A billion-dollar hydrogen energy plant that would have supplied clean energy to Silicon Valley, the Port of Oakland and other parts of the Bay Area — along with creating hundreds of green jobs — was ready to begin construction this month.
But the project has been put on pause after the Trump Administration canceled a $1.2 billion grant this month amid the current government shutdown. Across Bay Area congressional districts, more than $377 million in federal grant funding has been terminated for projects to expand power grid reliability, create low-carbon infrastructure materials and support A.I. data center development.
Though the hydrogen plant would be based in Lodi, it’s a statewide project that would have provided relief to a Bay Area power grid that is increasingly stressed by the electricity demands of data centers. The terminated grants are part of more than $28 billion in cancellations across the country, almost all of it in Democrat-controlled districts like those of Rep. Lateefah Simon, whose 12th district has had the largest amount in grants canceled throughout the Bay Area, according to the Department of Energy.
“Political retribution against Democratic districts is the point,” Rep. Lateefah Simon said in a statement to Bay Area News Group. “Just two days into a Republican government shutdown, the Trump Administration cancelled over $200 million dollars’ worth of energy and infrastructure projects specifically located in CA-12.”
The federal government has cancelled $27.24 billion in grants for Democrat-controlled districts, while just $738 million in grants have been cancelled in Republican-controlled districts, according to the Department of Energy. In Congressional District 12, which stretches along the East Bay from Albany to San Leandro, federal grants have been terminated which support higher education, infrastructure and job training, according to the DOE.
Brimstone LLC, a low-carbon cement producer based in Oakland, was awarded a $189 million grant in March 2024 from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act to construct a concrete plant. The company’s manufacturing process to decarbonize cement, one of the largest sources of emissions globally, would avoid contributing 120,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year as compared to traditional concrete production — the equivalent of the annual emissions from 26,000 cars.
Brimstone co-founder and CEO Cody Finke said at the time the investment was helping the United States lead the “global clean industrial revolution” with low-carbon infrastructure materials.
Now, the revolution will not be subsidized.
After winning her election last fall, Simon had pledged to bring back resources to her district for initiatives that would improve transportation, public health and infrastructure. The abrupt cancellation of grants in her district to increase the reliability of the power grid and establish low-carbon infrastructure production has made Simon question the intent of the Trump administration’s self-stated goals.
“These projects would have brought clean, affordable, and reliable energy to Californians, and thousands across the East Bay,” Simon said. “It has never been about cheap energy or American energy dominance to this administration.”
In Silicon Valley, Rep. Ro Khanna’s 17th district has also experienced a significant loss of federal grant funding with more than $100 million in cancelled federal grants. These includes $62 million for carbon capture technology and nearly $40 million to accelerate the manufacturing of hardware considered key to creation of hydrogen power, according to the Department of Energy.
“This funding was helping bring clean, affordable energy to families in Silicon Valley,” Khanna told Bay Area News Group. “To compete with China in the 21st century, we need to invest more in renewable energy. Canceling these funds hurts American families and innovation.”
The hydrogen energy plant in Lodi would take treated water from an adjacent wastewater treatment plant and separate hydrogen and oxygen atoms found in water. The isolated hydrogen would then be packaged into fuel cells that could power Port of Oakland’s fleet of hydrogen-powered trucks as well as Silicon Valley data centers.
“It would have made Lodi a bastion for green energy jobs in the country,” Lodi City Councilmember Mikey Hothi said of the project. “And so not only is this impacting potential employment for people in the city of Lodi, it’s impacting folks throughout Northern California.”
In the meantime, Lodi’s natural gas plant will continue to be the primary source of energy for the city. Hothi said he still has hope, once the government shutdown concludes, that the hydrogen power plant will be built.
“Eventually, when the politics and the tensions settle down, people are going to realize that this is a shovel-ready project in our backyard,” Hothi said. “Whether it happens tomorrow is more uncertain. But in my lifetime, I hope we’re going to see a hydrogen facility at this location.”
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