An executive order that President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office is raising questions about the timelines of two major economic development projects in Southside and Southwest Virginia.
Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” order on Monday froze the disbursement of federal money to Green New Deal energy-related projects funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, aka the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The laws, enacted during former President Joe Biden’s administration, provided billions of dollars in grants and loans for clean energy projects, including those supporting electric vehicle production.
Two companies previously named as recipients of such federal money are Microporous, which was chosen to receive $100 million to build a Pittsylvania County plant that will manufacture lithium-ion battery separators used in electric vehicles, and Volvo, which was awarded $208 million to upgrade its Dublin plant and two other facilities making electric trucks and batteries.
Officials with Microporous and Volvo said Wednesday that it’s unclear whether Trump’s order will affect funding for their specific projects.
“Our grant award project’s initiation date is April 1, 2025 and we hope to know much more at that time about how our particular grant program funding may or may not be affected,” Brad Reed, spokesperson for Microporous, said in an email to Cardinal News.
Microporous’ $100 million, formally announced in November, is slated to come from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Energy Manufacturing and Recycling grant program, which was funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Reed said Microporous has assured state officials that the company’s plans do not depend upon federal funding. Microporous plans to invest $1.3 billion in all and is expected to bring more than 2,000 jobs when it sets up shop at the 3,528-acre Berry Hill megasite in Pittsylvania County.
“However, Federal funding (or lack of) can impact timing,” Reed said in an email.
Microporous CEO John Reeves said in November that the company hopes the new plant will be fully operational by the end of 2026, with construction potentially starting as early as this April. 
Volvo’s New River Valley plant makes heavy-duty electric trucks, and the $208 million Department of Energy grant announced in July would help Volvo more efficiently produce those vehicles and eventually expand its range of electric models, officials have said.
The money would pay for upgrades at the Dublin plant as well as at Volvo facilities in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The grant was funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and would be matched by private money for a total investment of $416 million across the three Volvo facilities.
The DOE has said that the grant would help Volvo sustain 7,900 existing jobs and add 295 jobs across the three facilities.
“This is a five-year project for which we have not yet received any disbursements,” Volvo spokesperson Janie Coley said in an email. “It’s unclear to us at this point whether the funding will be impacted.”
Trump’s executive order requires federal agencies to review their processes and policies for issuing relevant grants and loans and submit reports within 90 days to the Office of Management and Budget and National Economic Council.
The order was among a flurry of Day One directives that promoted energy exploration and production on federal lands and waters, withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change and revoked a Biden-era goal that called for half of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030, among other moves.
