Federal Judge Halts EPA’s Cancellation of $7 Billion Solar Grants for Low-Income Households

A federal judge appointed by Donald Trump has handed his own administration an unexpected legal defeat, striking down the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to terminate a multibillion-dollar clean energy programme and rescind grants that had already been awarded.

The Solar for All programme, backed by $7 billion in funding, was established to accelerate the energy transition and extend zero-emission technologies to low-income communities. The agency formally allocated those funds before September 2024. After Congress passed legislation on 4 July 2025 repealing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, however, the EPA shut down both the programme and its active grants roughly a month later, publicly branding the initiative as wasteful.

Judge Mary McElroy rejected that rationale. Her ruling held that executive agencies have no authority to unilaterally cancel financial commitments previously secured by Congress, and that the repeal law did not transform already-distributed money into discretionary funds the agency could freely withhold. “Congress’s clear intent was for EPA to continue administering already-awarded grants,” McElroy wrote, adding that the defendants had acted without lawful authority in closing the programme.

The case was brought by a coalition that included the Conservation Law Foundation and the Southern Environmental Law Center. Attorneys for the plaintiffs welcomed the decision, pointing out that vulnerable households had struggled with high electricity bills for more than a year while support set aside for them remained frozen. The EPA did not respond to a request for comment.

Source: Utility Dive