Massachusetts can't access more than $165 million in federal funding, much of it for a solar energy program meant to provide cheaper, greener energy for low-income and disadvantaged households, according to the Healey administration.
The funds remained inaccessible as of Friday, days after a federal appeals court had rejected the Trump administration's bid to reinstate a widespread freeze on federal funding issued days after President Donald Trump took office.
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The Healey administration provided NBC10 Boston the list of eight different programs that had inaccessible federal funding as of Friday — two solar programs run by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) account for nearly all of the amount, while three other Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) programs each can't access over $1 million:
- Solar for All ($156M to DOER)
- State Energy Program BIL Funding ($7,699,040 to DOER)
- Ambient Air Monitoring in Massachusetts Disadvantaged Communities ($1,170,472 to DEP)
- Massachusetts Air Sensor Program: Air Monitoring Grant ($21,925 to DEP)
- State Clean Diesel Grant ($845,889 to DEP)
- DERA Program ($1,075,211 to DEP)
- Clean Diesel Grant ($1,298,637 to DEP)
- Aquatic Invasive Species Grant ($251,000 to the Department of Conservation and Recreation)
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The Solar for All funding was awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2024, and the state anticipated the solar panels it would put up would cut energy bills by 20% for more than 30,000 households — saving a total of more than $372 million — while creating nearly 3,000 jobs, according to the Healey administration.
The frozen Solar for All funding has been previously reported, and Gov. Maura Healey discussed it in her "Ask the Governor" appearance on GBH this February, saying it was "shut down by the Trump administration, over the order of a federal judge." The administration confirmed Friday that it remained inaccessible.
Asked about the program, an EPA spokesperson told NBC10 Boston that the agency was working to ensure to make all funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act were accessible, in accordance with the court's order lifting the pause in federal funding.
"Separate from any Presidential [executive order] or [Office of Management and Budget] guidance, EPA personnel have identified certain grants programs as having potential inconsistencies with necessary financial and oversight procedural requirements or grant conditions of awards or programs," the spokesperson said in an email.
They didn't immediately respond to follow-up questions on whether Solar for All falls under the rubric of a program that has potential inconsistencies with necessary financial and oversight procedural requirements or grant conditions, or whether Massachusetts has been told about it.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell cited the frozen Solar for All as she announced a new push with 22 other state attorneys general on Feb. 7 to have federal courts crack down on infrastructure funds they said hadn't been unfrozen, as well as arguing the funding freeze itself was unconstitutional.
Last week, a federal judge in Rhode Island said the Trump administration violated his order halting the sweeping federal funding freeze and ordered the government to “immediately restore frozen funding.”
Campbell's office noted in announcing the court action that Massachusetts receives $20 billion each year, and Healey said in her GBH appearance that the commonwealth, which has a tight budget already, won't be able to replace massive federal funding cuts.
"We are not going to be able to pick up the tab on federal funds that are taken away -- for climate, for infrastructure, for education, for transportation, for health care," the governor said.
She urged advocacy to Congress, which appropriates funding, to ensure that the money continues to flow.
