Attorneys general from Colorado, California and 21 other states are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for ending the $7 billion Solar for All program that lowers energy costs and pollution by bringing solar energy to more than 900,000 homes nationwide, including 20,000 homes in Colorado.
Colorado and 23 other grant recipients also filed suit this week in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to recover damages for EPA’s wrongful violation of the grant agreements executed under this program.
Congress created the Solar for All program in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, directing the EPA to provide competitive grants to states and other entities to deploy solar projects in low-income and underserved areas. EPA selected recipients and awarded all program funds to claimant states and other grant recipients by August 2024. Colorado and the other claimant states continued to plan projects and work with stakeholders to develop their solar programs.
“The cancellation of Solar for All funding is not only bad policy, it is illegal,” said Alice Reynolds, chair of the California Public Utilities Commission. “These subsidies are rightfully appropriated by Congress and are intended to help lower energy costs and transition to a clean energy supply. Withdrawing funding is a destabilizing decision, but we will continue to make progress toward clean energy for all Californians, fueling economic growth and creating green jobs for a sustainable future.”
The attorneys general say the EPA abruptly and unlawfully ended the program two months ago and clawed back most of the money already awarded. As a result, Colorado and the other states no longer have access to the funds to continue their solar programs after the states spent significant time planning and launching programs and committing state funds. For example, Colorado was awarded a total of $156,120,000 in funding in April 2024 and committed the entire state to implementing a work plan that included creating 1,000 jobs and providing clean solar energy to more than 20,000 low-income households. On August 7, 2025, Colorado received a letter from EPA terminating the state subsidy and EPA later liquidated the state’s account for the Solar for All program, leaving a balance of $11 million.
“The loss of Solar for All program funds will harm Coloradans, who will not receive the benefits of affordable, clean solar energy, including free installations and lower electric bills. The loss of jobs will strain our state’s solar industry, the twelfth fastest growing clean energy job market in the country. Furthermore, these illegal cuts will impact Colorado’s ability to to reduce harmful climate pollution,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. “We are bringing these lawsuits to recover the money and resume this important program.”
When President Trump took office last January, he prioritized fossil fuel extraction to address a perceived “energy emergency” while arbitrarily excluding solar energy as a resource that could be tapped to meet the nation’s energy needs. In July, Congress passed the President’s budget bill HR1, which rescinded funds for the Solar for All program that were not obligated as of July 3. The effect of that move was small, as EPA had obligated all $7 billion for the program almost a year earlier.
Instead of following that newly passed law, EPA and Zeldin illegally ended the program on August 7. On social media, Zeldin made baseless accusations and called Solar for All a “boondoggle.” The agency then sent memos to all recipients, including claimants, saying EPA no longer has a “statutory basis or specific funding” for the program, even though Congress never directed EPA to cancel funds already awarded. In fact, Congress did the opposite by repealing only the no-strings-attached funding for Solar for All.
Attorney General Weiser and a coalition of several states today filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington alleging, among other things, that EPA violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Separation of Powers Doctrine of the U.S. Constitution by unlawfully canceling the program.
Also the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin Economic Development, join the lawsuit. Company.
News release from the Colorado Office of the Attorney General
