WASHINGTON, DC (Michigan News Source) – Michigan’s “MI Solar for All” program was supposed to be a sunny solution for low-and moderate-income households: a Democrat initiative of rooftop solar panels, community solar projects, and a promise to shave about $400 a year off utility bills. The plan also dangled the carrot of 700 new jobs, energy independence, and less panic every time the power flickers in a storm.

EPA pulls the plug on $7 billion solar push.

But last week, on August 7, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided to cancel the entire $7 billion national Solar for All grant program that was set up during the Biden era on Earth Day 2024. That means Michigan’s $156.1 million share – set to fund everything from pilot projects to workforce training and community outreach – just got vaporized faster than a snowbank in May.

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The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) established the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a competitive grant initiative administered by the EPA that included the Solar for All program. However, the Big Beautiful Bill eliminated the program’s source of funding.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement, “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. Today, the Trump EPA is announcing that we are ending Solar for All for good, saving US taxpayers ANOTHER $7 BILLION!”

The Solar for All program awarded funding to 60 recipients – including states, tribes, and regional groups to support solar projects across the country. According to the research firm Atlas Public Policy, just $53 million of the $7 billion awarded has actually been spent so far. Many of the grant recipients say their programs are still in the planning stages – but now they’re on ice.

A danger to rabbits.

It’s no secret that President Trump is not a fan of wind and solar power and calls them an “unreliable” energy source as well as being overly dependent on foreign supply chains. In October of last year at an event in Florida, Trump said about solar power, “It’s all steel and glass and wires. It looks like hell. And you see rabbits, they get caught in it … it’s just terrible…miles and miles…and what it does to your desert…It’s just crazy.”

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And during a January interview with Fox News after getting elected, President Trump said, “We could supply the whole world with energy for hundreds of years… We don’t want windmills in this country… You know what else people don’t like? Those massive solar fields built over land that cover ten miles by ten miles… they’re ridiculous…they’re made in China.”

From sunshine to storm clouds.

Advocates of solar power, including former President Joe Biden, say solar power is a clean, renewable way to boost the electrical grid’s sustainability while cutting energy costs for American households.

In Lansing, Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) Director Phil Roos sent out an email and called the decision regrettable and a retroactive cut to a program that should be a priority.

Roos added that the state is consulting with Attorney General Dana Nessel to see if there’s any way to reverse the decision or recover the funds – and if history’s any guide, Nessel will be buying a ticket on the lawsuit express to challenge this latest Trump move.

Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who introduced the Solar for All program has called Zeldin’s action illegal. Sanders said in a statement, “Solar for All means lower utility bills, many thousands of good-paying jobs and real action to address the existential threat of climate change. 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.”

Michigan left holding the (solar) bag.

In its press release, EGLE noted that $13.9 million had already been awarded to 13 pilot projects across Michigan – in counties including Berrien, Chippewa, Delta, Kent, Oakland, Ottawa, Washtenaw, Wayne, and Wexford – before the EPA pulled the plug. The agency says those projects can still get reimbursed for “allowable costs” they’ve already racked up. Like most federal grants, Solar for All worked on a reimbursement basis: spend first, get paid later. But with the program dead, future spending plans just got a hard stop – the tap is officially dry.

While EGLE insists it will keep chasing clean energy solutions, losing a $156 million boost is like trying to build a barn without nails – it’s technically possible, but expect a lot more sweat, fewer shingles, and a frantic search for cash to finish the job.