Ara Lynn started selling plants out of a push cart at the end of her driveway in New Ipswich in 2006. Now her farm, Amazing Flower Farm, sells hundreds of varieties of vegetables, herbs, annuals, perennials and houseplants out of greenhouses.
Lynn spent much of her career saving up money for solar, with the hope of cheaper electric bills – and a cleaner energy source.
“I have wanted to put up solar panels for decades here at the farm and have never been able to be in a position to afford it,” she said.
When the Inflation Reduction Act was approved in 2022, she felt she had a chance. It boosted long-running efforts like the Rural Energy for America Program, covering 50% of project costs in some cases. Lynn applied for a grant and was approved for about $23,000. She got an additional $10,000 climate resilience grant from the Hillsborough County Conservation District.
Like with many federal grants, Lynn put the money up front herself, expecting to be reimbursed.
She dug trenches for the electric lines herself this winter, hoping to save on installation costs. The solar panels were finally installed in mid-January and are now up and running. She documented the first kilowatt the system made with a photo. She has to wait 30 days from when her array was switched on to apply for reimbursement.
But she’s not sure what will happen when she submits her paperwork. Over the past few weeks, the Trump administration has moved to freeze funding for climate-related programs like the one Lynn applied for in an effort to dismantle Biden-era legislation that provided hundreds of millions of dollars to New Hampshire.
President Trump has targeted climate-related funding from those laws as part of an effort he describes as “terminating the Green New Deal.” Federal judges have issued orders to block spending freezes, but the administration has continued to pursue its effort to suspend funding.
If she doesn’t get reimbursed, Lynn said, she would face major financial hardship in the early farming season, when she’s trying to pay for supplies and hire workers before she can sell any flowers.
“It's creating a big problem for my business,” she said.
“Farming is full of uncertainties, but this was not supposed to be one of those uncertainties.”Ara Lynn, Amazing Flower Farm
When asked by NHPR to confirm whether the U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to honor grants already awarded through the Rural Energy for America Program, a USDA spokesperson did not give a clear answer.
“The Trump Administration rightfully has asked for a comprehensive review of all contracts, work, and personnel across all federal agencies. Anything that violates the President’s Executive Orders will be subject for review. The Department of Agriculture will be happy to provide a response to interested parties once Secretary Rollins has the opportunity to analyze these reviews,” the spokesperson said.
A cycle of uncertainty
The Trump Administration’s efforts to suspend federal funding for climate and environment projects from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has caused concern for many people like Lynn, who were promised reimbursements from the federal government or rely on government funding for ongoing work.
At state agencies, which rely heavily on federal dollars for a range of programs, confusion about which ones are suspended or still available has continued for several weeks.
As of Thursday afternoon, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services said funding has been frozen for a Climate Pollution Reduction Grant, which provided $3 million to help the state craft a climate plan. The agency also said an air monitoring program, a clean diesel program, and a geology preservation program had federal grants frozen.
It’s unclear whether state officials have also suspended activities within those programs. This week, environmental regulators hosted two planning sessions for the state’s climate plan.
Jim Martin, a spokesperson for the department, said the only information they had been provided was from the U.S. Geological Survey, which said all awards from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law had been suspended.
“They were not sure if/when the suspension will be lifted,” Martin said. In an earlier message, from Feb. 10, Martin said the agency believed it would be irresponsible to report or suggest that the federal funding was in jeopardy because that would cause unwarranted concern.
Earlier this week, the state’s Department of Transportation suspended a program to build public electric vehicle chargers, after federal officials said funding would be withheld under that program pending further guidance.
David Shulock, general council for New Hampshire’s Department of Energy, said Friday afternoon that his understanding is the state is not currently able to draw down funds for the Solar for All grant program, which was set to send $43 million to the state to help bring solar power to lower-income communities.
Other states also saw funding for the Solar for All program frozen this week.
In total, the state’s Department of Energy is responsible for managing about $147 million in federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
On Jan. 24, Assistant Commissioner Chris Ellms said the agency was reviewing guidance from federal partners to determine what impacts the Trump Administration’s executive orders would have on programs they administer. Ellms has not responded to further questions about the freeze.
Emails from that agency obtained through a Right to Know request show employees directing organizations throughout New Hampshire to cease work related to environmental justice efforts that use federal funding, per a memo from the federal government.
Emails also showed there was a delay in processing an invoice for federal reimbursement in late January, and that employees were responding to concern about access to funding for energy assistance. But it remains unclear how the Trump Administration’s approach to climate funding will affect programs in New Hampshire long-term.
The confusion extends far beyond the state agencies responsible for distributing much of the funding. Money from Biden-era laws was aimed at efforts in every part of New Hampshire: water quality improvements, flood resilience projects, electric school buses, repairs on hydroelectric dams, and tree-planting in cities, among others.
Federal flip-flops
Halting the disbursement of climate-related funding was one of President Trump’s first actions in office. In an Executive Order named “Unleashing American Energy,” he said his administration would conduct a 90-day review of programs under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and make new recommendations to align funding from those laws with new federal policy.
That policy encourages fossil fuel production, prioritizes consumer choice for things like gas stoves and water heaters and considers revoking subsidies and other support for electric vehicles.
Clifton Dancy, who coordinates transportation for the Derry Cooperative School District, feared the worst when he saw the executive order come out.
“My first thought was, ‘There goes our electric buses,’” he said.
Dancy manages the school district’s bus budget. When he was invited to apply for a grant that would help buy electric buses, he jumped at the chance. The district would save a lot of money on fuel costs – and the upkeep of EV buses would be less expensive, he said.
The school district couldn’t have afforded the buses on their own. With a grant from the Clean School Bus Program through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, they’re expecting to get 25 buses – replacing 90% of their fleet.
Dancy pinned a copy of a newspaper article announcing the school district’s grant on his wall. He’s hoping Derry may still have the buses by the 2026 school year. But the White House’s funding suspensions have dampened the mood.
“It just kind of ripped the rug of excitement away from us,” he said.
“It just kind of ripped the rug of excitement away from us."Clifton Dancy, Derry Cooperative School District
First Student, the bus company managing the grant for Derry, said they were “actively monitoring the evolving situation,” and would continue to engage with federal officials to keep their bus projects going.
In an email, an Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson said the agency had started enabling access to federal funds last Tuesday, in accordance with a court order directing federal officials to halt a funding freeze precipitated by a memo from the Office of Management and Budget. That was supposed to free up funds by last Friday.
But the spokesperson seemed to indicate that the agency itself, separate from the funding freezes stopped by federal judges, was continuing to investigate programs separately from any executive order or guidance from the Office of Management and Budget.
“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. In addition, Administrator Zeldin sent out the following mass mailer last week and received numerous concerning responses.”
The spokesperson did not provide information about the “concerning responses.” They attached a copy of this letter from EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
“Shaky assurances”
New Hampshire’s major grants from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have all been obligated as of Jan. 16, according to the office of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. That means the state has legally binding contracts with the federal government that commit those funds.
At least one grant – $15 million from the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure program – had been awarded but did not yet have a signed agreement with federal officials before the Trump Administration took office, according to the Department of Transportation.
Sam Evans-Brown, the director of Clean Energy New Hampshire, said there has been some indication that funding that has already been obligated, which people have signed contracts for, will be honored. But for people deciding whether to continue with their projects, that indication is not solid enough footing.
“Are you going to go and spend $1 million on equipment and then hope that when you submit your reimbursement request that you get your money back?” he said. “If you don't, then you're out that money. Or you'd have to hire an attorney to go do battle with the federal government.”
Evans-Brown said his organization was told by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that funds that were already awarded would be honored.
“But there’s not anything in writing that says that yet,” he said. “I think anybody who makes that decision to line up their contractors and schedule the work feels like they're doing so at tremendous personal financial risk.”
Dan Weeks, a vice president at the solar firm ReVision Energy, said his company is also dealing with confusion. In one case, a payment they expected to be processed was put on hold. The uncertainty is impacting his clients, and could slow down or shutter projects, he said.
But Weeks remains optimistic that funding will ultimately be released for programs like Rural Energy for America and Solar for All. And he said what he considers the most important federal solar policy – an investment tax credit – seems safe because of past bipartisan support.
Ultimately, Weeks said, the energy transition is well underway and federal policy may not be able to do much to stop it.
“A lot of the deployment of clean energy that we've seen over the last several years is driven strictly by the economics, and that won't fundamentally change,” he said. “We don't see it as a partisan issue, even if we're facing some attacks in Washington”
Packy Campbell, who owns a real estate brokerage firm in Strafford County and the solar development company Bright Spot Solar, said he isn’t too worried about the impacts of federal funding freezes.
He’s a big fan of solar technology – he’s built solar arrays on four car washes he owns. And he got a Rural Energy for America grant to fund about 12% of the cost of a solar project in Rochester.
“Should I not receive the money, it’s just going to be a little bit longer of an ROI and it'll be a little bit less money that I can reinvest back into the solar industry.”Packy Campbell
“Of course I think I’m going to get funded,” he said. He takes the White House at its word about the purpose of the funding freeze – reviewing Biden-era climate policies and making changes to align them with the new administration.
Campbell says he’s a proud supporter of President Trump. He’s in favor reviewing climate programs – including the grant program he used for his solar project. Campbell says he thinks the previous, lower funding level was more appropriate for projects like his than the higher rates under the Biden Administration.
Campbell says what happens in Concord may have more of an effect on the solar industry in New Hampshire than the decisions made in Washington D.C.
He also trusts the president to uphold federal contracts that have already been signed, like his.
“Should I receive the money, I will say thank you,” he said. “Should I not receive the money, it’s just going to be a little bit longer of an ROI and it'll be a little bit less money that I can reinvest back into the solar industry.”
(Dan Weeks is a member of NHPR’s board of directors. He has no direct role in our news coverage).
