The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to terminate $7 billion in federal grants for solar power projects in low-income communities, the New York Times reports, as the Trump Administration continues to roll back Biden’s climate legislation and funding.
The EPA is currently drafting termination letters to the 60 recipients of $7 billion in total federal grants under the ‘Solar for All’ program, two anonymous sources told the New York Times.
Under the $7 billion Solar for All program, the 60 grant recipients were expected to create new or expand existing low-income solar programs, which would enable over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from distributed solar energy. The 60 applications selected to receive the awards included 49 state-level awards, six awards to Tribes, and five multistate awards spanning the entire country.
The funding was part of former President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), many parts of which have already been challenged by the Trump Administration.
EPA spokeswoman Carolyn Holran wrote in an email to the New York Times after it published its article that the agency had not made a final decision on these grants yet.
“E.P.A. is working to ensure Congressional intent is fully implemented in accordance with the law,” Holran said.
Separately, the EPA is seeking to cancel some $20 billion in federal funding for energy transition-related projects. A month later, a federal judge in March blocked the EPA order for the cancellation of $20 billion in federal climate funding. Access for the beneficiaries of that funding has also been blocked by the ruling.
Per the ruling of District Judge Tanya Chutkan, the EPA will be barred from accessing the funds deposited with Citibank because it “gave no legal justification for the termination” of the contracts that the Biden administration had signed with the institution, Politico reported at the time.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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