Washington state sues EPA over canceled $7 billion solar program

Amanda Zhou, The Seattle Times on Oct 16, 2025

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Washington is among the states suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for ending a $7 billion program intended to help low-income and disadvantaged households install solar power.

The program was created in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, and Washington state was awarded $156 million in April 2024. However, after President Donald Trump took office the grants were thrust into limbo and the program was terminated in August.

According to a news release from the state attorney general's office, the state Department of Commerce had already invested more than 5,000 employee hours into developing the Solar for All programming and was hoping to launch late this year or early next year.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown is co-leading the complaint with the attorneys general of Maryland and Arizona. The trio are joined by a coalition of 20 other states, including California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Hawaii and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

The Department of Commerce had applied for the grant proposing several programs for single-family homeowners, community solar projects, multifamily affordable housing properties and tribal nations. The grants were estimated to provide 900,000 households with access to solar energy and save more than $350 million in electricity costs annually.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The group is alleging that the EPA violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution's separation of powers doctrine when the program was canceled.

Washington state has also joined a separate lawsuit with 23 other grant recipients filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to recover damages. Several nonprofits and groups including the Rhode Island AFL-CIO labor organization filed another lawsuit Monday, alleging the program's termination was illegal.