New York Attorney General Letitia James, along with 18 other states and the District of Columbia, sued the Trump administration on Friday to block the Department of Energy from imposing a new funding cap that would cut support for state-run energy programs.
James and the other Democratic attorneys general argued that blocking appropriated funding for state energy programs jeopardizes states’ ability to keep them running and would raise energy costs for residents.
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“New Yorkers count on state energy programs to save money on their bills, prepare homes for extreme weather, and move toward clean, affordable energy,” James said in a statement. “The Department of Energy’s cuts threaten to pull the rug out from under those efforts. We’re taking them to court to protect the funding that keeps these programs running for families across New York.”
The attorneys general asked the court to block the Department of Energy’s move and restore the reimbursement rates for the energy programs.
Federal law has required federal agencies, including the DOE, to negotiate funding agreements with states to set reimbursement rates for federally funded, state-run programs for decades. These rates have never been subject to a cap.
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In May, the Department of Energy announced it would implement a new policy that caps indirect and employee benefit costs at 10% of a project’s total budget, regardless of the negotiated rate.
The attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia joined James in the lawsuit, as did the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.