Earthjustice sues USDA over REAP rural solar funding halt — SkimNews
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- Earthjustice, the Environmental Law & Policy Center, and Wolf River Electric filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging USDA's year-old halt on REAP grants and loans for solar projects is illegal and should be reversed.
- USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins announced in August 2025 that the department would 'no longer fund taxpayer dollars for solar panels on productive farmland' and bar panels 'manufactured by foreign adversaries' from USDA projects, prompting the policy at issue.
- The lawsuit cites internal USDA emails in which the Rural Business-Cooperative Service administrator wrote, 'let's let the comms shop find . . . the rationale behind their statistics,' while another staffer hoped program staff could 'drum up something' to justify the change.
- Nearly 70% of REAP grant and loan guarantee awards between 2011 and the first quarter of 2025 went to solar projects, according to EL&PC, and Congress appropriated $820.3 million for FY2022 plus $180.3 million annually through 2027 via the Inflation Reduction Act, with unspent funds available until Sept. 30, 2031.
- Farmers and rural small businesses with previously approved projects who spent tens of thousands on construction face 'steep monetary losses' after USDA stopped processing all REAP grant applications and required selected applicants to reapply under new rules, according to the complaint.
- The plaintiffs contend the policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act by running counter to Congress' intent, applying retroactively, and being 'arbitrary and capricious,' and note that the REAP loan guarantee program 'historically has cost the taxpayer nothing while generating government revenue.'
- The suit comes as two judges recently overturned the EPA's decision to cut its $7 billion Solar for All program, marking another legal front in renewable-energy policy disputes.
Why it matters: Farmers and rural small businesses with already-approved REAP-funded solar projects face potential losses of tens of thousands of dollars in construction costs, while nearly 70% of REAP's historical awards — backed by roughly $1.7 billion in Inflation Reduction Act appropriations through 2027 — went to solar projects that now face an uncertain reapplication process under rules the challengers say violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
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