In a sweeping move that halts billions in spending, President Trump’s administration has frozen the Department of Energy’s (DOE) activities pending a comprehensive review of its alignment with his priorities. According to a memo from acting Energy Secretary Ingrid Kolb, the freeze affects grants, loans, procurement, studies, and even personnel decisions, effectively bringing the agency’s $50 billion budget to a standstill.

Beyond bureaucratic tinkering, the halt is a direct shot at dismantling Biden-era climate policies. The DOE’s Loan Programs Office, holding $41.2 billion in conditional commitments to energy technology companies, now finds its purse strings tightly cinched. Other critical missions, like nuclear waste cleanup and maintenance of emergency crude reserves, are similarly on pause.

The order mirrors an earlier Trump directive freezing funds tied to Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and a bipartisan infrastructure law, both of which allocated billions for clean energy initiatives. Trump, who has championed fossil fuels as a cornerstone of his energy policy, has made it clear that climate-focused spending is no longer a federal priority.

The Interior Department issued a similar freeze on wind and solar project leases on federal lands and waters. 

While the Trump administration’s goal is to “unleash” American energy by cutting red tape, critics argue that freezing investments in innovative technologies jeopardizes long-term energy security. For now, the DOE and the clean energy sector are left in limbo pending the results of a review that could redefine the nation’s energy landscape.

While critics—including US oil companies—have highlighted Trump’s seemingly contradictory approach to oil markets: pressuring OPEC to lower global oil prices while promoting a “drill, baby, drill” mantra domestically, his regulatory rollbacks and anti-renewable agenda appear to be a bone tossed to U.S. oil companies, clearing the way for fossil fuel development and potentially boosting their bottom lines, even as global oil dynamics remain a tug-of-war. 

The Trump administration’s energy strategy is trying to walk a fine line between prioritizing American energy independence and responding to market realities.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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