A lawsuit filed by Earthjustice accuses the U.S. Department of Agriculture of illegally gutting a rural solar development program. The case targets the Rural Energy for America Program, which provides grants and loans for renewable energy projects on farms and in small rural communities. According to the complaint, the USDA made sweeping policy changes without proper justification.
The complaint points to internal emails in which a department administrator, when asked to substantiate claims underpinning the anti-solar policy shift, responded, "let's let the comms shop find . . . the rationale behind their statistics." That reply, the lawsuit argues, indicates the agency lacked a sound basis for its actions and may have acted arbitrarily.
If the court sides with the plaintiffs, the USDA could be forced to restore the program and reconsider how it evaluates rural solar applications. The case highlights broader tensions between the administration's push to expand renewable energy and agency-level decisions that slow or block it.