{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Flanigan's Eco-Logic","title":"Chéri Smith -- Tribal Clean Energy Update","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1962,"description":"Chéri Smith heads up the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy. She'd been on the podcast in 2022 explaining the Alliance's operation then. She and Ted discuss the change in presidential administrations and its affect on tribes. While the Alliance is 100% supported by philanthropies, purposefully exempt from the volatility of changing administrations, the tribes that the Alliance supports were heavily impacted, with hundreds of millions lost and projects stranded, retarding the development of clean energy on reservations. \nSince her last Eco-Logic episode, Chéri had a whole department writing grants and structuring projects. In 2024 that team wrote $800 million worth of applications for clean energy. Fully $490 million was awarded to 49 tribes. \"But within four days after the inauguration.. money clawed out bank accounts, literally clawed out.\" She explains that there were no letters, only a \"giant sucking sound.\" Programs were abruptly cancelled such as EPA's Solar for All program that was helping tribes put modest solar systems on homes, in cases providing power for the first time. Tax credits that provided up to 70% of the cost of solar installations, were eliminated.\nThere are 575 recognized tribes in America and another 100+ that are not recognized. Fully 229 tribes are Alaskan native villages. Chéri is of My'kyma descent, a tribe from Northern Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. She makes clear how profound the political changes have been to the tribes. They had begun to develop projects spurred by government funds and backed by third-party finance despite tribes generally being \"allergic to debt.\" \nThe cancellation of many projects, and the loss of tax credits and other support programs, has eroded trust that had been building... the trust necessary to develop large-scale projects that can boost economic development on tribal lands. Chéri explains the impact to the Hopi after the closure of the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station. It had provided lease fees to...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/7kUbICrzk0aEuZffrVBGprBuBqZJlmqp9h-fda_2pHg/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzM1MTQ0LzE3MTE1/NjgzMTctYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}