It is a common sight for tribal nations alike to host conferences with dinners and tours of ambitious new projects. But for David Harper, a member of the Colorado River Indian Tribe and CEO of the newly created tribal energy financing organization Hoolab, a recent gathering felt different. Last week at the Bluewater Resort and Casino on the Colorado River Indian Tribal Reservation in western Arizona, Mr. Hoolaf met with tribal leaders, investors and farmers to launch the tribe’s first agricultural power project, a project that will allow crops to be grown under solar panels.
This project represents important progress for the Tribe and the broader Tribal clean energy environment, coming after a devastating blow to federal support. Last October, the passage of President Donald Trump’s tax bill, known colloquially as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” stripped tribes of about $1.5 billion in federal funding earmarked for renewable energy and climate resiliency projects.
“Were we surprised by the clawback? No, they’ve done it before,” said Harper of Hoolaf. “Did they break our treaty promises? Yes, of course. Does it make us immobile and unable to survive? No, it means it helps us, it allows us to create a better path for ourselves.”
About 1,600 projects by tribal governments and Native American organizations have lost some or all of their federal funding, forcing tribes to get creative. To keep clean energy projects afloat, tribes are turning to philanthropy, low-interest loans and nonprofit organizations to bridge the huge funding gap.
The Biden administration-era Inflation Control Act of 2022 represented historic investments in tribes and renewable energy, but experts and tribal leaders felt it still didn’t go far enough to address historic inequalities in Indian Country. “A one-time injection of cash is not enough, given the role the federal government itself has played in creating these investment needs through land theft, disinvestment, (and) cultural destruction in Indian Country,” said Robert Maxim, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and a Brookings fellow who recently co-authored a report on the impact of the One Big Beautiful Building Act. Mr. Maxim emphasized that federal funding for Indian Country is a fundamental part of trust and treaty obligations.
“A clean environment, enough energy to power our homes, a basic investment in electricity, and the ability to do all of this without higher levels of pollution and environmental degradation than the entire U.S. population are all keys to trust and treaty relationships,” Maxim said.
Nonprofit organizations like the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy are stepping in to fill this void. Through the Indigenous Power and Light Fund, supported by philanthropic partners such as the MacArthur Foundation, the Alliance is serving as a critical lifeline. Hoolaf will also take on a leadership role, leveraging the expertise he gained through his participation in the first cohort of the Growing Agrivoltaics through Resilience and Innovation program, run by the Rocky Mountain National Laboratory and the Farmland Trust, a conservation-focused agriculture nonprofit.
Commercial lenders are difficult to find across tribal nations, but Community Financial Development Institutions, known as CFDIs, aim to fill that gap by providing funding to Native-led organizations and tribes seeking renewable energy investments on tribal lands.
A recent survey found that financial barriers are exacerbating existing energy inequalities, with more than half of Indigenous-run CFDIs, financial institutions that provide financing to underserved populations, citing lack of funding as one of their biggest challenges. The Department of Energy’s 2023 report found that tribal households face an energy burden that is 28% higher than the national average. For example, the Hopi and Navajo tribes of the Southwest have the highest rates of unelectrified housing and often rely on coal or propane for heat. Many tribes lack reliable power lines, making them vulnerable to extreme weather events such as flooding and wildfires caused by climate change.
Despite these obstacles, indigenous communities are moving forward by reaching out to sustainable investors to achieve energy independence and lower utility bills. For example, on Hawaii’s Molokai Island, Native Hawaiians are leveraging profitable renewable energy projects to reduce exorbitant utility bills while simultaneously advancing land development efforts. “They’re saying they can get investors to invest in their land development projects,” said Kyle White, a Potawatomi Nation and professor at the University of Michigan who specializes in environmental justice. “One of the ways they can succeed in governing the land is through profitable renewable energy projects that reduce people’s utility bills.”
But some tribes have turned away from solar and wind power altogether, choosing instead to pursue aggressive federal subsidies in line with the Trump administration’s policy of expanding domestic energy. This includes leveraging approximately $172 million in Department of Energy geothermal funding and seeking transmission upgrades backed by $1.6 billion in federal loan guarantees.
At the end of the day, advancing clean energy is about self-determination and resilience. David Harper of Hoolab said: “We don’t trust the federal government, but we need to work with them to understand that we have to continue the process of survival and self-reliance.”
