Washington state sues Trump administration over electrical grid cuts

Conrad Swanson, The Seattle Times on Aug 18, 2025

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SEATTLE — Washington Attorney General Nick Brown filed another lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday, this time over cuts to state energy resilience and affordability programs.

This is the second lawsuit Brown has filed against the federal government this month; in this one, Washington is joined by 18 other states and the District of Columbia.

In May the U.S. Department of Energy announced it would slash financial assistance for indirect costs that states incur for grid resilience, efficiency and affordability programs. Those types of indirect costs include things like building depreciation, rent, equipment and maintenance expenses.

The amount of money that states could get from the federal government for indirect program costs used to be something they’d negotiate; now it’s capped at 10%. That lost funding will quickly add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars for states across the country, according to the complaint filed by the coalition of states in United States District Court for the District of Oregon.

The cap will limit the money available for states to keep different types of energy and efficiency programs running. At risk in Washington state is wildfire mitigation work, long-range planning efforts with utilities, infrastructure protection work and efficiency programs to cut costs for businesses, utilities and local governments, Brown’s office said in a news release.

If the federal cap is allowed to stand, it would cut up to two-thirds of Washington state’s indirect cost funding and force the state to cut back on these programs, the release said.

The states are arguing in court that the new federal policy violates already-negotiated indirect cost agreements and sets an arbitrary bar for the funding.

“The administration’s energy policies to date only threaten to make our power sources dirtier, less reliable, less efficient and more expensive,” Brown said in a written statement. “This policy will ultimately hurt consumers in every state, not just those in our coalition.”

The coalition of states is asking the federal judge to vacate the new federal policy and prohibit the implementation of any similar funding caps.