EPA cancels $7 billion Biden-era grant program to boost solar energy

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday terminated a $7 billion grant program intended to help pay for residential solar projects for more than 900,000 lower-income U.S. households, in the latest Trump administration move hindering the nation’s shift to cleaner energy.

The funding, part of the Biden-era's Solar for All program, was awarded to 60 recipients including states, tribes and regions for investments such as rooftop solar and community solar gardens. Solar, a renewable energy, is widely regarded as a way to introduce cleaner power onto the electrical grid and lower energy bills for American consumers.

Under Republican President Donald Trump, officials have pursued dozens of deregulatory measures related to federal rules intended to protect clean air and water. Last week, the EPA proposed rescinding the agency’s “endangerment finding” which serves as the scientific and legal basis for regulating planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

The administration has taken steps to bolster fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas as it pursues American "energy dominance in the global market.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement on social media that authority for the solar program was eliminated under the tax-and-spending law signed by Trump last month. It eliminated the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, approved under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, that set aside $20 billion for community development projects to boost renewable energy and an additional $7 billion for the solar program.

“The bottom line is this: EPA no longer has the statutory authority to administer the program or the appropriated funds to keep this boondoggle alive,″ Zeldin said. “Today, the Trump EPA is announcing that we are ending Solar for All for good, saving US taxpayers ANOTHER $7 BILLION!”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, who introduced the Solar for All program to cut electric bills for working families, said Zeldin’s action was illegal.

“Solar for All means lower utility bills, many thousands of good-paying jobs and real action to address the existential threat of climate change,″ Sanders said in a statement. ”At a time when working families are getting crushed by skyrocketing energy costs and the planet is literally burning, sabotaging this program isn’t just wrong — it’s absolutely insane. We will fight back to preserve this enormously important program.”

Only $53 million of the $7 billion awarded has been spent, according to a tally by the research firm Atlas Public Policy. Several grant recipients this week said their programs were in planning phases.

Stephanie Bosh, senior vice president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said the EPA has no legal authority to terminate grants already appropriated by Congress.

“These grants are delivering billions of dollars of investment to red and blue states alike,″ she said. Bosh said solar was one of the cheapest energy sources at a time of growing demand for electricity.

“This administration is continuing to dig itself into a hole,” she said.

The EPA has argued that the tax and policy law allows the agency to rescind the money it has already obligated. The recipients of that money disagree, saying the bulk of the money had already been disbursed and is not affected by the law.

Southern Environmental Law Center litigation director Kym Meyer said if the administration wants to move forward with canceling Solar for All funds, “we will see them in court.”

Grant recipients have already challenged the administration’s actions, and a judge ruled in April the EPA cannot freeze the contracts.

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment Committee, called Zeldin’s elimination of the solar program a betrayal “that will further hike electricity costs and make our power grid less reliable.”

“Trump is — yet again — putting his fossil fuel megadonors first,” he added.

St. John reported from Detroit.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FILE - Theodore Tanczuk, left, and Brayan Santos, of solar installer YellowLite, put solar panels on the roof of a home in Lakewood, Ohio, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

FILE - Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin speaks, Feb 3, 2025, in East Palestine, Ohio. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The United Nations Mission in South Sudan said Monday that it would not comply with a government order to shut down its base in Akobo, an opposition stronghold near the Ethiopian border where tens of thousands of refugees have fled.

On Friday, the South Sudanese army ordered U.N. peacekeepers as well as NGOs and civilians to vacate the town ahead of a planned assault.

But the mission refused to leave and said it would provide “a protective presence for civilians” in the town, adding that the safety and security of its personnel “must be fully respected at all times.”

The U.N. Mission said it was engaging “intensively with national, state and local stakeholders” regarding this order. “Any military operations in and around Akobo gravely endanger the safety and security of civilians,” said mission chief Anita Kiki Gbeho.

The South Sudanese government has been fighting opposition forces since a 2018 peace deal broke down about a year ago.

A dramatic escalation took place in December 2025, when opposition forces seized several government outposts in northern Jonglei. A government counter-offensive repelled their forces a month later and displaced over 280,000 people. Tens of thousands have sought refuge in Akobo, where a small contingent of U.N. peacekeepers is stationed.

Fearing the looming government assault on Akobo, humanitarian workers were evacuated over the weekend, and a mass exodus of the population has also begun.

Local officials contacted by the The Associated Press said fleeing civilians faced danger and widespread shortages of essential supplies. Dual Diew, the Akobo County health director, who has fled to Ethiopia, said there were 84 wounded patients at the hospital. “We have most of them with us here now,” he said, adding that they lack medicine and basic nursing equipment.

Christophe Garnier, the leader of Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan said the organization had to evacuate its staff from Akobo on Saturday and learned of the subsequent looting of its hospital and the ransacking of its office.

“People in Akobo must now either flee without protection or remain at risk of being killed, while losing access to healthcare and other essential services,” he said.

The three Western governments that have played a major role in the peace process — the U.S, U.K., and Norway — sent a letter to President Kiir on Monday urging that the army's evacuation order be revoked and warning of “further deaths, displacement and suffering for the South Sudanese people” if the offensive on Akobo is implemented.

United Nations peacekeepers stand near an airstrip in Akobo, South Sudan, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Florence Miettaux)