Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has secured a major victory to protect Michigan energy programs, after the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon found that the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) cap on state energy program funding is illegal. Judge Mustafa Kasubhai granted the motion for summary judgment (PDF) brought by 19 attorneys general and 2 governors, concluding that the DOE funding policy violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The policy would have slashed reimbursements for staffing and administrative costs and threatened millions of dollars nationwide for essential energy programs.
“I am relieved that another Court has rejected the Trump Administration’s unlawful attempt to rewrite the rules on already allocated federal funding,” Nessel said. “Michigan and other states rely on these funds to keep vital programs running, and this decision reaffirms that the White House cannot arbitrarily strip away resources for renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives.”