Nearly two dozen states are suing the Trump administration after it cancelled a $7bn grant programme designed to expand solar energy in low-income communities, according to court documents. The lawsuits, announced by California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, challenge the termination of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Solar for All initiative, which was scrapped by EPA administrator Lee Zeldin in August.
Arizona’s attorney general, Kris Mayes, said the cancellation would affect 900,000 low-income households nationwide, with some 11,000 families in her state facing a 20 per cent rise in energy bills following the loss of $156m in funding. “Without this program, for many Arizonans, clean energy will be out of reach,” she said. The 23 Democratic attorneys general involved have filed dozens of lawsuits against the administration on issues ranging from federal grants to immigration.
The first complaint, seeking monetary damages, was filed on Wednesday in the Court of Federal Claims. A second suit, aiming to reinstate the programme, is expected to be lodged in federal court in Washington state. California stands to lose around $250m in congressionally obligated funds, Bonta noted, adding that “the Trump administration is trying to hold us in the past, tethered to fossil fuel companies”.
The funding was eliminated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in July, which removed the programme’s source of financing. Zeldin had described the initiative as a “boondoggle”, as the president rolled back federal support for solar and wind energy, calling renewables expensive and unreliable.
Mayes highlighted the impact on disadvantaged communities, citing the Hopi tribe in northern Arizona, which was set to receive $25m to install solar panels and battery storage, bringing electricity to hundreds of homes for the first time. The lawsuits follow a similar legal challenge filed ten days earlier by a group of solar companies and labour unions.
