More than 20 states sue EPA over canceled solar power grants

More than 20 states sued the EPA on Thursday, challenging its cancelation of a $7 billion program that aimed to make solar power accessible to low-income households.

More than 20 states sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, challenging the agency’s decision to cancel a $7 billion program that aimed to make solar power accessible to low-income households.

The program, called “Solar For All,” was established in 2022 under the Inflation Reduction Act and had appropriated grants to deploy rooftop and community solar projects. It was part of the Biden administration’s push to reduce carbon pollution and was supposed to make solar power more accessible to nearly a million additional U.S. households.

But in August, the EPA announced that the program had been canceled and withdrew about 90% of grant funds from the accounts in which states had received the awards, according to the lawsuit.

The EPA has been aggressive in its attempts to claw back clean energy funding approved under the Biden administration. The new lawsuit will test whether the agency has overextended its reach in this case. The states behind the legal challenge had hoped that the funding would boost solar supply, reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity production and lower the price of energy.

“Congress passed a solar energy program to help make electricity costs more affordable, but the administration is ignoring the law and focused on the conspiracy theory that climate change is a hoax,” Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown said in a news release. EPA’s decision “jeopardizes” about $156 million for Washington state, according to the release.