Hawaii energy grants were canceled last year for partisan reasons, according to recent court filings that confirm political motivations behind the Trump administration’s decision to terminate millions in clean energy funding for the islands.
Jeff Novak, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Energy, acknowledged in court documents that the department’s October 2025 move to end hundreds of Biden-era grants valued at more than $7.5 billion was not based on the stated rationale that projects failed to advance national energy needs or lacked economic viability.
Instead, Novak wrote, the decisions were “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state,” distinguishing between so-called Blue States and others.
Hawaiʻi, which voted overwhelmingly for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election and is represented by a Democratic congressional delegation, had six projects on the October termination list, totaling nearly $68 million.
The cuts struck a range of efforts, including $40 million to bolster backup power for Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and nearby communities, funding to expand electric vehicle charging networks, and $5 million for Honolulu-based Oceanit to advance technology to extract clean hydrogen from wastewater generated by oil and gas production.
According to the filings, 283 of the 284 grants eliminated were tied to states that awarded electoral votes to Harris and have two Democratic-caucusing U.S. senators.
Funding for hundreds of grants in Republican-led states was left intact.
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, who represents Hawaiʻi’s 2nd Congressional District, had questioned the move from the outset, calling the administration’s public justification “shibai” and labeling the cancellations a “political hit list.”
The same day the Energy Department announced its terminations, former Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought posted that nearly $8 billion for what he called the “Green New Scam” was being canceled, listing only Democrat-leaning states, including Hawaiʻi.
Hawaii energy grants at center of partisan dispute
The new admissions drew a sharp rebuke from Tokuda, who said Congress must reassert its constitutional role over federal spending.
“The Department of Energy’s admissions under oath confirm what we’ve been saying all along,” she said, arguing that the administration is weaponizing funding and hurting working families by delaying projects meant to cut energy costs, strengthen security, reduce fossil fuel dependence, and create jobs.
U.S. Rep. Ed Case issued a similar statement, calling the cuts, particularly those affecting resilience at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, “wrong on policy and the law.”
He said the acknowledgement that cancellations were political should trouble Americans of any party.
The Energy Department’s position surfaced as government lawyers responded to a lawsuit filed by California researchers challenging the grant cancellations.
It follows earlier legal filings in a Minnesota case where government attorneys argued that considering partisan politics can be constitutionally permissible as a proxy for policy goals.
The department did not respond to a request for comment.
The terminated energy grants represent only part of the federal funding lost in the islands since Trump returned to office.
The University of Hawaiʻi said that since 2025, the administration has terminated 87 previously awarded grants and issued stop work orders on four others, with total awards that exceeded $110 million.
The University of Hawaiʻi said that since 2025, the administration has terminated 87 previously awarded grants and issued stop work orders on four others, with total awards that exceeded $110 million.
Related community discussions on local power priorities were highlighted in recent Puna and Kaʻu energy reports examining how residents view future energy projects in their districts.
