The federal district court for the Western District of Washington granted summary judgment to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a suit filed by state recipients of grants under EPA’s terminated Solar for All program. The court determined that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the claims and dismissed them without prejudice. Per the Tucker Act, breach-of-contract suits against the US government can only be brought in the Court of Federal Claims. The Tucker Act also bars Administrative Procedure Act (APA) claims for injunctive and declaratory relief that function as “disguised” breach-of-contract claims. The court reasoned that the states’ APA claims for nonmonetary relief essentially challenged the rescission of their Solar for All grants and so derived from rights created by contract. Further, although the states sought an order reversing EPA’s termination of the Solar for All program rather than direct reinstatement of their grants, Congress had already decided to halt the program going forward. If granted, the order would only have the effect of ordering specific performance of the terminated contracts by requiring disbursement of the withheld funds. The court determined that since the APA claims functioned as contract claims and would essentially grant contractual relief by distributing the funds to the states, the Tucker Act required the suit to be heard in the Court of Federal Claims. The court also dismissed the states’ constitutional and ultra vires claims as being inextricable from the APA claims.

Challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's termination of the Solar for All program.

Arizona v. EPA

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Federal Court Dismissed States’ Challenge to EPA’s Termination of Solar for All Grants, Citing Lack of Jurisdiction

Filed

United States of America

Washington

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Federal Court Dismissed States’ Challenge to EPA’s Termination of Solar for All Grants, Citing Lack of Jurisdiction

Policy instrument

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance