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Oregon Fights Back After Losing $86M in Solar Funding by Gosia Wozniacka Oregonian, September 9, 2025

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has called Solar for All
a "green slush fund" and "a boondoggle."

Oregon isn't giving up on $86.6 million in solar project funding canceled by the Trump administration that was supposed to pay for substantial electric bill discounts for low-income people and other disadvantaged residents throughout the state.

The Oregon Department of Energy has filed a challenge with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which terminated the grant for the Solar for All program though it had already been awarded under a legally binding agreement.

The state requested that the EPA rescind the cancellation and release the money as promised.

The EPA awarded the money to Oregon last July -- part of the $7 billion in Solar for All awards nationwide. The funding was established under President Joe Biden's mammoth Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress and aimed at connecting more communities to solar energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating renewable energy jobs.

But the EPA last month informed Oregon and other states that their contracts had been ended. The move came after President Donald Trump in July signed his Big Beautiful Bill, the budget reconciliation package.

The new law rescinded the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which included Solar for All funding earmarked for people living in rural arrears, those struggling with high energy bills and tribes that typically can't afford to afford solar panels or other clean energy technologies.

Oregon's legal dispute with the EPA, filed this past Friday and signed by the state's Energy Director Janine Benner, says the federal agency violated the language of Trump's law because the legislation "rescinded only unobligated balances from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and preserved funds already awarded to grantees."

In the filing, Benner said the Oregon money falls into the category of an obligated balance and called the termination "arbitrary, capricious, and not supported by substantial evidence."

The EPA's press office said the law "rescinds both the authority and the appropriated funds to run the Solar for All program." The agency did not comment on why it chose to terminate already-awarded funding.

Solar for All's cancellation marks another attempt by the Trump administration to halt clean energy development and refocus on gas and oil production -- as outlined in numerous executive orders signed by the president. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has called the Solar for All program a "green slush fund" and "a boondoggle."

In Oregon, the $86 million would have been split between the state Department of Energy, Energy Trust of Oregon, a nonprofit funded by customers of investor-owned utilities that promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption across Oregon, and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a Portland-based nonprofit developing and administrating a dozen community solar projects throughout the state.

The largest share of the grant -- about $29 million -- would have paid for rooftop solar installations for single-family homes with little to no upfront cost to the households and $10.86 million would have paid for point-of-sale rebates for solar installations on multifamily buildings to provide clean energy to low-income residents. Another $2.87 million would have gone to develop a solar workforce grants program to create solar jobs and provide training.

The investments would have led to the installation of about 1,800 solar systems at single-family households, 44 solar systems on rooftops and parking lots of apartment complexes and the development of 19 battery storage projects that would provide energy discounts to more than 1,700 additional low-income households.

Energy Trust would have received $15 million to support the installations as well as to help develop additional community solar projects and incentives to benefit customers of Oregon's investor-owned utilities, which include Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural, Cascade Natural Gas and Avista. The projects would be part of Oregon's Community Solar Program, which allows private developers and nonprofits to install panels and residents to sign up for the clean energy and to receive benefits from the power discounts.

The incentives program would deliver more than 4,000 community solar subscriptions for low-income households, providing them with at least 20% bill savings and allowing renters and other households that can't install solar to participate.

"The Solar for All program would make energy more affordable for Oregonians with low incomes, particularly those in rural areas and for other communities that research shows pay a disproportionate amount of their income on energy bills," said Betsy Kauffman, renewable energy sector lead at the Energy Trust.

The Bonneville Environmental Foundation would have used $11 million to deliver similar community solar incentives and development assistance for community solar projects to benefit customers of Oregon's municipal, consumer-owned and public utilities.

Evan Ramsey, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation's senior director of the renewables program, declined to comment.

EPA's termination of the Solar for All program won't affect Energy Trust's Portland Solar for All program funded by a $25 million grant from the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, the city's climate fund, Kauffman said. To deliver this program, Energy Trust is partnering with community organizations and workforce organizations to form the Portland Solar for All Coalition.

The coalition plans to install solar panels that will benefit approximately 1,345 low-income Portland households.

The EPA has 15 days to acknowledge Oregon's dispute letter and 180 days to make a decision, said Oregon Department of Justice spokesperson Jenny Hansson.