Ocasio-Cortez Highlights Widespread Job Loss After Department of Energy Cancels Billions in Energy Projects Across The Country

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Washington, D.C. - Today, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) highlighted widespread job loss across New York State as a result of billions of dollars in project cancellations by the Department of Energy (DOE) during a hearing in the Subcommittee on Energy of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. 

At the hearing Representative Ocasio-Cortez questioned Alex Fitzsimmons, Acting Undersecretary of Energy and Director of the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) at the U.S. Department of Energy. Mr. Fitzsimmons spearheads President Trump’s “dominance” agenda, which had a stated goal of  increasing good-paying jobs in the energy sector. However, across the country, families are losing much needed jobs and the state is losing private investment due to DOE project cancellations.

Find Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks as delivered below:

“Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.

Undersecretary Fitzsimmons, you served at the Department of Energy during President Trump's first term, correct?

Yes, I did.

And you've also held a number of positions in this term, including Chief of Staff to Energy Secretary Wright, correct?

I did, yes.

Great. I'm hoping that you could help me understand more about the agency's decision making process.

You know, we've talked about how there have been many clean energy projects that have been canceled over the last year. In fact, since January of last year, over 170,000 energy jobs across the country on clean energy projects have been lost or impacted due to the policy changes from your department.

One company canceled plans for a battery manufacturing facility in Buckeye, Arizona that cost 6,400 jobs to the local community. Glendale, Kentucky, has lost over 150,000 jobs due to another manufacturing facility closure.

As Chief of Staff to Secretary Wright and as acting Undersecretary, were there assessments done on how many jobs would be lost due to these decisions?

Well, my understanding is that when an applicant submits an application, there is a comprehensive assessment because we need to understand what the jobs- 

I’m not speaking to applications. I'm talking about, you know, policy changes around tax credits, around other sorts of I mean, it can include applications as well, but did you do an assessment on how many American jobs would be lost prior to you making your policy conclusions?

I think we're always continuously assessing-

I think it's pretty simple. Did you do the assessments? Did you do the assessment on how many jobs would be lost before making a choice, or did you not do the assessment?

We review the applications as they come in, and part of that can be the jobs- 

That sounds like a no to me, Undersecretary, that 170,000 Americans have lost their job due to the policy changes implemented by you and your department, and you didn't even think about it.

There was no assessment. 170,000 Americans out of a job, out of health insurance, out of any opportunity- battery manufacturing plants in Georgia, Arizona, Kentucky.

And you are telling me that there was not an assessment done on how many Americans were going to lose their job before you made your decisions and before this administration made decisions on revoking tax credits, manufacturing credits that were going to affect these facilities, that is what I'm being told today. Is that correct?

No. As I mentioned, we have a comprehensive review process for all applications- 

And does that process include how many jobs would be lost?

Job numbers are typically-

That sounds like a no to me. That sounds like a no to me, Undersecretary Fitzsimmons.

Now I want to move forward. In Newnan, Georgia, a company planning a battery manufacturing facility walked back a $2.6 billion investment in the state of Georgia.

The company cited the clean energy tax credits that were critical to its decision to invest in the project, and the Trump administration's reversal and decimation of these tax credits ended a $2.6 billion energy investment in the state of Georgia alone. You must be aware that under President Trump, the United States, in just a year, has lost $53 billion in clean energy investment in our infrastructure.

So what I am trying to understand, since you have described yourself as “spearheading” the Department of Energy's dominance agenda, is why- and under President Trump's energy dominance executive order, it talks about good paying jobs. So how is this administration, and how are you, assessing these projects when we have resulted in a net loss of 170,000 jobs?

As I mentioned, we have a comprehensive review process. President Trump is focused on restoring American energy dominance after years, four years, of disastrous energy subtraction policies. And so we're investing in an affordable, reliable and secure-

So we’re doing that by cutting American jobs, and then trying to invade Venezuela to compensate?

Thank you. I yield back.”

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