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Environmental groups are vowing to fight after the Trump administration canceled the grant funding a no-cost rooftop solar program in Georgia.
The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it’s canceling the $7 billion Solar for All grant program, part of the Biden administration’s signature climate law. In a statement on social media, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said the budget reconciliation bill signed by President Trump last month eliminated the authority for the program.
“The bottom line is this: EPA no longer has the statutory authority to administer the program or the appropriated funds to keep this boondoggle alive,″ he said. “Today, the Trump EPA is announcing that we are ending Solar for All for good, saving US taxpayers ANOTHER $7 BILLION!”
A $156 million-dollar Solar for All grant was funding Georgia BRIGHT, a set of programs offering rooftop solar energy for low- and middle-income Georgians who couldn’t previously afford it. Their programs promise 20-70% savings on energy costs by allowing clients to generate their own electricity so they buy less from their power company.
Now, the organization said it has received notice that its grant was terminated.
“We are deeply disappointed and fully prepared to use every avenue legally available to us to regain access to the funds,” said Georgia BRIGHT director Alicia Brown in a statement. “In taking this action, the EPA would prevent 16,000 Georgians with low incomes from saving hundreds of dollars per year on their utility bills at a time of soaring energy costs, and they are putting at risk hundreds of good-paying, local jobs just as unemployment has begun to rise.”
Similarly, the Southern Environmental Law Center called the grant cancellations “unlawful” and vowed to fight them.
“We will see them in court,” said Kym Meyer, SELC litigation director, in a statement when reports of the forthcoming grant termination circulated earlier this week. “We have already seen the immense good this program has done on the ground and we won’t let it be snatched away to score political points.”
Georgia BRIGHT’s no-cost solar program opened Aug. 4. Nearly 1,000 households signed up in the first 72 hours, the organization said. A drawing to randomly select about 400 recipients was planned for September.
Now, the program is on hold, as are three additional programs Georgia BRIGHT planned to launch to offer low-cost solar for homes and businesses.
Atlanta faces some of the highest energy burdens in the country, meaning residents pay a high percentage of their monthly income toward energy costs. Nearly 5 million households in the south
face high energy burdens, according to SELC. Programs funded by Solar for All are required to deliver energy savings of at least 20%.
“When we applied for this funding, we did so on behalf of all Georgians,” said Brown. “We will fight for this program because the rule of law matters and because Georgia families, small businesses, and the local economy can’t afford to lose the benefits we are poised to deliver.”