U.S. Dept. of Energy grant terminations could affect projects in Morrow and Baker Counties
By Griffin Beach on Monday, October 6th, 2025 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
WASHINGTON D.C. – Last week The United States Department of Energy (DOE)
announced the termination of 321 financial awards that were previously issued by the
offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Grid
Deployment, Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, Advanced Research Projects
Agency-Energy, and Fossil Energy.
DOE says the terminations will result in savings of approximately $7.56 billion for tax
payers.
“On day one, the Energy Department began the critical task of reviewing billions of
dollars in financial awards, many rushed through in the final months of the Biden
administration with inadequate documentation by any reasonable business standard,”
said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright in a news release from DOE.
One of the affected recipients was the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association (PNHA),
a non-profit organization whose goal is to establish the Pacific Northwest as leader in
global energy innovation. PNHA was due to receive up to $1 billion in awards.
“While we are disappointed in the Department of Energy’s decision to cut funding for the
Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub, there is still immense opportunity for our region to
finish what we started, establishing a national benchmark for hydrogen production that
brings economic opportunities to communities across the region.,” said PNHA in a
statement on their website. They added they will continue to support project and
industry partners.
According to PNHA’s website their projects across Oregon, Washington, and Montana
include PNHA partner Air Liquide planning to construct and operate a facility near the
Port of Morrow to convert clean gaseous hydrogen into liquid hydrogen to support the
clean energy mobility market around the Pacific Northwest region. They also have plans
to install four hydrogen refueling stations in the region.
As part of the Port of Morrow project Northwest Seaport Alliance will develop and
implement an incentive program to support the purchase and deployment of hydrogen
powered drayage trucks and cargo handling equipment. The hydrogen trucks and
equipment will be used in port and goods movement applications in Seattle and
Tacoma. PNHA’s website lists the project as currently in design.
Another potentially affected project is in Baker City where Express Ranch Hydrogen is
developing an electrolytic hydrogen production facility between Baker City and
Huntington. The facility is planned to supply hydrogen to a mining operator that is
transitioning part of its heavy-duty haul truck fleet from diesel to hydrogen-powered
engines.
They also plan to establish a publicly accessible hydrogen fueling hub along Interstate
84 to serve long-haul trucking fleets. The project status says finalizing project scoping
and initiating permitting process.
DOE says award recipients have 30 days to appeal a termination decision.
