So when they hear me coming to them and saying, we have tribal energy programs, we have a way to help you, believe me, they are interested.

We should be working together to try to figure out how we can solve some of these problems...

We are approaching April. This is the time of year we start hearing from our communities saying we have run out.

Fourteen percent, about 14 percent of households in Indian Country don't have electricity.

Most Native communities in Alaska still are relying on diesel fuel and heating oil.

But when it is our own systems that effectively hold them back, that is not fair to anybody.

So you don't consider that outreach, do you?

But many of them are starting to feel like, is this a false promise? Is this a false promise here?

We have a responsibility to support the sovereignty of tribal nations in energy development.

In Alaska, again, with small tribes, it is complicated, but most utilities are also small and simply can't afford the match.

I want to underscore again using my State as an example, Alaska Native peoples as an example of why it is so imperative that we improve tribal energy development.

So as you are working to advance this program, please understand that the reason they are allowing consortia in NTIA and through IHS is because this is what works.