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A
From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx, this is Reveal. I'm Al Ledsin. It's been over a year now since Donald Trump began his second term. It started with a rush of announcements and executive orders to remake the country in his vision. And the news cycle has been NonStop ever since. ICE raids, mass firings of federal workers, attacks on the press have dominated the headlines. But Trump's policies are also more quietly shaping and dividing communities across the country. Today we're going to three different places to learn how the Trump administration's agenda has changed things, sometimes in unexpected ways. We start in my hometown, Jacksonville, Florida.
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B
All right, Everybody.
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A
It is three o', clock, so we call to order the Tuesday, September 23rd meeting of the Jacksonville City Council. The council is supposed to be approving a new city budget, something that's usually pretty boring. The debate often centers around the basic needs of Jacksonville residents, things like public safety, housing, roads and parks. But the meeting goes a little sideways after council member Rory diamond proposes a new amendment that seems to come out of nowhere. As a conscientious conservative and a pro life city councilman, I want it in.
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B
Our budget as a matter of law.
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That you can't use my money or.
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B
For something I consider murder.
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Dimon wants to prohibit spending money on abortion. He also wants to crack down on immigration and block spending on dei. But the thing is, not one cent of the city's new budget has been allocated towards any of these issues. So fellow Republican council member Matt Carlucci pushes back, wondering why these issues are being brought up. This is serious business. This.
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B
This is not the time to make a political statement.
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A
It's time to balance the budget. That has to do with dollars and cents, not try to make a stand on cultural war stuff. This is a budget, folks. It's worth mentioning what Dimon is calling his proposed amendments. The Big, beautiful budget, an obvious reference to President Trump's big, beautiful bill, and a statement about his priorities as a legislator.
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B
If you don't like it, if it.
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A
Makes you uncomfortable, I'm sorry, but that's what principle looks like. Sometimes it makes you uncomfortable. But the budget is not the only inspiration Dimon has taken from the Trump administration. He's also an outspoken member of the Department of Government Efficiency. Not the one in Washington, but the one in Duval County. Yes, my hometown of Jacksonville has its own Doge. When people think of Doge, they think of Elon Musk and his vow to slash $1 trillion in waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government. Only it didn't come close to Hitting those numbers disbanded months before its year long charter and created a lot of chaos and disruption. Still, 26 states created their own doge style departments. Here's Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaking last. We are creating a state Doge task force that will implement a multi pronged approach to eliminating bureaucratic bloat. And since then, Trinity Webster Bass has been following how this has all played out in Jacksonville for the Tributary a local newsroom where I should mention I am a proud board member. Trinity, how you doing?
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B
I'm doing great, Al. It's a bright, sunny day here in Jacksonville.
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A
It's always bright and sunny in Jacksonville. So seeing that we are both from Jacksonville, or I should say we are both from Duval.
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B
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Go Jags. Go Jags.
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A
Go Jags. I think it's a good idea to just set the stage here. So how would you describe this place, its local politics? Before Doge came to town?
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B
I would describe Jacksonville as a largely purple city. And local politics were for the most part pretty straightforward. City council members have clashed across party lines and sometimes it would get pretty ugly. But recently, what's been playing out in the city is on another level. And now it's even Republicans versus Doge Republicans, or the way that I think of it, old school versus new school. So council meetings in the past typically lasted a few hours and everyone made it home for dinner. But this year's budget meeting, council members and Jack's residents were debating up until 4 in the morning.
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A
Wow.
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B
Yeah. We've watched things change dramatically and, and I think that really started after President Trump took office and created the Department of Government efficiency. And then Governor DeSantis did the same thing for Florida.
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A
Trinity, can you tell me what that actually looked like in practice?
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B
So right away, DeSantis appoints this guy as his right hand man. Former state senator and conservative Republican Blaze n' Golia. And while he doesn't actually have a ton of traditional financial experience, that didn't stop Governor DeSantis from appointing him as the state's chief financial officer. Ingolia established himself in Florida politics as someone who wants to shrink government and stop excessive spending. He even has a super PAC called Government Gone Wild. So Angola became the head of Fortidoj and immediately traveled all across the state making big claims about what he sees as wasteful spending. He went to Orange County.
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So what is the city of Orlando's wasteful and excessive spending number? $22,332,519. Broward county, an extra $190 million in excessive, wasteful spending. And don't tell me he came to Duval.
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B
Yep, that's exactly what he did. So on September 17, just a week before the city council budget meeting, Angolia held a press conference.
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A
The city of Jacksonville is overtaxing and overspending your money to the tune of almost $200 million. Okay, so that's a huge and frankly unbelievable number. I mean, where are these numbers coming from? Have you been able to verify them?
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B
The short answer is no. He usually just has these press conferences during which he holds up these, like, small placards that had the number written on it in big, bold red lettering.
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A
But you're saying that There are no PowerPoints, no graphs, no spreadsheets, Nothing. Just vibes.
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B
Nothing. And I've made multiple requests to Angolia for this data, but I did manage to track him down at a press conference in Winter Park, Trinity, Webster, Bass, with the tributary from Jacksonville, Florida. You claim that nearly $200 million have been. Claim. I know. $200 million have been overspent in Jacksonville, Florida, Duval County. Could you just break down that number for me and just kind of explain.
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A lot of that is.
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B
So let me be clear on this. When we talk about the excessive, wasteful.
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A
Spending, we're talking about the growth of government itself, right? Please don't fall into the trap of what the local politicians are going to say and say, hey, give me a specific line item that you don't like. Right, because that's a shelving.
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B
That is smoke and mirrors.
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A lot of the waste is adding.
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B
Full time employees and growing the government itself.
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A
So what does he mean by that?
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B
What I think Angolia is getting at here is the full life cycle of a city employee. So their yearly salary, pensions, bonuses, benefits, et cetera. And how the cost of employees he believes are unnecessary could inflate a budget. And. But it's really difficult to make that claim in our city without those audits. And if this is mostly about bloat, a majority of the newest government jobs in Jacksonville are the ones Republicans like Angola, say they're fighting to keep. Most of those people who have been added to our city government is actually police and fire.
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A
That's not true. That is 100% not true. That is an absolute 100% fallacy.
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B
But I have the numbers. I. Of the roughly 600 additional city employees hired since 2019, nearly all of those worked in public safety.
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A
I mean, as someone who has grown up in Jacksonville and reported here for many years, it seems impossible to cut $200 million from its budget without doing some serious damage to city services. I mean, that's like nearly 10% of the budget.
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B
Exactly. And even the five council members who make up Duval Doge aren't willing to go that far. They have estimated about $50 million in wasteful spending.
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A
So what does Mayor Deegan have to say about all of this? Because this is her city, and she's the first Democrat to win the seat in about, what, 12 years?
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B
Yeah. So Donna Deegan is a Jacksonville native and the first female mayor in the city's history. She ran on a campaign of affordable housing, accessible healthcare, and improving the city's infrastructure. And she actually has a lot of support, even among Republicans. Mayor Deegan argues her government's budget is quite efficient and says she's trying to cooperate with Angolia, but he's not making it easy. The CFO never would agree to meet with me. I asked to meet several times. His folks said he didn't have time, but he had time for everybody else.
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A
You know, on his side of the.
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B
Aisle, except for me. So when things like that happen, it immediately signals, okay, this is more political than I would like to see. I asked Ngolia about this, too. Mayor Deegan said that she reached out to you and your team, Mayor Deegan. No, I don't. No, I don't. I'm just, you know, from Jacksonville, Florida. Well, if you would, I would be careful, because once you get property tax.
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A
Reform, they might cut your job if you want. What does Eddie hold?
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B
I honestly don't know, because I'm a reporter, not a city employee. Anyway, I tried again, and he gave me an answer.
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A
There's no conversation that I'm going to.
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Be able to have with Mayor Deegan.
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Unless they prove to me that they.
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Are going to stand on the side of taxpayers and against the side of bigger government.
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I don't think it's going to be much of a conversation.
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But the thing is, Forda and Duval Doge can't get anything done. Without Mayor Deegan and her government, Doge has no ability to change laws or budgets. It's simply making recommendations and relying on city and county governments to implement them through things like a budget meeting.
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A
Right. That's why council member Rory diamond proposed that big, beautiful amendment last September.
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B
Correct. And, Al, ironically, those big, beautiful amendments weren't even the biggest thing Dimon was pushing for. He's been a huge advocate of significantly reducing property taxes, something Governor DeSantis has made a priority in the larger fight to shrink government. And the city council did pass this property tax cut, but it was pretty tiny. It'll save homeowners about $20 a year.
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A
$20?
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B
Yeah. So that's why the majority of Jacksonville residents who spoke at that meeting felt it was performative. Ultimately, the City Council didn't slash the budget like Doge wanted. Instead, it passed a record budget of $2.2 billion. But it's important to acknowledge that nearly 70% of the increase over the last year is driven by a salary and pension raise for first responders.
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A
So at this point, it seems like the local Doge effort in Jacksonville didn't amount to much besides politics.
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B
Yeah, and that's actually what Mayor Deegan told me. She believes people like Angolia and Councilmember Dimon are bringing up these federal issues locally just to get the attention of their counterparts in Washington.
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A
Hey, look at me.
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I'm doing what you're doing. Aren't you proud of me? You know, sort of thing.
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Because a lot of these folks have.
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Aspirations for a federal or state office.
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And that's.
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B
That's too bad.
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A
So you've been trying to get ahold of official documents for months now about the so called wasteful spending Angolia keeps talking about. But just as we were getting ready to release this story, Florida Doge shared a report with legislators. So what does it say about Duvall?
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B
The report had a list of budget lines of about $95 million, like money to road projects and city employee overtime. But a lot of it, about a third, was deemed wasteful simply because the recipients support dei. The biggest example of that had to do with police and fire pensions. $30 million of those pensions is managed by a company that supports DEI. So the report lists those $30 million as wasteful spending, and it made recommendations to the legislature. The report suggested that Angolia should have even more power to audit local governments. And. And that city employees should be required by oath to not discriminate to undo what it called the damage done by dei. Whether they act on those recommendations, we'll have to see.
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A
Well, Trinity, thanks so much for talking to me.
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B
Thanks so much for having me.
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Trinity Webster Bass is a reporting fellow at the Tributary in my home city of Jacksonville, Florida. Coming up, how Trump's immigration policy is pitting Republican against Republican in one of the reddest states in the country. You're listening to REVEAL. From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. This is revealing. Hi, I'm Al Edson. This week we're talking about the trickle down effect that the Trump administration's policies are having. At the community level. And next we're going to farm country. Now, during his presidential campaign, Donald Trump boasted that he'd have farmers backs. You vote for me, I'm saving our farmers. Our farmers are gonna do like they did four years ago. They did better than they've ever done. That message lands comfortably in a place like Idaho. It's one of the most ag reliant states in the country. But it also gets at the inherent conflict in Trump's policies. Agriculture relies overwhelmingly on foreign born workers, many of them undocumented. And since Trump took office, authorities claim to have deported more than 600,000 immigrants nationwide. That's in addition to the nearly 2 million the administration says left voluntarily. Reporter Heath Druzen takes us to Idaho, where Trump's immigration policies have triggered a civil war in in the state party. It's harvest time. In the tiny farming town of Roberts, Idaho. There are rolling tilled fields as far as the eye can see. Massive combines comb the dusty soil, racing to keep ahead of the first freeze of the fall. And considering we're in Idaho, you might be able to guess what's coming out of the ground.
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We're probably in the 10 to 15,000 acre ranges of potatoes.
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Okay, and so how does that kind of stack up in Idaho?
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I would say we're one of the larger growers in the state.
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That's Stephanie Mickelson. We're on a dirt road in the middle of Mickelson Farms, the spud operation she and her husband own. Once the combines yank the potatoes from the ground, they take them to giant storage rooms.
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These cellars hold 80,000 to 100,000 sacks of potatoes in them. You stack them 14 to 16ft high, depending upon the cellar and things.
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The potatoes ride a long conveyor belt from the combine to the growing mountain of tubers. Inside the cellar, Stephanie grabs a few to bring home.
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I'm getting me some potatoes. I keep telling my potato farmer husband to bring me home potatoes right now. And the potato farmer's wife could never get the potatoes. Just saying.
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But this story isn't about her potatoes. It's about her workers, who have become pawns in a political game. Almost all of Stephanie's farmhands are from Central America, the kind of workers being targeted by U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. President Donald Trump's immigration policies are red meat for his base. But they're complicating business for farmers, many of whom are fellow conservatives like Stephanie, because she isn't just a potato grower, she's also a Republican state representative. And she was involved in national policy, too, as chair of the American Farm Bureau Labor Committee. But she's increasingly being harmed by her own party's immigration policies. In January of 2025, ICE agents raided her farm. They led away one of her longtime employees in handcuffs and deported him. Stephanie was away from the farm at the time, but she said her son watched it unfold.
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The guy comes out, tears coming down his face, watching him, knowing that he will never come back in this country to ever see his children again. And that's sad.
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Farmers and ranchers are typically a reliable voting block for the Republican Party, especially in Ruby Red Idaho. But Trump's immigration policies are pitting Republicans like Stephanie, who has much more moderate views on immigration, against far right colleagues in the Legislature proudly cheering on ice's raids, including the raid on her own farm. Even before Trump started his second term, there were politicians in the Idaho state legislature calling for a crackdown on undocumented workers. They're estimating over 3 million people coming across the border this year. That is a crime. That's Republican Representative Josh Tanner. In March 2024, Tanner supported a bill that would make it a state crime for undocumented immigrants to enter Idaho and allow local law enforcement to check people's immigration status. Among Idaho's 2 million inhabitants, about 40,000 are undocumented, according to the Migration Policy Instit. If we cannot figure out a way to actually stem the illegal side, I don't know. I don't know what we're doing, because we're now. We're now saying we're just. We're not going to follow laws. After that, Stephanie Mickelson rose from her desk on the House floor and made what ended up being a fateful speech.
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I think you need to remember that every food processor probably in the state, from your small construction companies to your hospitality industries, somewhere in all of those industries that serve you, all of us. So if you guys think that you haven't been touched by an illegal immigrant's hands in some way, you're kidding yourselves. So to take such a stand to beat up and denigrate a population that brings value. I object, Mr. Speaker.
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Yeah, good lady.
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B
I think denigrate and stuff. I don't think that's intentional.
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This bill.
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So no one is denigrating a question. I'll continue on. Yeah, watch it. Come on, guys.
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That's Republican Representative Heather Scott objecting and then telling Stephanie to watch it. She put the House at ease. With tempers flaring, the speaker stops the session. The bill passed to Be clear, Stephanie is no liberal. She's anti abortion, endorsed by the nra, voted to prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion policies in public universities, supported lowering income tax, and voted for several anti trans bills.
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Oh, no. I'm conservative as they come, and I believe in responsible government.
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And in years past, a farmer defending the humanity of farm workers might not have been such a big deal. But in the Trump era, it caught the attention of some far right GOP leaders. That included a guy named Ryan Spoon. He's vice chairman of the GOP in Ada county, home to more than a quarter of the state's population. And he's made it his mission to rid the party of anyone he considers too moderate. Here's Ryan explaining his purge of the county party on a podcast. We can't win on the front lines if we've got people undercutting us behind our back. And so that was when I really got involved. Was late in 2022, and within less than a year, we chased off the rhinos that were running the show. And we now have all conservatives in charge of the local party. Ryan singled out Stephanie as One of those RINOs, Republicans in name only. On the social media site X, he called her a plantation mistress and wrote, quote, we're going to take your farm slaves away from you. And almost as soon as Trump got back in office, Ryan turned his words into action. He reported Mickelson Farms to ICE and bragged about it publicly. That's right. The guy who sicced the feds on Stephanie is a fellow GOP official. Agents took away a worker who had entered legally, but had a three year old arrest for domestic violence and drug possession. His felony possession conviction was dismissed after completing probation. Nonetheless, he was deported to Mexico. For her part, Stephanie says she does not knowingly hire undocumented workers. But she says it's nearly impossible to know if every worker document is authentic. Some on the far right celebrated the raid. Ryan Spoon even got free beer for a month from a local bar. It's all part of a larger push by hardliners to purify the party. Despite all his tough talk online, Ryan wouldn't talk to me for this story. That was true of almost all of Stephanie Mickelson's most vocal detractors.
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B
Hi, you've reached Glenita Cider Bell. You have reached the office of Senator Bryan.
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A
You've reached Moon and Associates. The person you're trying to reach is not.
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B
Please leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you very much.
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Senator Brian Lenny, Senator Glynita Zeiderveld, conservative activist Matt Edwards, and Idaho GOP chairwoman Dorothy Moon. They've all sharply criticized Stephanie online, but wouldn't talk to me. There was one person who agreed to talk, the bar owner who gave Ryan Spoon free beer for a month for calling ice. My name is Mark Fitzpatrick. I'm the owner of Old State Saloon here in Eagle, Idaho, in the old Orville Jackson building. Mark thinks the raid on Stephanie's farm wasn't enough. He would like to see the state open an investigation into Stephanie and her employment of an immigrant worker with a criminal record. We have a fair amount of people who misrepresent who they are, and my hope is that we are entering a period of time where these people will.
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Be exposed for who they are and they will not be re elected.
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Mark's bar has become a gathering place for prominent far right figures from around the state since it opened in 2023. Regulars there include state legislators, activists, white supremacist podcasters, even nationally known conspiracy theorist Ian Carroll. We have presenters come in that present on different topics and those topics could be controversial topics. We've had some that are on the 911 conspiracy and what happened there. We've had some on the Epstein Files. But immigration is Mark's driving issue. He offers free beer to anyone who gets an undocumented immigrant deported. He even dubbed December Merry Snitchmas. Basically every Monday during Snitchmas is Manly American Mondays. All American Sunday citizen males who support ICE get one free beer for simply walking in Old State Saloon on Monday. On a Tuesday, we meet Danielle J O at the bar for an ICE themed Ladies night. Danielle has this pitch for why she should get a free beer.
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Well, I haven't done anything personally to get someone deported, but I would tell them that I am in support of ICE and what they're doing and that I think it's imperative that people that are in this country illegally should get deported or should go back and get the opportunity to come in the right way.
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Mark says he does these promotions because he sees illegal immigration as an existential threat. We now have essentially allowed to enter our country army of military age males that hate the United States of America. He offers no evidence for this supposed army, but there is evidence Trump's immigration crackdown is affecting more than just farmers and politicians. An August report showed ICE arrests were up nearly 800% in Idaho over the year before. That's from a cell phone video of an Oct. 19 raid on a horse track in Wilder, a town in the western part of the state. FBI and ICE agents, along with local police, detained men, women and children, immigrants and citizens alike. Many were there with their families for a weekend get together. In the end, ICE took away more than 100 people suspected of being undocumented. It sent a chill through a heavily Latino part of Idaho.
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You know, folks that are undocumented are, are afraid. You know, we've seen a widespread fear within our communities. Folks are hesitant to leave their home.
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Estefania Mondragon leads an immigrant advocacy group called PODER in Nampa, Idaho.
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B
The effects of that raid are still being felt. The other Los Muertos happened right after that raid and there was a lot less events going on for that. So even it affected our ability to celebrate our own culture. In Wilder school district specifically, there was a lot of kids missing school because of the raid, as well as in Napa and Caldwell.
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And as someone who moved to Idaho as a young child, Estefania says she's seen anti immigrant policies change. The way people treat her.
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B
Coming from a state like California, having people wave to you, that was like new to us. And just the nices of people here in Nampa and just close knit community that it was in, even schools readily felt welcomed. But yes, just overall I've seen that those Idaho values have become more and more scarce. Less people abide by that. I'm seeing just people being hateful.
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Stephanie Mickelson sees that change in her community too. And she says it's mostly people who don't have much contact with immigrant workers and their families.
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B
Immigrants aren't messing up the fabric of America. We're all immigrants. And when you see what they value and how they're willing to give their heart and souls to help you make a living, your appreciation and your understanding for an immigrant workforce completely changes versus somebody who has never had to really interact or deal with an immigrant workforce.
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Right now, in the middle of winter, there's less work to be done around the farm. But Stephanie worries ICE raids will make it hard to find workers come spring.
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Even though they are legal and whatever. If they get word that there's ICE agents out and about, then you'll have people that won't come for days on end to work.
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A
You don't have to raid a farm.
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To destroy its labor force.
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Daniel Sumner is an agricultural economist at UC Davis. You raid a farm 300 miles away.
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B
In the Central Valley of California and.
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A
That news spreads like wildfires. And the next day, my farm 300.
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B
Miles north, nobody shows up to work that day.
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And that's just Trump's immigration policies. Daniels farmers are also dealing with his tariffs, which Trump changes without warning. That's raised the cost of equipment and closed off some foreign markets.
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B
It's a tough business with lots of.
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A
Uncertainty and this is just one more thing on top of it that can screw you up when you do think you're going to do okay. And they really can't be secure when.
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B
You policy is shifting around like it is.
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Red states were some of the hardest hit. Agriliant, Iowa and Nebraska saw their gross domestic product shrink by more than 6% in the first quarter of 2025. Idaho is bracing for a similar fallout. And not just potato farmers. If you're going to try and expand.
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B
Your numbers of your cowherd, I don't.
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See people being willing to do that.
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Now because it is so uncertain.
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And yet when you have mouths to.
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Feed, literally on the hoof mouths to.
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Feed, you don't get to just ditch them. That's Jennifer Ellis, a rancher and the former head of the Idaho Cattle Association. She says across Ag people are hesitant to invest in a future that's so unpredictable. Until recently, Jennifer was a lifelong Republican. She now runs Take Back Idaho, an independent political organization trying to combat extremism in the state of she says Idaho Republicans used to have respect for agriculture and remembers when she saw that start to change.
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Well, in 2018, I saw this really weird thing happen at the GOP convention of which I was a delegate. Lady stood up and said that in her mind, agriculture in Idaho was tantamount.
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To organized crime and the politics have only gotten more extreme. Jennifer says incidents like the raid on Mickelson Farms, one Republican official targeting the livelihood of another, have a chilling effect on recruiting qualified people to run for political office. And as someone who has cultivated candidates for years in this state, the number.
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B
One thing that people are telling me is there is no way in hell I will subject my myself or my family to that.
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Back at Mickelson Farms, Stephanie says the raid on her operation made her re evaluate her decision to be in public.
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Life for many, many weeks. Especially during the last session. I really struggled. Do I continue to stay in the legislature and say nothing? Or do I finally find my voice and just have to be consistent with it and and try to mitigate whatever damage they can continue to try and cause.
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Ultimately, though, she decided she's not backing down. She'll face a GOP challenge from her right in the May primary.
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Somebody has to be willing to stand up and say we gotta fix a problem and I think that's kind of where we've always been as a family, as a business, that we're one of those people that are groups that, you know, we recognize there's a problem, it needs to be fixed. Let's sit down, roll up our sleeves and find some common ground and get it fixed.
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Whether or not she can find that common ground in an increasingly polarized landscape is an open question. That story was from Heath Druzen, a reporter based in Boise, Idaho. Up next, the Trump administration abruptly pulled funding for a program to bring solar power to native communities. Now tribes are scrambling to make up the difference. Each administration is going to be different. Sometimes it may not suit us, but we just got to do what we got to do. You're listening to REVEAL. From the center for Investigative reporting and PRX. This is Reveal. I'm Al Letson. On April 22, 2024, Earth Day, Joe Biden announced a program to bring solar energy to low income households across the.
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U.S. today, the Environmental Protection Agency will invest $7 billion from our inflation reduction act and a new program called Solar for All.
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The program awarded grants to states, cities, tribal governments and nonprofits to develop solar projects in disadvantaged communities to create jobs, reduce pollution and cut soaring energy costs.
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Millions of families will save over $350 million nationwide.
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The grants went out the door. People were hired and solar panels had started to go up. But In August of 2025, the Trump administration announced it was ending solar for all and instead be boosting investments in fossil fuels. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin denounced the program as a boondoggle with clear language and intent from Congress. In the one big beautiful bill, EPA's.
- [34:14]
B
Taking action to end this program for good.
- [34:17]
A
Eliminating solar for all was a blow to rural communities across the country, but it was especially disappointing for Native American tribes, which for decades have been trying to bring down the cost of electricity and become more energy. Independent reporter Elana Neumann from the Daily Yonder, a non profit newsroom that covers rural America, traveled to the Rocky Boys Reservation in northern Montana, where some of the very first panels were installed under Solar for All. She wanted to see how gutting the program affected the local tribe, the Chippewa Cree.
- [34:56]
B
I drove here through winding valleys and over grassy hills, and now I'm in a small neighborhood. Smells like smoke from someone's wood stove or a fire pit. The sun's out. It's pretty warm for the end of November. I'm here with Joseph Eagleman. He's in charge of the Chippewa Cree's energy program. Which implemented solar for all here on the reservation.
- [35:20]
A
Usually most of us call these villages. This one's called Queensville. I'd say there's probably about 30 homes over here in the city. Yeah, roughly. And we're looking south.
- [35:31]
B
That other voice is Zane Pitaxel. He lives nearby. And Joseph hired him to help install a solar array that we're walking up to. It's at the home of a local elder.
- [35:41]
A
Prime spot. There's no trees blocking, so she gets as much benefit as she can can with a fixed system.
- [35:48]
B
So we got 20 solar panels and.
- [35:50]
A
Then there's two batteries on the side of the house.
- [35:54]
B
Getting solar panels like these is a big deal. This home is all electric, as are many others here. Rural areas like this often pay more for electricity Simply due to economies of scale. Houses are further apart, and the infrastructure that's needed to reach each home just costs more to build and maintain. Rural electric co ops are also less likely to have energy efficiency or weatherization programs. So energy bills can run as high as $800 a month, which is a lot for a community with a significant number of people living below the poverty line.
- [36:29]
A
There's people that have multiple families in a single home that have higher energy needs and costs. And with the local power provider increasing rates just recently, it's unfortunate.
- [36:42]
B
Solar for all could have changed that. For a lot of families who otherwise could not afford to invest in solar, it would be life changing for them to see their energy bills plummet or even disappear after receiving free solar panels. Through this program. Here in the northern plains, a coalition of 14 tribes was allocated $135 million. Joseph says the Chippewa Cree's share of that money, 7.6 million, would have built close to 200 solar arrays on the reservation. A number of families were waiting in line, but the only panels that were completed before the funding was cut are the ones we're standing next to. Tell me what it felt like when it was announced that the solar for all grant was cut.
- [37:28]
A
It was terrible. We were getting ready to roll.
- [37:30]
B
We were really excited.
- [37:32]
A
I think especially with us being able to show the community what was coming. And it just kind of. It's like a gut punch, really, to help 192 homes.
- [37:43]
B
That's a tremendous help.
- [37:46]
A
And being energy independent is what we are striving for. You know, that sovereignty that our people.
- [37:54]
B
Talk about is important. Important to us. That word sovereignty came up a lot in my conversations. Tribal sovereignty is not only about protecting culture and traditions. It's about self sufficiency and It's a legal status protected by the US Constitution. More than a century ago, tribes signed treaties giving up the right to their traditional homelands in exchange for the right to self govern. But that's easier said than done. Without the resources to support true independence, which have been systemically removed by the US government, Native Americans are more food insecure and rely on Medicaid at higher rates than their white counterparts. They also often have higher expenses for things including electricity. For Zain, the solar program was a step towards self sufficiency and a return to traditional values. Coming from our people, you know, the.
- [38:49]
A
Sun is part of our way of life.
- [38:54]
B
Energy sovereignty really means not to have to outsource. My name is Cody2Bears. I'm an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, founder and CEO of Indigenized Energy. Indigenized Energy is the nonprofit behind the solar panels that I visited on the Rocky Boys Reservation. Until last August, it was working with the Coalition of 14 Tribes to implement Solar for All. My ultimate goal is to work myself out of a job. I want to build so much capacity into these tribes where they don't need indigenized energy. Cody says the idea for Indigenized energy came from his experiences in 2016 during the protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline. Come on guys, we gotta stop this. Why are we standing and watching? The movement opposing the pipeline brought thousands of people to the Standing Rock Reservation, fighting to protect clean water. They're chanting mini Wichoni, which means water is life. At the time of the protests, Cody was on the tribal council for the Standing Rock Sioux. Although the pipeline was built, the whole situation got Cody thinking about the legacy of extraction on Native land. The more history I actually dug, dug up around energy. This wasn't the only time our people were affected, but our people have been affected many generations before me. Cody's right. There's a long history of energy extraction on reservations without many benefits flowing to tribal members. So you can have people living very close to things like oil or natural gas wells who get no relief to their energy bills. And energy extraction often contaminates the nearby water and soil. This history is what inspired Indigenized Energy. We wanted the tribes to be self determined in an energy way that energy independence has always been the goal. Indigenized Energy was installing solar panels on reservations like the Northern Cheyenne, long before Solar for All began. So when the program was announced, it was a natural partnership. Indigenized Energy was one of the first to get panels installed with solar for all funding. Cody had no reason to think the progress would stop with Donald Trump. Like many presidents before him, Trump talks a lot about energy independence. So the cuts took Cody by surprise. With the way that this administration has done that was really unacceptable and really was harmful to a lot of not just tribal people that were looking forward.
- [41:34]
A
To something that was promised to us.
- [41:36]
B
And that was given to us, that was just taken away from us. That sense of betrayal isn't new to Native communities, but the cuts still disappointed many who hope for relief from high energy bills. Thomasine Wooden Legs lives on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in southeastern Montana. I've worked for the tribe my entire.
- [41:56]
A
Life, since I was 14 years old.
- [41:59]
B
And I've always survived on my own, been a single parent most of my life. And there's no retirement with the tribe. We just have to rely on our Social Security.
- [42:12]
A
And I'm afraid that's not going to.
- [42:14]
B
Cover my heating costs. What do you expect your Social Security to be? I'm thinking about maybe 2,200, maybe 24.
- [42:24]
A
And what worries me about this house is every winter my electricity bill ranges.
- [42:31]
B
Anywhere from 400 to 500amonth. In her modest house, Thomasine takes care of her two grandkids. She worries about leaving her family saddled with high energy costs when she passes down her property. Thomasine applied for solar panels multiple times through different grant programs, but is still waiting.
- [42:52]
A
And then recently I heard that they weren't going to get funded and I was really, really disappointed because I was.
- [43:01]
B
Really looking forward to that. I asked the EPA why they cut a program that was already proving itself useful to low income people. They declined an interview, but responded to a few written questions saying, quote, the previous administration was more focused on throwing money out the door than spending hard earned American taxpayer dollars with integrity. The Solar for All program was operating with layers and layers of pass throughs, each taking their own cut of the money. It's true that there were pass throughs in the program, but that's the way that grants like this often work because local recipients don't always have capacity to apply for and administer a program this large. But they usually know what communities need. Most tribes were supposed to get $7.6 million each, leaving about 30 million for organizations like Indigenized Energy to hire people and run the program. But that all went away when Solar for All was defunded. Cody told me that Indigenized Energy laid off around half their staff. One of those people was Danika Brady, the coordinator for the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Danika is so busy with two jobs and her kids, the only time we could meet was at her House at 9 o' clock at night. How are you? I'm all right. How was the. What was tonight? When I get there, I realize she's still multitasking when she hands me a kitchen knife and asks if I want to help her skin a deer. Look at that guy. This is your turn. So we're cutting. Just cut straight down.
- [44:40]
A
A little bit.
- [44:40]
B
Meatier and then just go straight down. As we work on the deer, we talk about how frustrated she is. Not even about losing her job, but about the lost opportunity for her tribe. The Northern Cheyenne have very few jobs that aren't working directly with the tribal or federal government or in energy, like the local coal, coal plant. The community desperately needs economic development, the opportunity to get solar, the opportunity for jobs, training, you know, things like that. I still want to help, still want to help, you know, I want to see more jobs, more opportunities. Danika tells me that solar for all would have created at least five jobs on each of the 14 reservations. That might not sound like a lot, but in a place like this, hours away from the closest city, well, paying jobs with training are a big deal. When the opportunity came up to work and help us get something established, it was huge. People call it progress, but I see it as like going back to what we were taught, but in a new way. By now, the skin is off the deer and Danika's carving out the back straps. A tender cut of meat right on the spine. She's going to give it to her auntie. Oh, yeah, that is a pretty piece of meat. You can feel it. There is some hope the Solar for All program could be restarted. Four different lawsuits have been filed in federal court against the Trump administration for ending the program.
- [46:25]
A
Colorado is now joining more than 20 states in suing the Trump administration over.
- [46:29]
B
The cancellation of the law. The lawsuits claim that taking away already obligated funds is illegal and terminating the grant program goes against the contract signed when the program was begun.
- [46:39]
A
Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser says EPA.
- [46:42]
B
Grants can only be taken back for fraud or waste. All of the lawsuits are still active. One from Climate United will move into oral arguments in February. Another from a coalition of 22 states, is seeking an injunction to keep the solar for all funds available. Back on the reservations, electricity costs continue to rise without much hope of relief. Hill Country Electric Co Op provides electricity for the Chippewa Cree tribe. They raised their rates in 2024 and will raise them again this year. This is happening for a lot of reasons, including inflation. But they also blamed lost Revenue because of Solar for All. Even though the program was ending, Joseph Eagleman with the Chippewa Cree says that's all the more reason to push for new funding to restart the tribal solar program and build solar panels across Indian country.
- [47:35]
A
We're still looking other avenues. We're not just giving up, so just gotta look somewhere else.
- [47:40]
B
Tell me more about what. What are you thinking about moving forward.
- [47:43]
A
Looking not just that federal grants, but more philanthropy type.
- [47:51]
B
How much money do you need to do those 200 homes?
- [47:54]
A
The Chippewa Cree tribe share of the award was around 7.6 million. We take it as it comes. Each administration's gonna be different sometimes. It may not suit us, but we just gotta do what we gotta do.
- [48:09]
B
Cody Two Bears feel similarly. Even after losing half its staff, solar projects continue at indigenized energy. It's just going to take longer than expected without the $135 million from solar for All. In fact, Cody says they've secured private funding and are ready to break ground on a project in Wisconsin on the Menominee Reservation. It was next in line when Solar for All was cut. This would be the third one that we're deploying through Menominee. We also just got some funding that are approved for the Rosebud Sioux tribe. So even though the money is not there, we're still finding alternative resources and funding to make these possible and make them feasible. Part of tribal sovereignty is being able to fix your own problems. Almost everyone I spoke with echoed this sentiment. They said being sovereign means not waiting around to be taken care of by the federal government. It's about getting things done when they need to be done.
- [49:10]
A
Alana Newman is a reporter for the Daily Yonder. This week's show was produced by Michael Montgomery, Nadia Hamdan and Heath Druzen. Taki Telenides edited the show. Thanks to Jan Patolski and Joel Cohen from the Daily Yonder, Nate Monroe and Deidre Connor from the tributary in Jacksonville and Murphy Woodhouse from Boise State Public Radio. Special thanks to the Knight Local Journalism Fund for supporting the report. Reporting for this hour, Kate Howard was the executive producer for this episode. Artist Cheriscus is our fact checker. Victoria Baranetsky is our general counsel. Our production manager is the great Zula Macabre. Score and sound design by the dynamic duo Jay Breezy, Mr. Jim Briggs and Fernando My Man Yo Arruda. Our executive producer is Bret Myers. Our theme music is by Camerado Lightning. Support for reveals provided by the Riva and David Logan Foundation. The John D. And Catherine T. Macarthur foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, the park foundation, the Schmidt Family foundation, and the Hellman Foundation. Support for Reveal is also provided by you, our listeners. We are a co production of the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. I'm Al Edson and remember, there is always more to the story. From prx.