A mass exodus begins at the Energy Department

It’s been nearly three months since the Trump administration began sending out “fork in the road” emails offering deferred resignation deals to thousands of federal employees. Now, it’s becoming clear how those departures could reshape the Department of Energy.

More than 3,500 employees — about a fifth of the department — are expected to leave in the near future, E&E News reported this week. In addition to those accepting resignation offers, 280 staffers who work in the U.S. EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights are on the chopping block.

Scientists, lawmakers, and energy executives have warned that these mass firings and resignations don’t fit Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda. Take the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, which is reportedly set to lose more than three-quarters of its staff. The program supports promising but nascent clean technologies, including advanced nuclear reactors, which Energy Secretary Chris Wright named as a priority for “energy dominance.”

The DOE’s Loan Programs Office is meanwhile expected to lose half of its staff, jeopardizing its ability to distribute funding, one career staffer told E&E. Just this week, the LPO issued another round of funding to help Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant restart — a project Wright has called critical to “America’s nuclear renaissance.”

Many departures are also expected at the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains. That department expressly works to bolster domestic manufacturing, which Trump has said is a goal of his on-again, off-again tariffs. And the Grid Deployment Office — whose work to strengthen the electric grid is crucial to meet growing power demand — is reportedly losing about 70% of its staff. 

The U.S. Commerce Department announced another tariff whammy to the solar industry this week. In response to a case alleging Chinese companies were circumventing tariffs by routing their products through other Southeast Asian countries, the department introduced levies on Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam — countries responsible for the majority of solar product imports last year. The charges start at 40% and reach as high as 3,521%.

But some U.S. solar companies aren’t sweating. Developer Silicon Ranch secured a $500 million investment this month, Canary Media’s Julian Spector reports, following moves it made over the past few years that “tariff-proofed” much of its operations. And Florida startup OnePlanet is tackling the solar supply problem at its roots, raising $7 million to build a first-of-its-kind plant to recycle critical components from broken panels, Alexander C. Kaufman reports for Canary.

Elon Musk says he will reduce the amount of time he’s spending at the White House after a dismal earnings report this week from Tesla. The EV maker reported a 71% year-over-year drop in net income. Musk told investors that his cost-cutting work with the federal government is “mostly done” and that he’d start limiting his time with President Trump’s team to a day or two per week.

The earnings report revealed a mixed future for Tesla’s battery-storage division. Powerwall and Megapack revenues have climbed over the last year, but the company also said tariffs will have a bigger impact on those products than on EVs.

The news follows several weeks of bad news for Tesla car sales. The company reported its biggest sales drop ever earlier this month, and it no longer accounts for a majority of EV sales in California. An auto industry group also reported this week that Tesla sales in Europe were down 28.2% year-over-year, even as overall EV sales grew.