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- By Chez Oxendine
- Energy | Environment
Federal funding that has powered unprecedented broadband and clean energy development across Indian Country faces an uncertain future following Donald Trump’s election victory this week.
President-elect Trump’s full-throated promise to support fossil fuels and his pledge to stop renewable energy projects on “day one” of his presidency has tribal leaders and Native-serving organizations assessing alternatives to sustain projects launched under President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Some have begun looking to philanthropy, private investors, and other tribes to close potential gaps in project funding.
Several tribal leaders and Native-serving nonprofits contacted by Tribal Business News acknowledged concerns but declined to discuss them on the record, saying they “didn’t want to talk about politics” or that it was too early to predict potential impacts on their projects.
However, tribal broadband and Indian Country energy experts offered perspective on both potential challenges and solutions on the horizon. The stakes are particularly high for Native communities, where BIL and IRA funding has been crucial for broadband and clean energy development. Matthew Rantanen, director of technology at the Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association, worries about the future of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, while Cheri Smith, CEO of the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, believes Indian Country’s renewable transition will persist despite new challenges.
The change in administration “may slow the transition, but it won’t stop it,” Smith told Tribal Business News. “We’re nervous about it — the rhetoric has been so toxic — but we believe the vital progress we’ve made in the last four years will hold.”
Navigating Forward
Smith points to several factors that could preserve existing initiatives. Any attempts to repeal laws like the IRA would take time, she explained. The IRA allocated billions directly to clean energy and created a “game-changing” tax incentives program for renewable projects.
Even if President-elect Trump pushes to repeal the law, that would take filibuster-proof majorities in both chambers of Congress - which Smith considers unlikely. She estimates the IRA and other energy-supporting bills would involve legislative snarls that would stretch longer than the administration’s four-year timeframe.
Pilar Thomas, a tribal energy and environmental law expert at Quarles & Brady LLP, said questions remained around control of the House of Representatives. A Democrat-controlled House would split Congress, likely stifling major repeal efforts.
However, a repeal, if successful, could redirect or rescind much of the money supporting tribal energy projects.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in particular has another couple of years of funding built into it,” Thomas said. “There's always a chance that funding will be taken back, so that could end up having an impact on a lot of programs tribes have been accessing to pay for clean energy projects. We just don’t know yet.”
Looking beyond federal support, Smith hopes a Trump administration sees the economic benefits already created by the beginning edge of a clean energy transition. She pointed to workforce development, lowered electric costs, and potential revenues from energy projects already in progress.
The benefits of the clean energy boom in Indian Country extend beyond tribal communities, Smith said. “The fact is, it’s good for everybody.”
Broadband Concerns Mount
Tribal broadband likely faces a more uncertain future. Tribes received $3 billion in direct funding between the BIL and IRA over the past four years, supporting high-speed Internet access, telehealth, distance learning, affordability, and digital inclusion initiatives across tribal lands. Rantanen sees trouble ahead.
Concerns are mounting about the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, which issued the funding amid demand that far outstripped supply. The outlook could also worsen at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where an anticipated swap to Republican-led policies may pull support away from plans for tribally-owned wireless spectrum — a critical resource for rural reservations where last-mile fiber isn’t feasible.
Another risk, according to Rantanen, is that private investors begin buying up small tribal networks that can’t be sustained on revenue, aggregating communities to make a business model work — a move that would undermine tribal data sovereignty.
Instead of private investors, Rantanen hopes that philanthropic and intertribal support can keep tribal broadband projects under Native control. His vision includes larger tribes with existing network utilities stepping in to support small tribal networks, creating revenue shares that maintain Indigenous control over connectivity.
Foundations tend to step up when federal support decreases, Rantanen said - but intertribal support would be even better. “It would be really cool if tribes were the ones that stepped in with other tribes and helped them manage networks that were maybe too small for a community network, and then made them part of a bigger network, because I would love to see in the next five to 10 years.”
Finding Alternative Paths
In the energy sector, Thomas said private companies might become crucial allies for tribal solar projects. She points to the way private companies have taken a larger role in tribal renewable energy projects amid the rush of federal funding, crossing long standing barriers between tribal and private partners.
If this trend continues - with private industry filling potential funding gaps - the energy transition may proceed at pace, Thomas said.
“I think the transition may or may not slow down,” energy attorney Thomas said. “Last time Trump became president, corporate America and many state and local governments stepped in, created the ‘We're still in’ campaign saying they would still abide by the Paris Accords, which Trump took us out of.”
Tribes could see similar private-sector support sustain a clean energy market for tribal projects, she said.
Trump’s potential nominations for the Departments of Interior and Agriculture, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, will also play a part in how Indian Country fares under his administration, Thomas said. During Trump’s first presidency, many tribes were “sidelined” or ignored, with little or no efforts to consult or collaborate with Native communities.
That changed significantly over the last four years. Biden’s early 2021 memorandum made tribal consultation a cornerstone of federal policy. Thomas notes that while this engagement could continue at agencies like USDA, DOI, and the EPA, much depends on Trump’s appointments.
“Personnel is policy, they like to say,” Thomas said. “Those agencies have come a long way in expanding their footprint in Indian Country, and bringing tribes into their programs … in a government-to-government way.”
While the Trump administration will emphasize oil-and-gas, it doesn’t mean the rest goes away, but it will be challenging, Thomas said.
Looking ahead, Smith said it would be important for organizations like the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy to support tribes who may face funding gaps or complications for ongoing projects.
The Alliance has already taken concrete steps, launching a $100 million Indigenous Power & Light Fund for Energy Sovereignty in partnership with major philanthropic foundations. The fund will help tribes cover crucial predevelopment costs like feasibility studies and environmental reviews — expenses that often prevent smaller tribes from accessing federal grant funding.
The Native CDFI Network (NCN), which oversees a network of 63 Community Lenders, offered similar reassurance about continuing their clean energy initiatives. NCN CEO Pete Upton noted that the Environmental Protection Agency has already allocated and largely distributed their $400 million Clean Communities Investment Accelerator program funding. "While many are concerned, there is no panic; we are accustomed to facing uphill battles," Upton said in a message to NCN’s members and collaborators. "Native Americans are survivors, and we understand what lies ahead in the coming days and months—challenges that are nothing new to Indian Country, given our history."
Brian Edwards provided additional reporting.
