U.S. Department of Interior

Deb Haaland in February 2023.

This week, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced $72 million to aid tribal communities in electrifying their homes on a path toward zero-emissions energy systems. Three of the 21 tribes receiving federal funding are from Arizona.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland made that announcement during a trip to the Hopi Reservation, part of a multiday visit to the Southwest, with stops along the way to the White Mountain Apache Tribe and Pueblo of Zuni in New Mexico. 

The Hopi Utilities Corporation received $4.2 million from the Office of Indian Affairs’ Tribal Electrification Program’s first round of funding through the Inflation Reduction Act. 

More than a tenth of all funding, the amount of $10 million, went to the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, while another $360,000 was disbursed to the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

Collectively, the Navajo, Hopi and San Carlos Apache were allocated more than $14.5 million, or a fifth of all funding from the Tribal Electrification Program made available to 21 tribal communities across Indian Country.