Trump admin cancels $156M Michigan solar program as coal plant decision looms

The Trump administration has canceled $7 billion in federal grants for solar energy, including a $156 million award to Michigan
State officials had already announced plans to spend nearly $14 million of the money on projects across the state
The terminations come as the Trump administration considers whether to extend an order keeping a Michigan coal plant open past retirement

The Trump administration has canceled $156 million in federal grants that were supposed to help low-income Michiganders install solar panels, a development that could prompt a legal challenge from the state.

It’s the latest in a series of Trump administration moves to disinvest in clean energy and throw support behind fossil fuels, including extended operation of a west Michigan coal plant that had been slated for retirement.

US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced last week that the Trump administration was terminating the $7 billion Solar for All program, a Biden-era program created under the Inflation Reduction Act.

State officials did not receive official notice until Tuesday because EPA officials had sent the termination letter to the inactive email inbox of a former state employee and misspelled the email address of a current employee, said Dale George, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).

Michigan was one of 60 grantees promised a portion of the $7 billion, but so far it has received just $1 million of its $156 million share.

Many federal grant programs, including Solar for All, are administered on a reimbursement basis, which means states spend the money first and request repayment later. Michigan had already announced plans to award $13.9 million to support projects from Detroit to the Upper Peninsula.

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That included plans to put solar on a 60-unit building that houses senior citizens in Oakland County, install a ground-mounted solar array at a Hillsdale County airport, and add solar panels and energy storage to 12 homes and a community building in Chippewa County.

The Chippewa County project, spearheaded by the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, was one of several federal grants the organization had applied for and won, only to abruptly learn the federal government had reversed course.

“These funds were essential for infrastructure improvements and environmental initiatives, investments championed by the previous administration to uplift and support Michigan’s tribal communities,” said Clayton Kincheloe, the organization’s executive director.

He called the loss “deeply unfortunate” and said the group is now working to “align our goals with the priorities of the current administration, seeking collaborative solutions that honor tribal sovereignty, promote equity, and advance the shared future of all Michigan residents.”

A Trump administration spokesperson declined a request for comment from Bridge Michigan, instead pointing to a social media post in which Zeldin argued the tax and spending cuts that Congress authorized last month left the administration with no legal authority to administer the solar program.

He characterized Solar for All as a “boondoggle” that diluted public money by passing it to outside parties.

A termination letter from the EPA Office of Mission Support indicated that “allowable costs” already incurred by the state could still be reimbursed, but all other funds must be returned to the federal government.

In a statement Tuesday, EGLE Director Phil Roos left the door open to a possible legal challenge.

“Regrettably, the EPA wants to retroactively cut funding for this vital program at a time when such initiatives should be prioritized,” Roos said. “We are currently working with Michigan’s attorney general to determine our next steps.”

EGLE officials estimated that the grants would have reduced energy costs for thousands of Michigan residents by an average of $400 per family annually while helping the state comply with a 2023 law that requires a transition to clean energy statewide by 2040.

Coal plant continuation

Cancellation of the solar grants comes as Trump — who has questioned climate change science and campaigned on a vow to end what he called a “Green New Scam” — takes wide-ranging steps to slow the US energy transition and encourage the continued use of fossil fuels.

In addition to canceling the solar grants, the Trump administration recently ordered the continued operation of a west Michigan coal plant that was set to close at the end of May.

Consumers Energy, which owns the JH Campbell plant in West Olive, estimated that closing the facility early would save ratepayers $600 million by switching to cheaper natural gas.

But the US Department of Energy said it was necessary to keep the 1,560-megawatt coal plant in operation through at least Aug. 20 due to “potential tight reserve margins” for the regional Midcontinent Independent System Operator during summer, when energy demands typically peak.

An outside view of JH Campbell coal plant in West Olive, Michigan. — The JH Campbell coal plant in West Olive had been slated for closure at the end of May, but Consumers Energy was ordered to continue its operation by President Donald Trump’s administration. (Jordyn Hermani/Bridge Michigan)

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is suing over the order, arguing the Trump administration has abused “the department’s emergency authority” typically reserved for “real emergencies” such as natural disasters and extreme weather events.

She also recently joined a multistate coalition challenging a DOE report on electric resource adequacy that the Trump administration could use to justify future orders to keep additional coal plants operating beyond planned retirement dates.

The report warns the US may not have enough energy to meet demands of the future. “Absent decisive intervention, the nation’s power grid will be unable to meet projected demand for manufacturing, re-industrialization, and data centers driving artificial intelligence (AI) innovation,” it states.

With the Trump administration expected to decide by next week whether to extend its JH Campbell order, environmental advocates rallied outside the plant on Tuesday, arguing its operation is already a form of government overreach with major fiscal, environmental and personal health implications.

The plant’s emissions in 2024 alone put out carbon pollutants similar to 1.9 million cars idling simultaneously, said Jace Bylenga, regional coordinator with the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.

Keeping the plant open, he added, is a “clear example of how the Trump administration is making our energy costs more expensive and locking us into outdated, expensive fossil fuel infrastructure.”

Operating the plant beyond its planned retirement had cost Consumers $29 million through late June, the company said in a securities filing, indicating it would seek federal approval for a customer rate hike to recover costs.

State Rep. Stephen Wooden, D-Grand Rapids, speaks into a microphone. Other protestors stand behind him with signs. — State Rep. Stephen Wooden, D-Grand Rapids, was one of roughly a dozen people Tuesday to protest the continued operation of the JH Campbell coal-fired power plant in West Olive. (Jordyn Hermani/Bridge Michigan)

State lawmakers can’t do much to stop the plant’s continued operation other than to continue funding Nessel’s office in the next state budget, said state Rep. Stephen Wooden, a Democrat who represents a portion of Grand Rapids.

“That’s why we are standing here today,” Wooden said, “to stand up to the Trump administration to tell them: Get this coal plant shut down … listen to local folks, to Michiganders — to the utilities that have already scheduled this closure — instead of propping up a coal plant that doesn’t need to stay open.”

A win for ‘big polluters’?

The solar grant cancellations are the latest twist in a monthslong battle over the funds. The Trump administration froze them along with multiple other climate-related grants in February, then later made the funds available again before terminating the program Aug. 7.

Environmentalists reacted to the termination with dismay.

“The initiative could lower energy costs for thousands of households, underscoring how the administration is more interested in propping up big polluters than supporting working class people,” said James Gignac, Midwest policy director for climate and energy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The Trump administration has downplayed the threat of climate change even while it causes ever-worsening damage in the form of deep droughts, megafires, extreme storms and rising seas.

Earlier this month, the administration proposed rescinding the so-called “endangerment finding,” a 2009 EPA declaration that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The finding has served as the scientific and legal basis for federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

The “big, beautiful” tax-and-spending megabill that Trump signed into law last month also contains a host of other cuts to federal spending on clean energy and electric vehicles.

Among them: rescinding federal tax incentives for EV buyers and clean energy production and rescinding unspent funds from Biden-era clean energy and conservation initiatives, including those designed to reduce air pollution at schools and remove old culverts to rehabilitate Michigan streams.