New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin joined a pair of lawsuits against the Trump administration this week, challenging the cancellation of $7 billion in grants to help families install solar panels who otherwise couldn’t have afforded it.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the termination of the Solar for All program in August, quickly drawing criticism from Democrats who said the Trump administration was illegally interfering with congressionally appropriated funds and that the move would exacerbate rising utility costs.
New Jersey was set to receive about $156 million in the grants, according to Gov. Phil Murphy’s office.
“The President and his appointees cannot simply eliminate Congressionally-authorized programs on a whim,” Platkin said. “The Solar for All program was set to bring community solar projects that would help reduce the cost of energy for New Jerseyans most in need, until President Trump and his lackey EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin illegally terminated billions of dollars in mandatory funding under the Inflation Reduction Act. We are taking the Administration to court, and we will win.”
In one suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, New Jersey and a coalition of states argued the EPA unlawfully violated the Constitution’s Separation of Powers Doctrine when cancelling the program. In a separate suit filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, a coalition of states argued the EPA breached contracts in cancelling the grants and requested damages, interest, and fees.
The states are not the first coalition to sue over the terminated grants. Earlier this month, a coalition of solar energy companies, unions, nonprofit groups, and homeowners challenged the switch-up in federal court in Rhode Island.
Ed Potosnak, the executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, praised the suit and said the solar program is necessary to cheapen electricity in the state.
“New Jersey was awarded over $156 million to expand access to solar energy and lower bills for low-income and disadvantaged households,” Potosnak said. “Solar is now the cheapest form of energy available, the fastest energy to get built, and the heathiest—and at a time when utility bills are rising and families are struggling to pay their bills, ending this program raising electricity prices further is literally taking money out of families’ pockets. Every New Jerseyan deserves access to affordable, clean power that lowers bills, improves health, and protects our shared future.”
In August, Zeldin said Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill eliminated “billions in green slush fund dollars,” including the Solar for All program.
Platkin said that while Trump’s bill did eliminate Solar for All funds that had not already been obligated, the EPA dedicated $7 billion in 2024, and argued it’s illegal for the EPA to claw the money back a year later.
