Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced that a federal court has ruled against the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) cap on state energy program funding. The decision was made by Judge Mustafa Kasubhai of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, who found that the DOE’s policy violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
Nessel stated, “I am relieved that another Court has rejected the Trump Administration’s unlawful attempt to rewrite the rules on already allocated federal funding. 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.”
The lawsuit, filed in August, involved 19 attorneys general and two governors challenging DOE’s attempt to limit reimbursement of indirect and fringe costs to 10 percent of a project’s budget. The coalition argued that this cap disregarded established cost rates negotiated by states and would impact staffing and operations for state energy agencies.
Judge Kasubhai sided with the states, declaring the funding cap illegal under current regulations governing DOE grants. Alongside Nessel, attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin participated in the suit. The governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania also joined.
