Colorado joined 22 other states Wednesday in suing the Trump administration in federal claims court over cancellation of $7 billion in nationwide grants meant to give lower-income families access to “Solar for All,” including nearly $150 million for the state.
The grants were made under funding provided by the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, and their cancellation in April was part of a rapid string of Trump administration moves to gut renewable energy subsidies and promote traditional fossil fuels with more coal mining and oil drilling on federal land. The lawsuit, joined by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, says the Congressional funding and EPA awards could only be legally rescinded for fraud or waste, not over changes in political policy.
Colorado had been awarded $156 million for its Solar for All programs, and the April moves by EPA wiped out all but $11 million of that, Weiser’s office said in announcing the lawsuit. The Colorado grants would have funded programs creating “1,000 jobs and delivering clean solar energy to more than 20,000 low-income households,” the attorney general said.
If the program stays canceled, Coloradans “will not get the benefits of affordable, clean solar energy, including no-cost installations and lower electricity bills,” Weiser said, in a release. “The loss of jobs will strain the solar industry in our state, which is the twelfth-fastest growing clean energy jobs market in the country. … We are bringing these lawsuits to recover the funds and resume this important program.”
The latest suit is part of a fierce ongoing legal battle between Democratic state governments and the GOP Trump administration. Local Democrats and Congressional leaders who passed the 2022 bills say the Trump executive branch does not have the constitutional power to rescind money for programs already approved by Congress.
The Trump administration in turn has called Biden-era renewable energy support a “Green New Scam,” and has tried to pull back money and permitting for everything from fast EV charging networks to major offshore wind electricity farms.
Weiser and other attorneys general previously won the court battle over federal grants for EV chargers, including $5 billion for a series of fast chargers at strategically space locations. A federal judge in June said the administration had overstepped its powers in freezing the EV charger budget, and Colorado was set to resume its grants for the program.
Colorado said its version of the Solar for All program “will accelerate the adoption of three different solar installation types: single-family rooftop, multifamily rooftop solar and community solar (for residential subscribers),” according to the Colorado Energy Office. State officials said the grants would bring lower-priced energy to struggling households while also pushing Colorado faster toward its goals of using 100% clean energy by 2040.