- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Energy | Environment
A coalition of labor unions, nonprofits, solar companies, and homeowners filed suit Monday against the Environmental Protection Agency. The group alleges the agency unlawfully terminated $7 billion in federal grants intended to expand solar access in marginalized and low-income communities, including tribal nations.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, challenges the EPA’s August decision to halt the Solar for All program. Created under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the initiative was projected to help 900,000 households install rooftop or community solar. The program included more than $500 million in commitments to Indian Country.
Plaintiffs include the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, Solar United Neighbors, the Hopi Tribal Council, the Rhode Island Center for Justice, and solar installers in Georgia and Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs are asking the court to vacate EPA’s action and reinstate the program.
According to a press release from legal organization Lawyers for Good Government, which is part of a legal team representing the plaintiffs, the suit argues the EPA acted unlawfully by canceling grants that had already been awarded. The organization's executive vice president for Climate Change and Environmental Justice, Jillian Blanchard, said the agency’s claim that the funds were rescinded is “patently false and legally unsupportable” in a statement.
“EPA’s termination of the $7 billion Solar for All program is a betrayal,” Blanchard said. “This administration is sending a clear message: They will make Americans pay with their savings and their health in order to benefit the fossil fuel industry.”
According to reporting from the New York Times, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in August the agency no longer had authority to administer the program, citing Trump’s domestic policy bill, which he said eliminated “billions of green slush fund dollars.”
Tribal Business News previously reported that the termination cut more than $500 million in funding earmarked for tribal energy projects. Six tribal-focused organizations had received awards, including the Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association, which said the loss would upend plans to deliver solar to 35 member tribes across the Great Lakes region. More money was coming in state programs, such as the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Solar for All plan.
The Solar for All termination was part of a wider rescission of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion allocation under the Inflation Reduction Act that also aimed to improve access to energy financing for both Native-serving green banks and Native community development financial institutions.
The fund included the National Clean Investment Fund ($14 billion) and the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator ($6 billion), which also faced legal challenges after their terminations. Federal courts were initially sympathetic, but a 3-person panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals later sided with the EPA by a 2-1 decision that the lower court lacked jurisdiction. The decision found that the suit should be brought in the Court of Federal Claims as a contract violation case, which could take years, according to legal experts. The plaintiffs in the suit have since filed for a rehearing, asking the full Circuit Court to hear the case.
Brian Edwards contributed reporting.
