A Furlough, An Executive Order, and the Future

This week we are regrettably having to furlough all employees, but we are not closing our doors.

On January 20th, Donald Trump signed the "Unleashing American Energy" executive order, pausing all Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) & Infrastructure Bill disbursements for at least 90 days. It could be longer. No one knows.

ZEN helps, through a competitively awarded contract with the USDA, rural Americans — especially farmers and small business owners — save money on energy, reinvesting in their communities through equipment upgrades and new technologies. ZEN has won a total of 67 Rural Energy for American Program (REAP) grants in 15 months, worth $3.7M, funding $10M in projects that will save a total of $20M for farmers, communities and rural small businesses.

These investments include things like new shop doors and insulation, hydro projects, solar projects to offset the cost of irrigation, more efficient pizza ovens, high-efficiency washing machines, heat pumps, and agricultural spray drones. We prioritize made-in-America equipment and directly help the everyday average American put money back into their pocket. We believe these projects do, in fact, “unleash American energy” and support the president’s agenda, but unfortunately, they are now on the chopping block.

Right now, our farmers and clients have $1.9M in projects under construction and over $250,000 in delayed reimbursements due to the president’s executive order. 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. 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.

Every project we develop unleashes American energy that the President and this administration so desires, while managing future risk and energy costs for local businesses. By freezing the funds and delaying these projects, the Trump Administration is sabotaging the very goals they want to accomplish, and in turn, hurting American farmers and rural businesses.

We submitted invoices to the USDA before Trump took office for work completed in Q4 2024 and received details that this executive order is preventing our payment. Many businesses that have not yet applied for a recent payment may not realize their funding is frozen, and shutting down the IRA and infrastructure bill payments will damage more than just rural energy grants. More furloughs and layoffs will follow as purchase orders are canceled, delayed, and forgotten. Consider us the canary in the coal mine.

I run my business on honesty, transparency and trust, three reasons why we've been so successful and have hired great talent. "A man is only as good as his word" is the reality that we choose to live by, and we are proud of the referrals we’ve received. We simply ask this administration to keep theirs.

Thank you,

David

Zero Emissions Northwest