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Oct 16 (Reuters) – Nearly two dozen states are suing the Trump administration over its cancellation of a $7 billion grant program aimed at expanding solar energy in low-income communities, according to court papers.
In a statement on Thursday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced two lawsuits by a group of states that received grants under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Solar for All program.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the termination of the program in August. The agency said in an email that it would not comment on pending litigation.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said cancellation of the program would impact 900,000 low-income households nationwide. Some 11,000 low-income households in Arizona will see a 20% spike in energy bills after the state lost $156 million for Solar for All.
The lawsuit is among dozens the country’s 23 Democratic attorneys general have filed against the Trump administration on issues ranging from suspension of federal grants to immigration and deployment of National Guard troops to cities.
“Without this program, for many Arizonans, clean energy will be out of reach,” Mayes said in an online call.
The first complaint seeks monetary damages and was filed on Wednesday in the Court of Federal Claims. A second suit will seek reinstatement of the program and is expected to be filed later on Thursday in federal court in Washington state, Bonta’s statement said.
California will lose around $250 million in congressionally obligated funds for the program, Bonta said.
“The Trump administration is trying to hold us in the past, tethered to fossil fuel companies,” he said in the online call. “In doing so, Trump is making America more expensive and more polluted.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump in July eliminated the source of funding for a program Zeldin termed a “boondoggle.”
Trump has rolled back federal support for solar and wind energy, calling the renewable resources expensive and unreliable.
Mayes said cancellation of the program would hit disadvantaged communities, citing the Hopi tribe of northern Arizona, which was slated to get a $25 million award to bring electricity, often for the first time, to hundreds of homes using solar panels and battery storage systems.
The complaints come 10 days after a group of solar companies and labor unions also sued to restore the program.
In addition to California and Arizona, states participating in the lawsuits include Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and the city of Washington D.C.
With Democrats in the minority in both houses of Congress, and many Democratic governors wary of crossing Trump, the attorneys general have actively challenged the legality of his policies.
Reporting by Nichola Groom Additional reporting by Andrew Hay; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Mark Porter and Aurora Ellis
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