Department of Energy Project Cancelations

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in fierce objection to the hasty, ill-considered decisions made by the new administration that undermine new investment in America's future energy and manufacturing systems.

Rather than enhancing new energy generation and bolstering good- paying jobs in the United States of America across all energy sectors, including advanced energy manufacturing, the U.S. Department of Energy has ceded ground to global competitors like Communist China.

Last Friday, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced that the Department of Energy was canceling $3.7 billion of previously appropriated funding for 24 advanced energy projects inside the borders of the United States of America.

Our goal must be to make America energy independent inside our borders in perpetuity.

These initiatives were designed to reduce energy costs and to reinvest in American-based manufacturing firms, our Nation's future.

These projects were funded under the Infrastructure Investment and JOBS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. The goal was to resecure the United States as the global leader in energy innovation, but now, the Department of Energy has pulled the rug out from the future by walking away from leading-edge U.S. manufacturers. I never thought I would see that from this administration.

Two weeks ago, I raised this issue of strategic U.S. investment during a hearing with the new Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright. In terms of these companies, he said: ``If it is viable, and it is going to create jobs, and it is going to do these great things, we are going to support that project.''

The Secretary said that he would ask these questions to make the decisions: Is the investment legal? Is the technology viable? Is the engineering done competently? Is there a market for it? Does it add to our national or economic security?

The projects in question check all of these boxes, so what has changed? The Department of Energy claims that it conducted a ``thorough and individualized financial review of each award.'' It found that ``these projects failed to advance the energy needs of the American people [and] were not economically viable.''

Every company is economically viable.

Turning America's back on recognized U.S.-based manufacturing--I will underline that--facing fierce global competition--I underline that--is an insult.

This includes hundreds of hardworking constituents even across northwest Ohio. If the goal is to Make America Great Again, then the U.S. Department of Energy just failed royally. Each of these U.S. manufacturing companies has developed plans to modernize operations and to position themselves and our communities to fight back toward economic success in a fierce global economic race.

America can lead in the energy sector, but we cannot roll back the clock to a former era when America became economically paralyzed due to oil embargoes and dirty manufacturing.

Three of the projects across our country for which funding had been assured are from well-respected Ohio companies: Libbey Glass, Owens-Illinois Glass, and Kraft Heinz.

Let's talk about Libbey. This historic company holds deep roots in my hometown of Toledo, long known as the Glass City. Glass requires lots of energy. The firm has been working for years to maintain competitiveness in a terrible international glass environment while reducing its environmental footprint.

Making glass requires huge amounts of power, as I said, and the funding Libbey was awarded would have helped it transition to more powerful glass furnaces with cleaner manufacturing technologies. These jobs are union jobs with living wages and benefits that strengthen Ohio as a hub for advanced industry.

Owens-Illinois Glass, another recognized heritage glassmaking firm, is headquartered in Perrysburg, Ohio. It had similar plans at its Zanesville, Ohio, plants to remain viable and globally competitive.

Third, Kraft Heinz, a giant in the food industry, is in Fremont, Ohio.

I simply do not understand how canceling these projects makes America great again. Instead, it emboldens our foreign competitors.

I invite President Trump to Ohio to visit these companies. He can change these decisions by his Secretary of Energy.

America can't look in the rearview mirror. We have to look forward to America's new energy future, and the Department of Energy's misguided decisions will really hurt American advanced manufacturing.

Ohio knows what it means to get left behind. We have seen the effects of globalization. We have lived it. We have seen the effects of outsourcing and automation. The United States simply should not be hurting our legacy companies.

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