Lawsuit Filed Against EPA for Ending $7 Billion Solar Program

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced the end of the program, saying the agency ‘no longer has the authority to administer’ it.

Solar panels at a facility in Deport, Texas, on July 15, 2021. Drone Base/Reuters

A group of business owners and nonprofit groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over ending a $7 billion residential solar program, according to an Oct. 6 lawsuit filed at the Rhode Island District Court.

The Solar for All program was set up by the Biden administration as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). In April 2024, the program awarded grants to 60 recipients, including tribes, states, and nonprofits, to expand solar energy access to low-income and disadvantaged communities, tackle climate concerns, and reduce energy costs.

On Aug. 7, the EPA announced it was terminating the program designed to disburse grants to more than 900,000 low-income households.

The lawsuit, filed against the EPA and its administrator, Lee Zeldin, called the decision “unlawful,” as Congress had already appropriated $7 billion to the agency to ensure low-income and disadvantaged communities received access to solar power.

The grant program would have saved around $400 annually in residential electricity bills for beneficiaries, the plaintiffs said.

Moreover, the program would have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, equal to the emissions made by over seven million passenger vehicles, the lawsuit stated.

“Instead of distributing the Solar for All funds as Congress directed, Defendants hastily and unlawfully terminated the Solar for All program,” said the lawsuit.

“Defendants’ actions violated federal law, including the Administrative Procedure Act and the United States Constitution.

“If Defendants’ unlawful termination of the Solar for All program is allowed to stand, nearly one million low-income households will lose access to affordable, resilient solar in communities in all states and territories, and hundreds of thousands of good-paying, high-quality jobs will be lost, especially in the low-income and disadvantaged communities Congress intended these funds to benefit.”

The plaintiffs in the case requested that the court declare the termination of Solar for All unlawful and order the defendants to reinstate the program.

The Epoch Times reached out to the EPA for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.

In an Aug. 7 video published on X, Zeldin justified the EPA’s decision to end the Solar for All program as mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by President Donald Trump in July.

According to Zeldin, a “shocking” feature of Solar for All was the “massive dilution of the money,” with granted funds shifting through several pass-through entities, and “all of the middlemen taking their own cut, at least 15 percent by conservative estimates.”

“Furthermore, the Biden-Harris administration exempted this program from the Build America, Buy America law that requires federal agencies to use American workers, American products, and American infrastructure for projects using American taxpayer dollars. That’s great news for China, not so much for the USA,” Zeldin added.

China dominates the global solar industry. In 2023, Beijing accounted for 84.6 percent of global solar photovoltaic module production, with the United States accounting for only 2.2 percent, according to data from Statista.

Zeldin said “very little money” had been spent under the program, with projects mainly in the planning phase rather than the construction phase.

“But the bottom line again is this, EPA no longer has the authority to administer the program or the appropriated funds to keep this boondoggle alive,” he said.

The Trump administration has been putting an end to solar projects promoted by federal agencies.

On July 7, Trump signed an executive order directing the administration to end all federal subsidies provided to solar and wind energy facilities.

“Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts to unreliable energy sources is vital to energy dominance, national security, economic growth, and the fiscal health of the nation,” Trump said in the order.

In an Aug. 18 post on X, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the Department of Agriculture has stopped all its programs that funded wind or solar projects on productive farmland.

“Millions of acres of prime farmland is left unusable so Green New Deal subsidized solar panels can be built. This destruction of our farms and prime soil is taking away the futures of the next generation of farmers and the future of our country,” Rollins said.