Native America Calling: States, philanthropy help keep tribal clean energy projects going
- Art Hughes
- Mar 17
- 6 min read
NATIVE AMERICA CALLING
NATIONAL RADIO PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT WITH GUEST DAVID HARPER
PROGRAM DATE: Wednesday, March 18, 2026
TITLE: “States, Philanthropy Help Keep Tribal Clean Energy Projects Going”
HOST: Art Hughes (Native American Calling)
GUEST: David Harper (Mohave from Colorado River Indian Tribes), CEO of Huurav Energy
EPISODE INTRODUCTION:
Washington State awarded a number of Tribes… from solar installations to electric fishing and research boat conversions. It is one of the alternative funding sources as Tribes and Tribal economic development ventures scramble to fill a void following the withdrawal of some $1.5 billion in federal dollars. We’ll get an update on where clean energy infrastructure and development trends are headed in the absence of any new federal money.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RECORDING TIME EXCERPT: 9:02 - 17:30
Art: I want to thank all of you for joining us, taking your time today to educate our listeners, and David, I want to begin with you because Huurav Energy was created in response to the clawback of federal funding that we're talking about today, specifically for Tribal green energy. What opportunities does your company see now?
Dave: Well, yeah, good morning. Again, my name is Dave Harper. I'm from the Colorado River Indian Tribes, a Mohave Indian. I am the CEO of Huurav Energy.
What we've seen in the last, oh, about four months, we've seen some of the Tribes who are involved in the renewable energy space, they saw that their money was clawed back. You know we work with 80 tribes across the United States, and the most significant Tribes had their renewable projects that were in the queue. They got their funding - some of them got funding, some of them were waiting for their funding - and they were moving to construction. They had done their feasibilities. They talked to the stakeholders, and everybody was on board. The Tribe bought into the vision of their journey. And then the money was taken back. And some of these Tribes put in a lot of money, a lot of their own money, into these projects. And so the Tribes kind of like stopped.
And, you know, there was so much dependency on the federal government and these monies, and the projects [were in the] early stages of development, and the Tribes didn't have any of their own revenue to keep the projects moving. And so a lot of, I think about 20 of the Tribes that we're talking with, they had stopped. And one particular Tribe, the Guidiville Rancheria, they had contractors ready to start building.
And when the money stopped, they didn't have any money to pay the contractors, even after they negotiated the contract. So what we did was, we thought about it, and we said, you know, there has to be an entity that can create bridge loans for these Tribes to keep their projects moving. And so we met with the former [US Department of Energy Loan Program Office] LPO person named Jen Lerch, who had been working with the LPO for many years. And she said, you know, we should sit down and draft out something for the Tribes so that they can have some assistance to keep their projects moving. So she helped us develop Huurav Energy. And when we went to the Guidiville Rancheria, we were able to negotiate a million-dollar bridge loan to the Tribe to keep their project moving [with the BQuest Foundation]. So, they've now been able to keep that project going. We do have several other Tribes in the queue right now. Our bridge loans range between $1 million to $10 million dollars.
And so what we do, what we created, was kind of like a weave of industry. We partner with several CDFIs, [and others] such as Oweesta and Mission Driven Finance, and we sit down as entities to create the bridge loans for these Tribes to keep their projects moving. They're low interest loans with a quick turnaround payback of one to four years. So it's not going to be an endless amount. But what we're doing is we're creating the bridge loan and then we're creating a loan after that. So say the Tribe wants to have a bigger loan of $20 to $50 million, we will be able to help facilitate that if the Tribe wishes [for a future project phase].
Art: Okay, and David, the source of capital for these $1 to $10 million dollar bridge loans and also these follow-up loans that you're going to be able to offer, is that coming primarily from the [Native Community Development Financial Institution] CDFI partners?
Dave: It's what we call capital stacking… We said, well, let's do this. Let's do a [financial] “weave.” So the weave is: Oweesta may give $2 million, Mission Driven may $2 million, Huurav may give $1 million… and so we create a $5 million capital stack. So that way, there's [still] a continuous amount of monies available for other Tribes [for bridge loans].
Art: Okay. That sounds really creative.
Now, a lot of folks listening to the show right now might be thinking to themselves, well, the federal government is now clearly prioritizing legacy energy sources, petroleum, gas, even coal. Why continue now in the direction that the federal governments are sidelining?
Dave: Well, some of the Tribes are pivoting. What happened was that, you know, as we… I was in Washington, D.C. last week talking with the Department of Energy people and what they were saying was the language has to change and the facilities have to change. The projects have to change. You know, we're no longer supporting wind or solar. So a lot of the Tribes are now pivoting [to other funding sources] or to maybe having geothermal, right? Maybe some of the projects have kind of altered a little bit… to be funded through the Department of Energy and/or other sources.
So, you know, the big picture is how does the Tribe pivot? Well, there are several things that the Tribe has to do. They have to pivot in their mindset… away from the dependency of the government. So now the Tribe has to look at how do we enter the banking systems, the other financial entities, and how do we get our credit rating? How do we make sure that we can compete, and understand the finances?
And so Huurav Energy has developed a Finance 101. We just had [a session] on Monday where we had 45 Tribes on learning about financing and tax credits on projects. So one of the criteria for us is that if you come to us and we give you a bridge loan, you have to take that Finance 101 so you can understand what finances you're getting your Tribe into, but also that you're able to retell the story to your stakeholders of why you went for this bridge loan, what's the impact, and what is the positiveness of this entity and of getting the financing?
Art: And David, what about long-term? This sounds really promising, these bridge loans as you described them, and the follow-up loans as well.
But in the absence of federal funding, how healthy will the Tribal clean energy industry remain if it's left to just fend for itself in some of these alternative financing methods that you're talking about today?
Dave: Well, we can't be a victim, right? Our mentality is we can't be a victim. We can't be the “poor Indians.” Oh, “poor Indians” this, this is what happened to us. We have to pivot to being the guys on the block that are being progressive, that are moving. And so part of that is understanding the concept and idea of financing. We have to learn what “healthy financing” is.
And so I know in the Tribal world, a lot of the Tribal people say, well, if you get a loan, what's going to happen to my per cap, right? Or what's going to happen to the services that we get? Are you taking that from us? So there has to be an understanding of financing, of “healthy financing.” And I know we have historical trauma from the past, people who fiended on the Tribes, who created these loans where the tribes were stuck with [them], and they were in debt for X amount of years. So that's why the 101 is so important, teaching the Triibe what is a “healthy financial perspective” and how can you finance to where you have sustainability? Maybe there's a partner, maybe you have a partner, but you still own 51%. Maybe you don't have a partner, you do your own development, you get your own financing available. We have to look at all of the options available, and that's what our financing does.
Art: David Harper, kicking off our conversation today. He is the CEO of Huurav Energy and he's saying we can't be victims. As Native people, we've got to go out there and we've got to make this happen. And we've got to be creative and we have to become business savvy and understand the financing, what it takes to fund some of these clean energy projects. And I think his message is going to resonate with a lot of listeners today. It's inspiring to hear him talk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
