Nonprofits and companies are ready to relaunch solar projects to help low-income residents — if the Trump administration obeys a court order to give them the money.
Denise Abdul-Rahman, founder and CEO of nonprofit Black Sun Light Sustainability, can list in detail the harms that the Trump administration’s shutdown of the $7 billion Solar for All program has caused the Indiana communities she serves.
About 1,000 low-income households have been denied access to low-cost solar that would have cut their electric bills by at least 20%, she said. About 200 jobs installing solar and batteries at homes, community centers, and city buildings, representing roughly $9 million a year in wages, haven’t been created. And residents of Gary, Indiana, have been denied solar-and-battery-equipped resiliency centers that could have helped them recover from a nearly two-week-long grid outage in August.
That’s why Abdul-Rahman joined a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to kill the program. Last week, a Trump-appointed federal judge with the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island upheld that challenge, ruling that the EPA acted illegally and must let the money flow.
“We just want the Trump Administration to comply with the law,” Abdul-Rahman said. “We would like them to resume what has started. We’re committed to this because we truly believe it will save lives and change lives.”
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