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Sept 18 (Reuters) – A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration unlawfully canceled a $7 billion grant program aimed at expanding solar energy in low-income communities.
US District Judge Mary McElroy in Providence sided with a labor union and several nonprofits and solar companies in finding that the Environmental Protection Agency under its administrator, Lee Zeldin, exceeded its authority when it rescinded grants last year that had been previously awarded.
The plaintiffs include the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and nonprofits such as Solar United Neighbors that were not direct grant recipients but had sued, saying they stood to benefit from the Solar for All program, which began under Democratic President Joe Biden.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by Trump in July 2025 eliminated the source of funding for the program, and a month later Zeldin announced its termination, calling it a “boondoggle.”
McElroy said that under the 2025 law, EPA retained more than $3 billion in funding for necessary expenses related to the administration of grant programs. The judge said Congress had clearly intended for EPA to keep administering already-awarded grants.
“Defendants acted contrary to this intent, and with no other statutory authority, when they terminated the SFA program,” McElroy said.
The judge, a Trump appointee who was initially nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, vacated the EPA’s termination of the program.
The EPA in a statement said it was reviewing the decision and considering an appeal. EPA spokesperson Carolyn Holran said the program “perfectly encapsulates the previous administration’s spending habits: throwing money out the door with minimal oversight or regard for efficacy.”
The EPA awarded the grants in 2024 to 60 nonprofit groups, tribes and states. At the time, the EPA said the program would serve nearly 1 million households across most US states, lowering electricity costs and reducing emissions.
Congress had approved spending $7 billion for that purpose when in 2022 it enacted Biden’s signature climate investment law, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Related lawsuits over the termination of the program are pending. Claims to recover money lost as a result of grant terminations are pending in a specialist court, the Court of Federal Claims.
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by David Gaffen and Will Dunham
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