Farm and solar groups sue USDA over solar rules in rural energy program
- Lawsuit challenges solar eligibility criteria in REAP program
- Groups say USDA applied the policy retroactively
- Illinois farm lost $446,000 in approved funding, groups say
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) and Earthjustice have sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), challenging what they called efforts to write solar energy out of the Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP), which helps farmers and rural small businesses invest in renewable energy.
The groups filed the lawsuit on behalf of farmers, solar developers and installers, grant writers and organizations representing them. They allege that USDA imposed unlawful anti-solar eligibility criteria on REAP and applied the new policy retroactively to applications already prepared and submitted under its earlier rules.
According to the groups, Book Family Farms in Dixon, Illinois, was notified in late 2023 and early 2024 that 2 of its solar projects, totaling 429 kilowatts, had been selected for $446,000 in funding. The groups said USDA announced on March 31, 2026 that it would apply the policy retroactively to the farm's applications, which cancelled that funding.
The lawsuit asks the court to invalidate the policy and to order USDA to process REAP applications under the rules that were in place when USDA received them.
"USDA doesn't get to encourage farmers to invest in renewable energy under one set of rules, let them spend their own money relying on those rules, and then rewrite those rules once they've already invested," said Michael Youhana, an attorney for Earthjustice.
The plaintiffs also include the New York Solar Energy Industries Association, Minnesota-based Wolf River Electric, the Iowa Farmers Union, RENEW Wisconsin and Solar United Neighbors.
REAP was created in 2002. The groups said that, according to USDA data, 68% of REAP grant and loan guarantee awards went to solar projects between 2011 and the first quarter of 2025.