Evangelical Environmental Network: EPA Cancels Solar For All Program That Would Lower Energy Bills For Families [$156 Million In PA]

On August 7, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency confirmed it will terminate $7 billion in federal grants allocated to help an estimated 900,000 low- and middle-income households install rooftop solar panels. 

These grants, known as the “Solar for All” program, were awarded and set to be distributed to 60 state agencies, tribes, and nonprofit organizations across the country and had the potential to significantly lower monthly energy costs for families through rooftop and community solar.

[In Pennsylvania, $156 million is at risk.  Read more here.]

In response, EEN President and CEO Rev. Dr. Jessica Moerman released the following statement:

“When energy bills soar, many struggling families turn to their local church for help. Canceling the Solar for All program removes the opportunity for 900,000 low-income households to find financial relief and greater self-sufficiency through home-grown solar energy. 

“As evangelicals, we’re called to care for the “least of these” and to be good stewards of both God’s creation and our resources. 

“Breaking this promise is not only short-sighted—it would keep nearly a million American families trapped in an impossible choice each month of whether to pay for food, buy medicine, or keep the lights on.”

The York County-based Evangelical Environmental Network is a ministry whose mission is to inspire, equip, educate, and mobilize evangelical Christians to love God and others by rediscovering and reclaiming the Biblical mandate to care for creation and working toward a stable climate and a healthy, pollution-free world.

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard- August 2 to 8 [PaEN]

     -- DEP: 25 Days After An Uncontrolled Release Of Wastewater At A Repsol Shale Gas Well Pad, Cleanup Continues In Bradford County  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - August 9  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Posted 75 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In August 9  PA Bulletin  [PaEN]  

Related Articles This Week:

-- PA Supreme Court Rules No Republican Senate, House Members Can Intervene In Legal Challenge To Act 96 That Took Away Authority To Increase Conventional Oil & Gas Well Bond Amounts To Cover Taxpayer Costs For Plugging  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Awards $7.24 Million In Federal Funds To Plug 329 Marginal Conventional Oil & Gas Wells  [Names Of Those Awarded Grants Not Released Yet]  [PaEN] 

-- Range Resources Files Appeal Of The Dismissal Of Its Zoning Hearing Board Challenge To Cecil Township’s Ordinance Requiring A 2,500 Foot Setback For Shale Gas Wells  [PaEN]

-- DEP: 25 Days After An Uncontrolled Release Of Wastewater At A Repsol Shale Gas Well Pad, Cleanup Continues In Bradford County  [PaEN]

-- Guest Essay: Paying The Price For Natural Gas And A.I. Data Centers - By John Quigley, Senior Fellow, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy  [PaEN]

-- Utility Dive Guest Essay: We At PJM Need Realistic Solutions, Not Politics To Take On Energy Challenges - By Aftab Khan, PJM Executive Vice President Of Operations, Planning and Security  [PaEN] 

-- Scranton Times: Al’s Quick Stop Convenience Store Developer Proposes A.I. Data Centers In Blakely, Lackawanna County; Q/A With Developer Aug. 13  [PDF of Article]

-- TribLive: Residents See 1st Glimpse Of Massive 180 MW A.I. Data Center In Springdale, Allegheny County 

-- KDKA: Former Site Of Springdale Coal-Fired Power Plant Could Become A.I. Data Center

-- Bitfarms Announces Partnership To Develop A.I. Data Center At Panther Creek Waste Coal-Fired Power Plant In Carbon County  [PaEN]

-- FracTracker Alliance Releases National A.I. Data Centers Tracker; Public Invited To Submit Information  [PaEN]

-- FracTracker Alliance: Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County Released 17.9 Billion Pounds Of Air Pollution Since It Began Operation, During 80 Malfunctions, 43 Violation Episodes  [PaEN] 

-- PA Senate Republican Policy Committee To Hold Aug. 11 Hearing On A.I. Data Center Development In Lackawanna County  [PaEN]

-- PA House Environmental Committee To Hold Aug. 11 Hearing On How PA Should Subsidize The Remediation Of Waste Coal Piles  [PaEN]

-- House Members To Introduce Bipartisan Legislation To Advance Geothermal Energy Development  [PaEN]

-- Evangelical Environmental Network: EPA Cancels Solar For All Program That Would Lower Energy Bills For Families  [$156 Million In PA] [PaEN] 

-- PA Interfaith Power & Light Hosts Aug. 14 Webinar On The New Deadline For Taking Advantage Of Federal Solar Energy Tax Credits  [PaEN] 

NewsClips:

-- WESA/WV Public Broadcasting: West Virginia Families Sue EQT Over Fracking Pollution 

-- PublicSource.org: Children Of 3 Families That Abandoned Their Homes Sue EQT Over Illness, Distress They Say Are Linked To Company’s WV Shale Gas Operations 

-- PA Capital-Star: Beaver County Group Calls On DEP For More Timely Reports On Shell Petrochemical Plant Air Pollution 

-- The Derrick: State Awards Money To Plug Local Wells [No Names Of Those Awarded Grants]

-- WESA - Rachel McDevitt: EPA Move To Rollback Oil & Gas Methane, Climate Pollution Rules Will Hurt People Around Pittsburgh, Advocates Say 

-- Inquirer Editorial: President’s EPA Rollbacks Jeopardize Our Warming Planet And Its Wary People

-- Post-Gazette/Inside Climate News - Kiley Bense: New Report Shows How Health Outcomes Improved After 2016 Shenango Coke [Coal] Works Closure In Allegheny County 

-- Wilkes-Barre Times Leader Guest Essay: Abandoned, Active Mines Are Not Tourist Sites - Stay Out! - By Robert Hughes, Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation 

-- Wilkes-Barre Times Leader Guest Essay: Energy Is A Rallying Point For Pennsylvania - By Stephanie Catarino Wissman, American Petroleum Institute PA

-- Scranton Times: Al’s Quick Stop Convenience Store Developer Proposes A.I. Data Centers In Blakely, Lackawanna County; Q/A With Developer Aug. 13  [PDF of Article]

-- TribLive: Residents See 1st Glimpse Of Massive 180 MW A.I. Data Center In Springdale, Allegheny County 

-- KDKA: Former Site Of Springdale Coal-Fired Power Plant Could Become A.I. Data Center

-- Scranton Times: State Senate To Hold A.I. Data Center Hearing At Valley View High School

-- MCall: As Electric Bills Rise Due To A.I. Data Center Demand, PJM Electricity Auction, What Lehigh Valley Utilities Say To Expect [PPL - Last 2 PJM Auctions Have Increased Monthly Bills $20 With No Benefit To Customers]  [PDF of Article]

-- The Allegheny Front - Kara Holsopple: What’s Behind Higher Electricity Prices? The Regional Grid Explained

-- Chesapeake Bay Journal: The Price Of A.I. - How Is A.I. Impacting Energy Production And Prices?

-- Scranton Times: Proposed State Senate Bill To Fast Track Data Centers, Limit Local Zoning  [Senate Bill 939]   [PDF of Article]

-- Williamsport Sun Guest Essay: A.I. Data Centers And Cryptocurrency Mining Energy Use Needs A Clear Disadvantage - By Karen Elias, Climate Reality  [PDF of Article]

-- Erie Times: National Fuel Gas Increases Gas Rates 12.2%; How Much More Erie-Area Homes Will Pay

-- Reuters: Energy Transfer/Sunoco Complains About Limits On Exporting Ethane To China, Even Though They Have Been Lifted 

-- Utility Dive: Independent Power Producers Hit Back At Utilities [Like PPL] That Want To Build Their Own Generation Due To PJM Price Surge 

-- Utility Dive: $8.8 Billion Energy Efficiency Rebate Program On Hold In Most States, Underway In Some, Pending DOE Review  [PA Penn Energy Savers Program ] 

-- AP: EPA Cancels, Claws Back $7 Billion Solar For All Grant Program [$156 Million PA Grant] 

[Posted: August 8, 2025]  PA Environment Digest