Dive Brief:
- The U.S. District Court of Rhode Island on Friday ruled the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s termination of the Solar for All program was procedurally unlawful and ordered it vacated.
- The $7 billion Solar for All program, which provides loans or grants to help low-income households cover the cost of installing rooftop solar or participating in community solar programs, is part of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund authorized in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit blocked the Trump administration from rescinding $20 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants authorized under the IRA.
- The ruling clears the way for Solar for All grants “to resume in Rhode Island and across the country,” according to a news release from one of the organizations that brought the lawsuit on behalf of downstream beneficiaries of Solar for All grant recipients. EPA said in an email that it is reviewing the decision and considering options for appeal.
Dive Insight:
When EPA awarded $7 billion for Solar for All in 2024, it estimated the program would reach more than 900,000 households, save families $350 million a year in electricity bills and support 200,000 jobs and workforce training opportunities, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center, one of the organizations that brought the lawsuit.
The EPA ended the program as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025. “The bottom line is this: EPA no longer has the statutory authority to administer the program or the appropriated funds to keep this boondoggle alive,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in an Aug. 7, 2025, post on X.
The plaintiffs filed their suit in October 2025, alleging the EPA’s termination of Solar for All violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution’s Presentment Clauses and Spending Clause. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy ruled the termination was contrary to law in its violation of the APA.
“Today’s ruling confirms what we have argued from the beginning: EPA could not simply erase a $7 billion program that Congress created and funded to lower energy bills and bring affordable solar power to communities across the country,” Jillian Blanchard, senior vice president of climate change and environmental justice at Lawyers for Good Government, one of the groups representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
Harris County, Texas, which received one of the largest Solar for All Awards in 2024, sued EPA for canceling the program in October 2025. A coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia filed a separate suit days later.
“Yesterday, a federal judge rejected the EPA’s illegal termination of this funding and preserved this enormously important program,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who introduced the Solar for All program, said in a Saturday statement. “Solar for All means lower utility bills, many thousands of good-paying jobs and real action to address the existential threat of climate change. That’s a win-win-win.”
