Nationwide, Solar for All is expected to save an estimated $350 million annually on energy bills and generate 200,000 new jobs. Photo: Shutterstock
October 6, 2025 (Washington) – Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) along with the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), and the Lawyers Committee for Rhode Island, filed a legal challenge in federal court on behalf of a coalition of businesses and nonprofits to reverse the Trump administration’s illegal termination of the $7 billion Solar for All program.
Solar for All represents a generational opportunity to cut skyrocketing power bills, create new good jobs, and equip our communities to address the causes and consequences of a changing climate. Now, the Environmental Protection Agency is attempting to unlawfully terminate the program.
“The Trump administration’s rollback of the Solar for All program is a shameless attempt to prop up fossil fuel companies at the expense of families,” said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at CLF. “This program would provide families with low incomes access to clean, affordable solar power: energy that lowers bills, improves air quality, and keeps people safer during extreme heat. Stripping those benefits away is unlawful and betrays communities. We will not let it stand.”
Plaintiffs include the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, a statewide organization of trade unions representing more than 80,000 people. EPA’s attempt to terminate Solar for All deprived their members of opportunities for apprenticeships and job training that would have been crucial for a clean energy future.
Solar United Neighbors is also joining the challenge as a nonprofit working in multiple states on projects like creating solar-powered homes that can serve as a refuge for neighbors during power outages in Texas.
“Families all over the country were counting on energy bill relief that disappeared overnight when the administration unlawfully terminated Solar for All. This popular program was poised to bring more solar to our communities, provide jobs for the small businesses installing those projects, and help families get cheap, clean power,” said SELC Senior Attorney Nick Torrey. “We’re asking the court to fix the Trump administration’s huge mistake.”
“EPA’s termination of the $7 billion Solar for All program is a betrayal against a million American families and communities who need access to clean, affordable energy. By terminating the Solar for All program while simultaneously ending clean air protections, this administration is sending a clear message: they will make Americans pay with their savings and their health in order to benefit the fossil fuel industry. We will not allow this administration to trample the legal rights of Americans, and we will keep fighting for a clean, affordable future for the people and the planet,” L4GG Vice President of Climate Change and Environmental Justice Jillian Blanchard said.
“Congress designed Solar for All grants to give local front-line communities the tools to lower household energy costs and ensure high-quality careers for a new generation with clean, renewable energy,” said Amy Romero, Chief Legal Counsel of Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island. “EPA’s unlawful termination halts the creation of hundreds of union jobs in Rhode Island, and then compounds the risk of utility shutoff and perpetuates energy insecurity in the very low-income households that Congress sought to protect with this program. The Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, along with its colleagues, has brought suit against the federal government to enforce the law enacted by Congress and ensure Rhode Islanders receive what Congress intended.”
Background
In 2024, through Solar for All, EPA awarded $7 billion in grants to organizations nationwide to provide energy bill relief to over 900,000 households. All that funding is intended to get affordable solar power to more people through new leasing and power purchase programs, multifamily installations, workforce development and more.
About 28 million households across the country face a high or severe energy burden, meaning they spend a high percentage of their income on energy bills. Solar for All rooftop and community solar programs are helping to alleviate these burdens with a guaranteed 20% savings on electricity bills for participating households. Nationwide, the program is expected to save an estimated $350 million annually on energy bills and generate 200,000 new jobs alongside workforce training programs. In addition, the SFA program is a source of immediate, cost-effective energy for strained electric grids across the country.
You can read the lawsuit here.
Experts are available for further comment.
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