Attorney General Phil Weiser sues Energy Secretary Chris Wright for illegally ending $600M in leading-edge energy projects in Colorado
Feb. 18, 2026 (DENVER) – Attorney General Phil Weiser today co-led a coalition of 13 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful decision to terminate and abandon funding for congressionally mandated energy and infrastructure programs created by Congress.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenges the decisions by the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the White House Office of Management and Budget and its director Russell Vought, to terminate $8 billion in energy and infrastructure awards nationwide. Administration officials have ended or abandoned funding worth over $600 million to public and private projects in the state of Colorado alone.
“The Trump revenge campaign continues and now includes killing billions of dollars in advanced energy projects in states, including Colorado, that didn’t vote for the president. Only Congress has the power to direct federal dollars, and the president has no power to undo congressionally mandated spending on his own. Secretary Wright has promised more cuts. Colorado has always been at the forefront of advanced energy research and deployment. I’ll continue to fight for federal dollars for our state,” said Attorney General Weiser.
On his first day in office, President Trump issued executive orders, declaring a made up “national energy emergency” and “terminating the Green New Deal.” Pursuant to these directives, the Energy Department compiled a “hit list” of energy and infrastructure awards worth billions of dollars. The list was intended to further the administration’s illegal objective of eliminating energy and infrastructure programs created under Congress’s authority in laws such as the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
In May 2025, the Energy Department issued a policy memorandum that subjected previously awarded projects to a sham review process designed to provide cover to eliminate energy and infrastructure programs. As a government shutdown loomed in late September 2025, the Energy Department and OMB used the memorandum as an excuse to cut green energy funding, specifically in states that did not vote for President Trump in the last election.
The next day, OMB Director Vought posted on social media that the Energy Department would be terminating nearly $8 billion in “Green New Scam” funding to fuel ‘the Left’s climate agenda.’” The post listed 16 Democratically led states where projects would be defunded. The department officially announced the cuts the next day, citing their May 2025 policy memorandum.
Meanwhile, throughout the first year of the Trump presidency, the Energy Department has quietly terminated or abandoned projects on various “kill lists.” These projects include $5 million to the Colorado Energy Office to improve building infrastructure and $405 million in original awards to Colorado institutions of higher education for significant sustainable energy research, such as:
- More than $32 million awarded to the Colorado School of Mines for the development of a carbon-storage hub in Pueblo.
- Nearly $300 million to Colorado State University to reduce methane emissions from low-producing oil and gas wells, and $19.5 million for the Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center.
- More than $8 million to the University of Colorado at Boulder for a public/private consortium developing perovskite tandem solar cell technology, which is widely considered to be the future of the solar cell industry.
The lawsuit filed today alleges that the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate energy programs created by Congress is unlawful because it violates the separation of powers and the federal Administrative Procedure Act. The programs were created by statutes and federal agencies have a duty to faithfully execute those laws. The coalition of states asks the court to declare that the actions are unlawful and to permanently stop the administration from interfering with these programs.
Attorney General Weiser, Attorney General Rob Bonta of California, and Attorney General Nick Brown of Washington are leading the lawsuit, and are joined by the attorneys general of Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
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Media Contact:
Lawrence Pacheco
Chief Communications Officer
(720) 508-6553 office
lawrence.pacheco@coag.gov