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CLIMATEWIRE | ON NAVAJO LAND, Arizona — It was a solar panel array that finally gave Norma Toledo a place to call home.

For nights at a time this year, Toledo slept outside a Walmart in the cab of her Toyota Tacoma. But on one milestone day last month, as temperatures dipped below freezing, Toledo found herself in a warm RV that — for the first time — had access to electricity.

Her new solar power hookup was made possible by two of the biggest measures of the Biden administration: the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law. Its installation is part of a more than $200 million effort to build out clean energy resources on tribal lands, including the Navajo reservation where Toledo lives.

“I’m out of this world right now. It’s like I finally got a homestead — I’m a homesteader,” said Toledo, 65, with a grin. “I didn’t think I’d ever get this far, but I kept trying, you know, I just kept trying and trying.”

Her time without electricity is a common experience on the Navajo reservation. About 17,000 homes on tribal lands nationally don’t have energy access. Most of them — about 15,000 — are on Navajo lands or the Hopi reservation contained within its borders.

The lack of electricity means tens of thousands of people must figure out a way to live without an amenity many Americans take for granted.

Food is stored in coolers that have to be continually stocked with ice. Diesel generators must run 24 hours a day to power refrigerators that store life-saving medication. Kerosene lanterns keep the lights on at night. Fuel runs can take an hour or more to reach a gas station.

The Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law are designed to change that. But electrifying tribal homes with solar power could come to a halt if former President Donald Trump is reelected. The Republican presidential nominee has called the laws a “Green New Scam” and pledged to gut them.

“I will immediately terminate the green new scam, that will be such an honor, the greatest scam in the history of any country,” Trump said at a rally in New Mexico on Thursday.

The Trump campaign did not respond to questions from POLITICO’s E&E News on whether he would continue the Biden administration’s push to bring more power to tribal lands if he defeats Vice President Kamala Harris this week and wins back the White House.

In the three months since Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, she has said very little about the Inflation Reduction Act. Nor has she introduced any new initiatives to address global warming. But Harris is broadly expected to continue the climate policies put in place during the Biden administration.

“When we invest in climate, we also invest in families, in communities, in opportunity and prosperity for all people,” Harris said in a video she posted to X on Saturday. “When we invest in climate, we invest in America.”

The federal money for tribal energy projects, estimated at more than $200 million, represents a tiny fraction of the $1.6 trillion in climate and infrastructure spending that was passed into law under Biden.

Even so, supporters say the initiative can be a life-changing experience for the people it connects to the grid. And it can be a boon for local businesses, too.

Navajo Power Home, one of several installers working to connect people to solar, recently received a $5 million grant from the Inflation Reduction Act as part of its effort to install off-grid battery storage solar in 1,000 homes by the end of 2025.

Local workers benefit, too. Solar companies on the reservation largely train and hire local people for installation and repairs — an opportunity that can be transformative for many families because good-paying jobs on tribal lands can be scarce.

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