WASHINGTON – Arizona and the Hopi Tribe could regain $181 million for solar projects in low-income communities after two federal judges ruled the Trump administration unlawfully rescinded the Biden-era grants. 

The Environmental Protection Agency awarded nearly $7 billion in April 2024 under the Solar For All program, part of the Inflation Reduction Act. 

The Trump EPA terminated the program in August 2025. Only about $71 million had been disbursed at the time, according to an agency audit, though all of it had already been promised to the 60 or so grantees. 

Arizona received $42,000 of its $156.1 million grant, according to federal records on USASpending.gov. The Hopi Tribe received $421,000 out of $25.1 million. 

In September, federal judges in the District of Columbia and Rhode Island issued rulings days apart striking down EPA’s termination. The rulings could clear the way for restoration of the grants, though neither judge directly ordered they be reinstated. 

The EPA said in a statement that it is reviewing the rulings and considering whether to appeal. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill, signed July 2025, repealed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created by the Inflation Reduction Act and rescinded all unobligated money. The Trump administration argued that the provision covered the unspent Solar for All money. 

“EPA no longer has the authority to administer the program or the appropriated funds,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in August 2025, asserting that Congress has provided “clear language and intent” to eliminate the funding.

Both the Rhode Island and D.C. judges disagreed, ruling that because the Biden EPA had promised the $7 billion and issued grant agreements, the funds were “obligated” and not subject to being rescinded under the One Big Beautiful Bill. 

The Trump administration’s stance “runs contrary to Congress’s clear intent that already obligated Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund monies … not be disturbed by the repeal,” U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy ruled Sept. 18 in the Rhode Island case, brought by the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and others.

McElroy is a Trump appointee.

The second ruling on Sept. 22 upheld a challenge by Harris County, Texas, home of Houston. The county stood to lose $54 million. D.C. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, also ruled that EPA overstepped its authority. 

Arizona wasn’t part of the cases in D.C. or Rhode Island but has also challenged the cancellation.

In October 2025, Attorney General Kris Mayes led a coalition of 22 states plus D.C. in a federal lawsuit filed in Washington state. They also argued the EPA was in breach of contract because the $7 billion in grants were already obligated. 

That judge dismissed the suit in June on jurisdictional grounds, ruling that a contract dispute with the federal government belongs in the Court of Federal Claims, where Arizona and other states are also challenging the EPA decision. Trial in that case is set for Aug. 8, 2027.

Mayes’ office declined to comment on the two recent rulings.

In a court declaration in May, Maren Mahoney, director of the Governor’s Office of Resiliency, said the state expected the program to help 11,232 moderate- and low-income households save $165 million in electricity costs.

The program would install rooftop solar panels and assist in using solar energy in rural areas not reached by the power grid. It also would provide training to meet increased demand for installers.

The governor’s office projected that the grant would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 96,000 tons per year. Mahoney told the court it would create thousands of green jobs, and allow the state to provide $33 million in loans for rooftop solar.

Nick Torrey, a lawyer at the Southern Environmental Law Center – which represented plaintiffs in the Rhode Island case – said the EPA misinterpreted the law. 

“EPA just really got it wrong here,” he said. “EPA did the opposite of what Congress was telling it to do. It acted unlawfully.”

“They've got the money sitting right there,” Torrey added. “It's time to get busy. … It’s a real opportunity to provide relief to working families.”

Adrianna Amato, spokeswoman for the Governor’s Office of Resiliency, said the office was “cautiously optimistic” that the state will receive the funds the EPA promised it in 2024. 

In addition to Arizona’s $156 million allocation, the EPA granted $25 million to the Hopi Utilities Corporation to provide electricity for about 600 homes on the reservation, 35% of which lack access to electricity, according to a 2023 Department of Energy report. 

Mahoney said in her declaration that 15,000 tribal households in Arizona lack any access to electricity. 

Fletcher Wilkinson, the energy manager at Hopi Utilities Corporation, said he sees “a long road ahead” before the program can resume.

The corporation had finished planning and was ready to move to execution when the EPA cut off funding, he said.

“It was crushing,” Wilkinson said, adding the tribe “has experienced for so long this severe, egregious lack of access to utilities that we take for granted elsewhere.”

He pointed to $10.2 million from two other grants – funding earmarked for tribal projects in the Inflation Reduction Act – to expand access to solar power on the reservation.

But he said, that won’t go nearly as far as the EPA funds the tribe was promised.

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.