Attorney General Clark Joins Challenge to EPA's Attacks on Affordable Clean Energy for Low-Income Households

Attorney General Charity Clark and 22 other plaintiffs are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for illegally ending a $7 billion program that lowers energy costs and pollution by bringing solar energy to more than 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities across the country.

Vermont and 23 other grant recipients also filed suit yesterday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to recover damages for EPA's unlawful breach of the grant agreements that were executed under this program.

Congress created the Solar for All program in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, directing EPA to make competitive grants to states and other entities to deploy solar projects in low-income and disadvantaged areas. EPA selected recipients and awarded all of the program funds to plaintiff states and other grant recipients by August 2024. Vermontand the other plaintiffs moved forward with planning projects and working with stakeholders to develop their solar programs.

But EPA abruptly and unlawfully terminated the program two months ago and clawed back the vast majority of the money already awarded. That has left Vermontand the other plaintiffs without access to the funds to proceed with their solar programs, after the states spent significant time planning and launching programs and committing state funds.

When President Trump took office this past January, he prioritized fossil fuel extraction to address an alleged "energy emergency" while arbitrarily excluding solar power as a resource that can be tapped to meet the country's energy needs. In July, Congress passed the president's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," rescinding funds for the Solar for All program that were unobligated as of July 3. The effect of that move was small, given that EPA had obligated all of the $7 billion for the program nearly a year earlier.

But instead of following that newly passed law, EPA and Zeldin illegally terminated the program on August 7. On social media, Zeldin made baseless accusations, calling Solar for All a "boondoggle." The agency then sent memos to all recipients, including the plaintiffs, saying EPA no longer has a "statutory basis or dedicated funding" for the program, even though Congress never directed EPA to cancel funds that had already been awarded. In fact, Congress did the opposite by only rescinding unobligated funds for Solar for All.

Attorney General Clark and a multistate coalition are filing a lawsuit today in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleging, among other things, that the EPA violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution's Separation of Powers Doctrine in unlawfully canceling the program.

Joining Attorney General Clark in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington. Also joining the complaint are the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, as well as the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

A copy of the complaint, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, is available on our website.

This lawsuit is the 31^st case overall that Attorney General Clark has brought against the Trump Administration since President Trump took office in January. For more information on actions taken by the Attorney General on behalf of Vermonters, visit our website at ago.vermont.gov/ago-actions.

CONTACT: Amelia Vath, Senior Advisor to the Attorney General, 802-828-3171