The decision in a suit brought by Harris County, Texas, follows a similar ruling last week. A Harris County judge called it “a really important victory for energy resilience.”

A U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia on Tuesday ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency illegally terminated the $7 billion Solar for All program in a lawsuit brought by Harris County, Texas, last October.

The decision comes less than a week after the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island on Friday ruled the EPA’s termination of the Solar for All program was procedurally unlawful in a lawsuit filed on behalf of downstream beneficiaries of Solar for All grants.

The EPA is reviewing both decisions and considering options for appeal, it said in emails to Smart Cities Dive. A third lawsuit contending the grant cancellation was illegal, filed by 22 states and the District of Columbia in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Washington last October, was dismissed in January.

The Texas Solar for All Coalition was awarded nearly $250 million in 2024 to expand solar access across the state as part of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund established by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Harris County — the state’s largest county and home to Houston — led the coalition and secured more than $54 million.

The EPA eliminated the program in August 2025, citing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but the lawsuit states “the OBBBA provides no authority for EPA’s Elimination Decision.”

Source link