Home Economy Economic Activity RI AFL-CIO, Center for Justice join lawsuit challenging elimination of $7B solar...

RI AFL-CIO, Center for Justice join lawsuit challenging elimination of $7B solar program

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PBN Staff

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10/06/2025

THE RHODE ISLAND AFL-CIO and the Rhode Island Center for Justice on Monday joined a lawsuit challenging the termination of the $7 billion Solar for All program. Pictured above are solar panels in Burrillville. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island AFL-CIO and the Rhode Island Center for Justice on Monday joined a lawsuit with businesses and nonprofits across the nation challenging the termination of the $7 billion Solar for All program by the Trump administration. On Aug. 7, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ended the program as part of the

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PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island AFL-CIO and the Rhode Island Center for Justice on Monday joined a lawsuit with businesses and nonprofits across the nation challenging the termination of the $7 billion Solar for All program by the Trump administration. On Aug. 7, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ended the program as part of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" legislation, saying it no longer had the authority to distribute the funds. Under the program, the EPA obligated $7 billion in grant funding that Congress had directed to provide to states, territories, tribal governments, municipalities and nonprofits to develop long-lasting solar energy programs for low-income and disadvantaged communities. The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, claims the EPA violated federal law, including the Administrative Procedures Act and the U.S. Constitution, when it terminated the program. As the lead plaintiff, the Rhode Island AFL-CIO said the program is needed to create programs for good, high-paying jobs. “Solar energy is key to Rhode Island’s march towards a carbon-free economy. The Solar for All program is critical to meeting the mandates of the Act on Climate and could lead to hundreds of good-paying union jobs. That is why the Rhode Island AFL-CIO is happy to join this court action,” said Patrick Crowley, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO. “Our members want this program back up and running as soon as possible.” The EPA said in an email Monday that it does not comment on litigation. The lawsuit cites previous EPA estimates that the program would have saved recipients about $400 each year on electricity bills and cumulatively reduced or avoided greenhouse gas emissions by over 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. “Congress designed Solar for All grants to give local front-line communities the tools to lower household energy costs and ensure high-quality careers for a new generation with clean, renewable energy,” said Amy R. Romero, chief legal counsel of Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island. “EPA’s unlawful termination halts the creation of hundreds of union jobs in Rhode Island and then compounds the risk of utility shutoff and perpetuates energy security in the very low-income households that Congress sought to protect with this program.” The Rhode Island Center for Justice said it joined the lawsuit as a nonprofit working to lower the high cost of electricity for low-income consumers and to provide sustainable, uninterrupted access to vital electricity in their homes by preventing their utilities from being shut off. With reports from The Associated Press.