The Environmental Protection Agency declared that $93 million that had previously been set aside for solar energy projects for low-income areas in Mississippi and Arkansas would be canceled. The cuts follow the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill, which reduced the program’s financing source.
The Biden Administration’s Solar for All initiative sought to provide $7 billion to low-income areas and households nationwide so they could access solar energy.
The funding was implemented in Arkansas and Mississippi by Hope Enterprise Corporation, a community development banking institution serving low-income and under-resourced Southern residents. As recently as August 4, Hope Enterprise Corporation was hosting workshops on how to apply for funding, and the company hired staff to help administer the initiative.
However, Hope Enterprise was notified by the EPA on August 8 that the government had decided to end the SFA [Solar for All] program and all current awards.
The Environmental Protection Agency informed Hope Enterprise Corporation that financing for the Solar for All program would be discontinued. In order to decide what to do next, we are going over the communication. Unfortunately, if the program is terminated, funding for projects that reduce energy costs for up to 10,500 homes would no longer be available, Hope Enterprise Corporation President Ed Sivak stated on Monday. They might file a lawsuit, but it was unknown.
Lee Zeldin, the head of EPA, stated on X that the Trump administration would permanently discontinue the Solar for All program, claiming the agency lacked the resources and power to carry it out following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill. In the turbulent early months of the second Trump administration, climate money for projects in Arkansas was stopped earlier this year and then unfrozen. However, according to a Politico story from Energy and Environment News, the Trump EPA was not discontinuing Solar for All at that time.
Since the financing for Solar for All has already been committed to the governments and charities that will be carrying out the program, it is likely that the courts will rule whether the Trump administration can discontinue the initiative. Organizations that receive obligated money have legally binding agreements with the federal government to accept the funds and use them in line with the programs. Hope Enterprise Corporation stated that their grant is still legally required and that they are still dedicated to assisting households in reducing their energy costs in a frequently asked questions document dated August 6.
Lawyers for Good Government, a public interest law firm, is seeking to challenge the Trump Administration for the move alongside recipients of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill merely revoked the remaining $27 billion of the $27 billion appropriated in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, despite extending broad tax cuts and drastically cutting the social safety net.Just $19 million of the total Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was still unobligated, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which is impartial.
According to Zeldin, the government and NGO recipients have received about $3 billion of the $27 billion in obligated funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.The EPA and a number of nonprofit organizations are presently engaged in a legal dispute on the EPA’s ability to cancel committed funding for other Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund activities. As the legal struggle continues, the financing is essentially frozen in place.
Although funding for the massive University of Arkansas solar project may be hampered by this dispute, the university system is still proceeding.
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