Overview
- The Rhode Island federal ruling on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, vacated the EPA’s August 2025 decision to terminate the Solar for All grants and returned the awards to legal effect.
- Solar for All was a $7 billion program created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to expand rooftop and community solar for roughly 900,000 to 1 million low-income households.
- Judge Mary McElroy said the One Big Beautiful Bill Act did not strip EPA of authority to administer already-obligated grants and noted the agency retained more than $3 billion for necessary program expenses under the 2025 law.
- The plaintiffs were a coalition led by the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and nonprofits such as Solar United Neighbors that argued the program would cut bills, cut emissions, and create local union jobs.
- Significant legal and practical hurdles remain because the EPA is reviewing the decision, appeals are pending in other federal courts, and separate monetary claims over lost funds are active in the Court of Federal Claims.