The Daily Fuckup

California went to federal court on Feb. 18, 2026, seeking to undo the Trump administration’s termination of $1.2 billion in funding for ARCHES, the state’s hydrogen hub, and $4 million for the Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation program. The complaint says the Department of Energy terminated ARCHES’s cooperative agreement on Oct. 1, 2025, before the state and its partners filed suit in the Northern District of California.

The case names the Department of Energy, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the Office of Management and Budget and OMB Director Russell Vought. California and the other plaintiffs say Congress appropriated the money, federal agencies awarded it, and the executive branch later tried to take it back without lawful authority.

The lawsuit leans on two main arguments: that the terminations violated separation-of-powers limits because the executive branch cannot erase spending Congress already approved, and that the move ran afoul of the Administrative Procedure Act. The plaintiffs want a court order declaring the terminations unlawful and blocking the government from interfering with the programs.

ARCHES is the larger piece of the dispute. The state says the project was designed to support a hydrogen network for heavy-duty trucking, transit, port operations and other industrial uses tied to California’s climate and energy goals. RECI was meant to support updates to state energy codes and improve building efficiency.

California says the funding cuts threaten jobs, emissions reductions and long-term savings that were supposed to flow from the programs. The administration’s termination notices, not any public legal defense in the complaint, are what set up the dispute now headed to court.