The National Laboratory of the Rockies, formerly known as the National Renewable Energy Lab, laid off 134 workers Monday, a spokesperson for the lab confirmed.

The layoffs at the federal lab based in Golden hit both research and operations workers, said David Glickson, a lab spokesperson, in a statement. The National Laboratory of the Rockies had another layoff in May 2025 that affected 114 workers.

The laboratory founded in the midst of the 1970s oil crisis sits on a 327-acre campus in Golden by South Table Mountain. It also has a facility 13 miles north called the Flatirons Campus near Boulder.

“These actions were taken to adjust to existing and projected funding levels and alignment with DOE priorities,” Glickson said. “We recognize the meaningful contributions of those impacted and the role they have played in advancing the laboratory’s work.”

The laboratory has been affected by President Donald Trump’s widespread federal cuts on spending and his energy policy to focus less on renewables and more on less-expensive energy sources of all kinds — including coal and fossil fuels. In December, the Department of Energy rebranded the National Renewable Energy Lab to the National Laboratory of the Rockies to highlight the broader focus the administration wants the lab to invest in.

“The energy crisis we face today is unlike the crisis that gave rise to NREL,” said Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson in a news release from December. “We are no longer picking and choosing energy sources.”

The laboratory is one of the top five employers of Jefferson County. Before the layoffs, it employed more than 3,600 people across Colorado, Alaska and Washington, D.C.

It’s a major economic generator in Colorado and had a $1.9 billion economic impact in the fiscal year 2023, according to a report released in 2024 by the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder.

U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, the Democrat who represents the district the lab is located in, criticized the Trump administration for the cuts affecting the lab known for groundbreaking climate research.

“Trump’s backwards agenda is going to undo the progress we’ve made to combat the climate crisis and have cascading effects on our economy,” she said in a statement, “I’m deeply sorry to the employees whose livelihoods are now in jeopardy.”