Trump Administration cuts $110M in funding for Westborough firm’s Kentucky plant

Westborough-based Ascend Elements is still moving forward with plans for an electric vehicle battery recycling facility in Kentucky, despite the President Donald Trump Administration cutting $110.2 million in U.S. Department of Energy funding for the project. The cut comes via the cancellation of a $316-million grant for the Apex 1 plant in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, issued in 2023 to support manufacturing infrastructure at the site. The grant had $110.2 million yet to be dispersed, according to data on USAspending.gov. Despite the funding cut, which comes amid an on-going pause of construction at the site and a legal battle over work already done at the facility, Ascend is committed to moving forward with the plant, Linh Austin, president and CEO of Ascend Elements, said in a statement provided to WBJ on Friday. “The DOE’s decision regarding the grant doesn’t change our trajectory,” Austin said. “We’re moving forward. Ascend Elements is already producing >99% pure recycled lithium carbonate at commercial scale in Covington, Georgia, and we’re scaling output in the U.S. and Europe toward ~15,000 metric tons annually by 2027.” The company was notified of the discontinuation of funds on Tuesday. Ascend plans on using other sources of funding to make up the gap. “Importantly, our funding path is diversified well beyond DOE,” Austin said. “We are replacing the remaining unused portion of the DOE grant with a mix of other sources of funding available to the company including equity, project finance, municipal bonds, and other forms of debt.” News of the funding cut was first reported by Recycling Today. The funding cuts are the latest obstacle related to the Kentucky project Ascend will need to overcome. Construction at the site was paused in April, according to Louisville Public Media, with Ascend saying the pause was due to a request from several major customers as a result of changing market conditions. The pause came as the company is facing a $138-million lawsuit from project stakeholders claiming the company has refused to pay construction fees, according to ConstructionDive. The lawsuit was filed in March and is led by a joint venture between New York-based Turner Construction and Ohio-based Kokosing Industrial. A judge ordered in May the parties undergo arbitration, according to WHOP NewsRadio. Ascend told ConstructionDive it intends to pay for the work done, but said it is reviewing the work completed at the site. Ascend did not clarify what led to the need for review. The company said it is considering other contractors for the project. Austin said in his statement the firm plans to restart construction in 2026. The company first announced the project in 2022. The federal funding cut came as part of a $7.56-billion termination of DOE grants to 223 energy projects announced Oct. 2. The cuts targeted grants approved by the former president Joe Biden Administration, and focused on companies based in states whose residents voted in favor of former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, according to UtilityDrive. Trump’s energy secretary, Chris Wright, said the investments would not provide a positive return for taxpayers, while Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought labeled the grants as part of Biden’s climate agenda. “Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled,” Vought wrote on the social media site X. The cuts in October come after DOE and Ascend mutually agreed to cut $164 million in funding for the Kentucky plant in February, citing changing market conditions, according to a Feb. 27 press release from Ascend. Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.