Lawsuit: USDA illegally slashed rural solar program — 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 August 2025 decision to stop funding solar projects through REAP violates the Administrative Procedure Act and is arbitrary and capricious.
- Secretary Brooke Rollins announced USDA would 'no longer fund taxpayer dollars for solar panels on productive farmland' or allow panels 'manufactured by foreign adversaries' in USDA projects, prompting the agency to halt all REAP grant processing and require previously selected applicants to reapply.
- Internal USDA emails cited in the complaint show staff struggled to substantiate the agency's public rationale: one Rural Business-Cooperative Service administrator wrote, 'let's let the comms shop find . . . the rationale behind their statistics,' and another staffer hoped program staff could 'drum up something.'
- Congress appropriated $820.3 million for REAP in fiscal year 2022 plus $180.3 million annually through 2027 under the Inflation Reduction Act, with unspent funds available until Sept. 30, 2031, and nearly 70% of REAP grant and loan guarantee awards between 2011 and Q1 2025 went to solar projects.
- Farmers and rural small businesses who invested in approved projects based on USDA assurances now 'face steep monetary losses,' the plaintiffs said, arguing the retroactive reapplication requirement harms communities during a period of record-high energy prices.
- Two federal judges recently overturned the EPA's decision to cut its $7 billion Solar for All program, signaling legal headwinds for the Trump administration's broader push to limit renewable energy funding while promoting fossil fuels.
Why it matters: The REAP freeze strands roughly $1.7 billion in Congressionally appropriated IRA funds for rural solar through 2027 and forces already-approved farmers and small businesses to reapply under new rules, risking tens of thousands of dollars in sunk costs per project. The lawsuit joins recent successful challenges to EPA's $7 billion Solar for All cut, suggesting courts are increasingly receptive to claims that renewable-energy rollbacks exceed agency authority.
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