Grants to the University of Vermont and Beta Technologies were among those cut by the U.S. Department of Energy. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger. Courtesy photo from Beta Technologies
The U.S. Department of Energy announced more than $7.5 billion in cuts this week to 223 projects, including two in Vermont.
The University of Vermont had won an almost $3.4 million grant, and South Burlington-based electric aviation company Beta Technologies was awarded about $1.8 million in federal dollars. Both are now on the chopping block.
The Vermont projects, and many of the other initiatives across the country, involved renewable energy. UVM’s grant was slated to fund an examination of regional renewable power generation. Beta received funding to develop a charging system for what the grant described as “non-road electric vehicles.” The company is a leader in the development of electric aircrafts.
The federal cuts, which arrived on the heels of this week’s government shutdown, are among the latest in the billions of dollars in clawbacks to congressionally-approved spending since President Donald Trump took office.
The Department of Energy said that the slashed projects “did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”
Congressional Democrats said the affected projects would impact 28 U.S. House districts represented by Republicans and 108 Democratic districts.
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt, called the cuts political in nature in a press conference Friday.
“Everything this administration does is political,” she said, stressing her concern for the projects losing funding in Vermont.
It’s unclear how much money both awardees may have already received or spent. A federal spending database lists almost $1.9 million of the grant as “outlayed” for the UVM project and nearly $500,000 for the Beta grant.
UVM and Beta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The grants make up modest portions of each organization’s budget, though the clawback’s effects on the individual projects is unclear. UVM reported attracting $266 million in outside support alone in fiscal year 2024. And just last month, Beta announced it would receive a $300 million investment from GE Aerospace, pending regulatory approval.
This week, Beta filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a move that brought with it an enforced “quiet period.”
