The Environmental Protection Agency canceled a $7 billion solar energy program earlier this month designed to create jobs in the solar industry and help low-income homeowners reduce energy bills amid rising costs and demand.
The announcement came three days after an event in Atlanta celebrated the launch of the first phase of Georgia’s $158 million Solar for All initiative. The Biden-era federal program was designed to help low- and middle-income families install residential solar systems to give them reprieve from high utility bills and create new jobs.
Lee Zeldin, the head of the environmental agency, announced the cancellation in a post on social media Aug. 7. The administrator cited President Donald Trump’s “one big beautiful bill,” signed earlier this year, and said the program was a wasteful use of tax dollars.
“The EPA no longer has the authority to administer the program or the appropriated funds to keep this boondoggle alive,” Zeldin said in a video that accompanied the social media post.