COURTS
DOE: Feds nixed energy grants to New Mexico, other 'blue states'
New Mexico projects among $7.5 billion in grants cut based on electoral votes cast in the 2024 election
Published
The Trump administration last year axed 10 energy project grants in New Mexico, withholding a combined $135 million in federal funding to the state.
The U.S. Department of Energy provided little explanation for the cuts.
The answer came this month when DOE officials acknowledged in federal court records that it cut 284 grants to "blue states" that cast electoral votes for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Among the $7.56 billion in funding terminated in October 2025 were clean energy grants destined for New Mexico companies and institutions, including the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and the Public Service Company of New Mexico.
DOE attorneys admitted in a court filing that the decision to accept or terminate grants was "based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient's state" and whether the state was identified as a "Blue State or a non-Blue State."
A blue state was so designated as a state 鈥渢hat awarded their electoral votes to Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and has two Democratic-caucusing Senators,鈥� wrote Jeff Novak, the DOE's principal deputy general counsel. New Mexico awarded its five electoral votes to Harris in 2024 and has two Democratic U.S. senators.
The acknowledgment was filed July 15 in a lawsuit filed by University of California researchers seeking restoration of federal funding.
Another 340 grants destined for states that cast electoral votes for Trump in 2024 "were not terminated in October 2025, and they have not since been terminated," Novak wrote.
Novak also said the Office of Management and Budget, an executive office of the president, identified the awards slated for termination from a list of 624 grants.
DOE did not immediately respond this week to a request for comment.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said the court filing verified earlier suspicions that the Trump administration targeted Democratic-led states for grant cancellations.
鈥淭his reporting proves what we鈥檝e known all along: the Trump administration鈥檚 decision to cancel energy project grants in states where Donald Trump lost in 2024 was nakedly political and vengeful," Heinrich said in a statement.
Sen. Ben Ray Luj谩n, D-N.M., called the Trump administration's action "corruption, plain and simple."
"No President should be able to weaponize the federal government against Americans based on where they live or how their state voted," Luj谩n said in a statement.
Claudia Polsky, an attorney representing the California researchers, said the DOE chose to release its statement to the court in lieu of a discovery process that would have required DOE officials to testify under oath. A federal judge in San Francisco is expected to rule in that case by the end of the year, she said.
Grant terminations
DOE announced in October that it had nixed grant awards totaling $7.56 billion for 223 projects in 16 states, including 10 New Mexico grants.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said at the time that many awards were rushed through by the Biden administration with "inadequate documentation by any reasonable business standard." None of the DOE statements made any mention of a partisan political test, although the 16 targeted states had all cast electoral votes for Harris.
The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, also called New Mexico Tech, saw the most cuts, with four projects losing a combined $56.2 million in grant funding.
PNM, the state's largest electricity provider, had $35.6 million cut from a project to improve grid stability and reduce customer bills.
PNM spokesman Eric Chavez said Tuesday that PNM immediately appealed the grant termination. PNM has since received the full grant early this year and plans to restart work on the project.
Other grants canceled last year include:
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative lost a $15.4 million grant to partially fund a distributed battery energy storage system for grid resiliency in northern New Mexico.
Navajo Transitional Energy Co., a Farmington-based Navajo-owned mining and power company, lost $6.6 million for a carbon dioxide capture project at its Four Corners Power Plant.
Pajarito Powder, an Albuquerque materials science firm, lost two grant awards worth a combined $18.5 million.
Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.
