Biden-Harris Administration Bringing High-Speed Internet, Clean Drinking Water and Modern Infrastructure to Tribal Communities

US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA is making investments to provide clean drinking water, sanitary wastewater systems and affordable high-speed internet to people in Tribal communities. Secretary Vilsack made this announcement at the one of the nation’s largest Tribal economic development conferences, the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s Reservation Economic Summit (RES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. USDA is investing $58 million in Tribal communities in Nevada, Oklahoma and South Dakota. This funding will support economic development, high-speed internet deployment and modern infrastructure. The projects are being financed through the ReConnect Program and the Water and Waste Facility Loans and Grants to Alleviate Health Risks on Tribal Lands Program. Examples of these projects are: 

• The Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota received a $35 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to provide high-speed internet. This project will deliver high speed internet to 3,300 people, 47 businesses, 55 farms and seven educational facilities in Bennett and Oglala Lakota counties.
• The Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma will use a $22 million grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to provide high-speed internet. This project will deliver high speed internet to nearly 2,000 people, 12 businesses and 100 farms in Le Flore County.