without any results.
“Above all, businesses require certainty to plan and execute projects. Canceling these projects will not only harm the recipients counting on these funds but could also deter other American companies from seeking public support for retrofits and improvements that can bring enormous benefits to facilities, communities, and consumers. Canceling these important awards also creates the risk that companies in other countries will gain a competitive edge in producing the critical materials that households and businesses rely on. American manufacturing competitiveness is contingent on strong support from the public sector.
“We will continue to work with congressional champions, companies, non-governmental advocates, and labor to build the case for deploying innovative technologies across the nation.”
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The Industrial Innovation Initiative (I3) is an ambitious coalition focused on strengthening American industry and reducing industrial emissions through policy development and implementation, technology demonstration and adoption, and demand-side market development. The Initiative builds on years of stakeholder engagement by its co-conveners, Great Plains Institute and World Resources Institute, to establish consensus around and advocate for key industrial policies and initiatives.