California sues Trump over $1.2 billion cut to clean hydrogen hub funding

Chaewon Chung, The Sacramento Bee on Feb 18, 2026

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Attorney General Rob Bonta, joined by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development and the California Energy Commission, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Trump administration, challenging the federal government’s decision to withdraw funding for California’s hydrogen hub, the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems.

The lawsuit follows the administration’s move in September, when Energy Secretary Chris Wright criticized what he called “rushed through” projects approved under the Biden administration and subsequently canceled 223 projects nationwide.

In California, the funding cuts ended a $1.2 billion federal commitment to the ARCHES hub and eliminated a separate $4 million program under the Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation initiative.

“The president claims to seek ‘American Energy Dominance’ but, in California, his unlawful termination of over $1.2 billion in total funding for crucial clean energy projects means over 200,000 union job cuts, rising energy prices, and higher rates of pollution that wreak havoc on our health,” Bonta said.

According to Bonta’s news release, Trump’s funding cuts “violate the constitutional separation of powers, as the funding was approved by bipartisan majorities in Congress.” Bonta co-led Wednesday’s lawsuit with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Washington Attorney General Nicholas Brown, joined by attorneys general of 10 other states.

ARCHES, approved during the Biden administration in 2024, was designed to expand clean energy production through two major power plants and several distributed sites across California. The project was planned to start by “blending with natural gas at the combined-cycle power plants before transitioning to 100% clear hydrogen,” according to the Department of Energy, at the time it was approved.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted the cut, criticizing that the administration was making an economically irrational decision, as the hydrogen energy sector creates “hundreds of thousands of new jobs and saving billions in health costs.”

“In Trump’s America, energy policy is set by the highest bidder, economics and common sense be damned,” Newsom said in a statement in October.

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