We are eliminating the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations and zeroing out the accounts for DOE’s Office of Energy Justice and Equity and the EPA’s Environmental Justice program.
The legislation is described as eliminating one office and zeroing out two justice-related accounts.
DOE’s official OCED page remained live and described OCED as delivering clean energy demonstration projects at scale, with project portfolios, funding opportunities, contact information, and latest news dated into 2026.
The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations still existed and was operating as of the assessment date, so the promise to eliminate it was not fully fulfilled.
DOE announced termination of 24 awards issued by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations totaling over $3.7 billion, saying the cancellations generated immediate savings of $3.6 billion.
The administration cut a large set of OCED awards, which is partial progress toward reducing OCED spending, but the announcement confirms the office still existed and does not eliminate it.
Executive Order 14151 directed agencies within 60 days to terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and environmental justice offices and positions, equity action plans, equity-related grants or contracts, and related performance requirements.
This is substantial executive action against environmental justice offices and grants, but it is limited by law and appropriations and does not prove that all federal energy justice and environmental justice accounts were zeroed out.
The House-passed text appropriated $35,000,000 for program direction of the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations and barred funds in the Act from supporting the Department of Energy Justice40 initiative.
The bill advanced a concrete restriction on DOE energy justice activity, but it did not eliminate OCED; it preserved OCED program-direction funding. The bill also did not become law.
Roll Call 558 shows H.R.4394 passed the House 210-199; Rep. John R. Moolenaar of Michigan voted Yea.
Moolenaar supported a concrete House appropriations bill that restricted DOE Justice40 funding and reduced clean-energy priorities, so effort is credited even though the bill did not deliver the full promise.
Congress.gov lists H.R.4394 as having the status Passed House, with latest action on November 1, 2023: received in the Senate and placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar.
The House effort did not become enacted law, so it cannot count as full fulfillment of the spending promise.
Congress.gov shows H.R.4366 became Public Law No. 118-42 and that the enacted FY2024 Energy and Water division provided appropriations for DOE energy programs including Clean Energy Demonstrations.
The enacted FY2024 appropriations law kept Clean Energy Demonstrations within DOE appropriations, contradicting full elimination or zeroing out during that fiscal year.