Over the weekend, the Trump administration fired several frontline responders to the ongoing H5N1 bird flu outbreak—then quickly backpedaled, rescinding those terminations and attempting to reinstate the critical staff.
The termination letters went out to employees at the US Department of Agriculture, one of the agencies leading the federal response to the outbreak that continues to plague US dairy farms and ravage poultry operations, affecting over 160 million birds and sending egg prices soaring. As the virus continues to spread, infectious disease experts fear it could evolve to spread among humans and cause more severe disease. So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has documented 68 cases in humans, one of which was fatal.
Prior to Trump taking office, health experts had criticized the country's response to H5N1 for lack of transparency at times, sluggishness, inadequate testing, and its inability to halt transmission among dairy farms, which was once considered containable. To date, 972 herds across 17 states have been infected since last March, including 36 herds in the last 30 days.
A dairy worker in Nevada has been infected with a strain of H5N1 bird flu—genotype D1.1—that has newly spilled over to cows, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed.
The bird flu strain H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype D1.1 is the predominant strain currently circulating in wild birds in North America and was confirmed for the first time in cows in Nevada last week. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the new spillover was initially detected on January 31 via bulk milk testing. Until this point, the outbreak of H5N1 in dairy cows—which was declared in March 2024—was entirely caused by H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype B3.13. The outbreak was thought to have been caused by a single spillover event from wild birds to cows in Texas in late 2023 or early 2024.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, a Democrat from Arizona, speaks at a protest outside the EPA on February 6.
Catherine Boudreau/Business Insider
A federal pause on climate funding is delaying renewable energy projects and hiring.
Recipients of grants, loans, and tax credits said they don't know if they'll be paid.
The uncertainty is roiling solar, electric vehicle, and energy efficiency companies.
States and businesses deploying renewable energy projects are scrambling to raise capital, delaying hiring, and, in some cases, furloughing staff.
That's because the funds they were awarded months ago aren't available as President Donald Trump races to squash his predecessor's marquee climate law.
Maren Mahoney, director of Arizona's Office of Resiliency, was preparing to hire four employees to help manage a $156 million grant awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act to fund rooftop solar in low- to moderate-income communities across the state. The project could benefit an estimated 11,200 households by providing cheaper energy, she said. But as of February 7, a federal payment system was inaccessible.
"We are really hesitant to go ahead and hire anybody because we're unable to get into the system, which is how we eventually get reimbursed for our payroll expenses," Mahoney said. "These projects are about affordability and adding energy capacity to the system. So I think solar is actually in line with some of President Trump's priorities."
State officials, solar and electric vehicle businesses, and government workers told Business Insider that their funding remains frozen following Trump's executive order pausing hundreds of billions of dollars in loans, grants, and tax credits for renewable energy projects under the IRA. And even though several federal judges have temporarily blocked a more sweeping spending pause, uncertainty persists among financial grantees.
Jillian Blanchard, vice president of climate change and environmental justice at Lawyers for Good Government, said her team has fielded more than 100 inquiries from groups awarded grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department, and the Agriculture Department.
"Many are waiting on legally obligated funds," Blanchard said. "Some are being are waiting for invoices to be paid. Several have pulled back job offerings that are needed to meet the terms of their grants. Some are having to let people go, and some can't make payroll."
A spokesperson for the EPA said it couldn't comment on the funding freeze, citing pending litigation, and that the agency is working to implement Trump's executive orders. The Agriculture Department and Energy Department didn't return requests for comment.
Furloughs and funding limbo
David Funk, president of Zero Emissions Northwest in Washington state, said on LinkedIn that he furloughed his staff due to Trump's executive orders. The company helps secure grants for rural farmers and small businesses to save on their energy costs by installing solar panels and energy-efficient appliances, among other projects.
He said his clients have $1.9 million in projects under construction but over $250,000 in delayed reimbursements from the Agriculture Department's Rural Energy for American Program, which is funded by the IRA.
"These farmers, laundromat owners, and rural grocery stores took on debt and dipped into their savings, trusting that the grants they were awarded would be paid," Funk said. "Due to Trump's recent executive order, we've advised all clients to pause all future investments as we no longer have confidence that signed contracts will be honored."
EV charging startup SWTCH was awarded over $1 million in federal funding to deploy electric vehicle chargers at multifamily properties in Puerto Rico. Josh Cohen, SWTCH's head of policy, told Business Insider last week that the company received an email from the Energy Department three days after Trump's inauguration saying leadership had "placed a hold" on the project until further notice.
Uncertainty around the future of funding
Cohen said he expects the project to eventually move forward, but the White House orders are creating a lot of uncertainty for small businesses that need government reliability and predictability.
Democrats in Congress also lack clarity about the status of programs at the EPA— one of the main federal agencies implementing the IRA.
On February 6, Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and a handful of other lawmakers protested the spending freeze outside EPA headquarters but were blocked by security from entering the agency.
"We need evidence provided to us that the EPA is complying with the court orders," Markey said.
They demanded a meeting with Administrator Lee Zeldin and any employees with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which has been fanning out across the federal government. Zeldin was in Los Angeles as part of the EPA's response to the wildfires.
Since the IRA was enacted in 2022, companies have announced plans to invest more than $167 billion in factories to build and recycle technologies like solar panels and EV batteries, according to the research firm Atlas Public Policy. Many companies are awarded both federal tax credits and loans and grants.
"There's nothing that hurts our economy more than uncertainty," Bob Keefe, the executive director of E2, a business group that advocates for renewable energy policy, told Business Insider. "And right now, the uncertainty of tax credits and the spending freeze is roiling the economy. It's not making it attractive for companies to invest and expand and hire new workers."
Cows in Nevada have been infected with a strain of H5N1 bird flu different from the strain detected in all other herds to this point in the ongoing dairy outbreak. It's the same strain that killed a Louisiana resident in early January and sent a Canadian teenager to intensive care in early November.
The new Nevada dairy infections were first detected through milk testing conducted on January 31, according to an update Wednesday by the US Department of Agriculture. Whole genome sequencing confirmed the finding of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype D1.1. To this point, all other dairy herds affected by the outbreak have been infected with H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype B3.13.
To date, 957 herds across 16 states have been infected with H5N1 since the outbreak began last March. That tally includes four new herds from Nevada.
