Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Thursday that he is canceling a $7 billion Biden-era program to build rooftop solar. He said that the Solar for All program was eliminated in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, so the EPA no longer has the authority to administer it.
In Pennsylvania, the Solar for All program never got off the ground.
Last year, the EPA awarded the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) $156 million as part of the program to build rooftop solar on the homes of 12,500 low and moderate-income families across the state. It was intended to lower their energy bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But there was a caveat: the Pennsylvania legislature required its own approval to accept the money. So far, it hasn't done that.
Now that the EPA has announced it's canceling those grants across the country, solar advocates in Pennsylvania are worried that lawmakers will never act.
"I am afraid of that being an excuse for not moving forward with the Solar for All authorization," said Monica Carey, Pennsylvania program director of the non-profit Solar United Neighbors (SUN).
Carey still wants the legislature to approve the acceptance of this money. The EPA administrator has made his move, she said, "but that is not the legal finality of Solar for All…the money is contractually obligated, so it is legally PEDA's to spend on Solar for All."
She and other solar advocates are not surprised by the EPA announcement, but are still disappointed, "especially as electricity prices are set to rise dramatically," said Leo Kowalski of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Solar Center.
"We're having more and more electrification and data centers go in," he said. "So it feels like a great time to be leading on that front, to be helping incentivize normal people to pay cheaper electricity rates when they're the ones that are going to be footing the bill for these large entities."
Republican lawmakers are skeptical of solar
At a hearing of the House Energy Committee in February to consider a bill to accept the Solar For All funds, Republicans brought up concerns about the disposal of solar panels, about free markets, and about the price tag of rooftop solar, even though the federal government had already allocated the money to Pennsylvania.
"Why in heaven's name would we continue to invest taxpayer dollars, whether it's state or federal? " asked Rep. Jamie Barton, a Republican who represents Berks and Schuylkill counties, at the hearing. "Why would we invest in unreliable energy sources?"
That bill was derailed by an unrelated amendment. Now, advocates are concerned that there is no political will to approve the funding.
"To give up now is basically saying these low-income residents of Pennsylvania never mattered to us," said Carey. [Lawmakers are saying] "'we don't care if they have to spend more on energy bills proportionally than anyone else in the state. We're not going to do anything to help them.' That's what it feels like to just give up on Solar for All."
Solar advocates see the best route now is through the state budget, but the legislature is at an impasse.
"The Solar for All program remains an important lifeline for the many working people and families in the commonwealth who need energy affordability," said Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, Democrat of Philadelphia, who chairs the House energy committee, despite the EPA canceling the program. "We're still working hard in the legislature to authorize the program and move this funding out quickly, so as many Pennsylvanians as possible can benefit."
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