Environmental Groups Sue Trump Administration, USDA Over Rural Solar Funding Cutoff
Lawsuit says rule changes to Bush-era program made most solar projects ineligible and stuck farmers with big bills.
An Oregon dairy farm with solar panels installed. USDA (CC-BY)
Environmental groups are suing the Trump administration over a decision to largely exclude solar technology from a federal program that helps fund rural energy projects.
The nonprofits Environmental Law & Policy Center and Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, late last month on behalf of farmers, solar project developers and clean energy groups.
One of those groups is RENEW Wisconsin, a nonprofit that promotes the renewable energy sector. Many of its members work in the industry installing solar power systems.
The suit challenges the legality of changes made to the Renewable Energy for America Program, or REAP. Environmental groups say the changes have saddled farmers and small businesses with tens of thousands of dollars in unexpected expenses.
The program was created in 2002 to help farmers and rural business owners invest in renewable energy. Between 2011 and the early 2025, court documents say 68 percent of the program’s grant and loan awards went to solar projects.
From 2021 through 2024, the USDA estimated that more than $66.7 million was awarded to Wisconsin through the REAP program, helping rural businesses install renewable energy systems or become more energy efficient.
According to the lawsuit, the USDA changed the program in August 2025 to make “almost all solar projects ineligible for REAP funding.” The federal agency allegedly “immediately applied” that policy to loan applications and, in March 2026, indicated it would do the same for solar grant applications.
The Trump administration has framed the changes to the REAP program as being aimed at keeping more prime farmland engaged in food production.
“During the last administration we saw solar farms consume fertile farmland that should be feeding America,” a spokesperson for the USDA said in a statement. “Those days are over. USDA will not actively participate in repurposing farmland historically used to sustain this country’s abundant food supply.”
The lawsuit states that the federal agency stopped processing REAP grant applications, including ones filed before the rule change, and required all applicants reapply under the new rules before funding would be released.
Because the program reimburses applicants for qualifying expenses after projects are constructed, the complaint says the refusal to process grant applications “has had especially stark consequences on program participants.”
For example, a farm in Illinois was selected to receive $446,000 in REAP funding in 2023 and 2024 for two solar arrays, but that funding was effectively canceled with the changes to the program, the lawsuit says.
Sherif Halaweish, an attorney for RENEW Wisconsin, said there are many rural farmers and businesses facing similar situations.
“There were many applicants to this grant that were given approval,” he said. “They went ahead and started construction, and then in the middle of that, the USDA announced that they were changing the criteria on eligibility and pausing processing of applications — even ones that were already approved.”
In Wisconsin, the lawsuit states one of RENEW’s members lost out on a solar installation contract worth $101,000 because the contract was contingent on REAP grant funds being awarded.
Other solar installers had to cancel, pare back or indefinitely delay solar installation contracts as a result of the anti-solar changes, according to the lawsuit.
“For our members who install those systems, that is a good chunk of several of our members’ revenue,” Halaweish said. “It is one of multiple things that have happened in the solar industry — in addition to tax credits being removed — that have severely impacted renewable energy installers and developers, and that is a huge industry in Wisconsin.”
The lawsuit asks the court to invalidate the USDA’s new solar policy and order the agency to process REAP applications under the rules that were in place when it received them.
Environmentalists sue Trump administration over changes to rural energy program was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
