Wind and solar can be faster and cheaper options in small Alaska Native communities. President Trump wants the Office of Indian Energy to quit funding them.
Renewable energy provides a sizable share of power in some rural Alaska communities. But these are tough times to seek federal funding for wind and solar.
Denali Commission programs director Jocelyn Fenton emphasized fossil fuel last week when she spoke to a U.S. Senate panel about the energy needs in rural Alaska.
“Life in these villages depends on a fragile but vital infrastructure system: small diesel powerhouses, bulk fuel tank farms and water treatment systems,” she testified Wednesday at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.
President Trump has paused or defunded renewable energy projects across the country, including in rural Alaska. His 2026 budget would reduce funding for the Office of Indian Energy while disallowing any of it for wind, solar or battery projects.
Fenton didn’t mention wind or solar in her written testimony but said the office has, in the past, provided crucial technical assistance and grants for innovative energy projects.
“The office has supported dozens of Alaska tribes in developing diesel hybrid systems with the integration and investigation of additional resources such as hydropower and geothermal,” she said. “These projects are often small in scale, but for communities of a few 100 residents, they mean the difference between barely keeping the lights on and moving towards resilience.”
The hearing was entitled “Unleashing Indian Energy.” That’s a twist on President Trump’s executive orders that call for unleashing American and Alaska’s energy. For participants in the hearing, the nuanced message is that renewables should be unleashed, too.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who chairs the committee, said government programs shouldn’t favor one energy source over another.
“The projects that we can get online quickest — and quite honestly, cheapest — right now are wind and solar,” she said. “And we do have several of these that are in that pause category, along with some battery storage.”
The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, said his information is that the Office of Indian Energy is still sitting on about $30 million — nearly half of the funds Congress appropriated for this fiscal year. The year ends in a few weeks, though funds can sometimes be held over from one budget cycle to the next.
The acting head of the office, David Conrad, said he’s not discriminating against renewables with that money, just waiting for word from higher-ups in the administration that he has approval to spend it.
