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Solar for All Lawsuit
Coverage from Southern Environmental Law Center, Mother Jones, and others
Solar for All is a $7 billion federal grant program created under the Inflation Reduction Act to help states, localities, nonprofits, and tribes lower solar costs for low- and moderate-income households.
After the EPA terminated the program, Rhode Island labor and environmental groups challenged the decision. Judge Mary McElroy ruled that Congress required the agency to continue administering already obligated grants and vacated the termination. The legal sequence also raises practical questions about how the program will be restored, whether the agency will appeal, and how existing awards will proceed.
If you read one thing
The AP report clearly summarizes the ruling, its legal basis, and the program’s intended reach.
The evidence
It adds the distinct practical uncertainty facing grant recipients about whether awards will proceed or require reapplication.
Obligated Solar for All grants are legally protected
A federal judge set aside the EPA’s termination of Solar for All, finding that the agency must continue administering grants Congress had already obligated. The ruling protects those grants but does not itself specify how the program must be restored.
$7 billion USD
Solar for All program funding
“The Trump administration illegally terminated the $7 billion Solar for All program, which was intended to make solar power accessible to more than 900,000 lower-income Americans, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled Friday.”
$20 billion USD
remaining Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
“The other $20 billion in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was also canceled by the Trump administration.”
more than 900,000 people
lower-income Americans targeted for solar access
“A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that the Trump administration illegally terminated the $7 billion Solar for All program, which was intended to make solar power accessible to more than 900,000 lower-income Americans.”
more than 900,000 people
lower-income Americans the program was intended to reach
“The Trump administration illegally terminated the $7 billion Solar for All program, which was intended to make solar power accessible to more than 900,000 lower-income Americans, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled Friday.”
thousands jobs
potential union jobs created if Solar for All resumes
“Patrick Crowley, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, called the decision a victory for states across the country and said the program could create thousands of union jobs if it resumes. Alex St. Pierre of the Conservation Law Foundation said the funding could help reduce energy bills, climate pollution and air pollution.”
No new-member articles were supplied, so there is no evidence of a material change since the prior state.
Previously
A federal judge in Rhode Island set aside the EPA's termination of the $7 billion Solar for All program, finding that the agency must continue administering grants Congress had already obligated. Created to expand solar access for more than 900,000 lower-income Americans, the program's future now depends in part on how the ruling is implemented; the judge did not specify the restoration process, and the EPA is considering an appeal. The decision addresses Solar for All, while litigation over the broader Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund remains separate.