(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers could consider legal action to keep $62.4 million in solar energy grants that are being pulled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a spokesperson for the governor.
The cuts, handed down by the EPA per President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will take back $7 billion previously awarded to 49 states for the now-defunct Solar for All program.
Evers previously criticized the cuts as having "no legitimate purpose or justification" and being "potentially illegal."
"Gov. Evers will continue to fight for Wisconsin to receive the investments that Congress approved and Wisconsinites were promised, including exploring all legal options available," the Evers spokesperson told The Center Square.
While the EPA seeks to reclassify the previous grants as “unobligated” and take them back, some officials and trade groups argued the EPA has no legal authority to do so since the funds were already congressionally approved, The Washington Post reported.
According to David Strifling, an associate professor at Marquette University Law School, the cuts of congressionally greenlit solar funds are a constitutional question, potentially also involving breach of contract claims that Wisconsin could try to challenge with other states.
“This would be a question of federal law, so if Wisconsin decides to contest the cancellation, it could perhaps join a consortium of like-minded states to challenge the action together rather than going it alone,” Strifling told The Center Square.
Alternatively, Strifling said Wisconsin could try to weigh in on an existing lawsuit by filing a brief as an amicus curiae, meaning it could offer information, expertise or insight that has a bearing on the issues in a given case.
The state has already joined multi-state coalition lawsuits against the Trump administration to contest cuts to programs with already-approved federal funding, such as AmeriCorps.
Evers previously said that the $62.4 million promised to Wisconsin would support more than 7,400 households and save a household up to $500 per year, The Center Square reported.
However, a July report by Wisconsin Policy Forum found that communities that have undertaken solar energy projects in the state have seldom succeeded in cost savings, with only 3 of 23 Wisconsin communities between 2011-2023 reporting savings through solar projects.
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