How to Lose $20M Without Trying

When the Walker River Paiute Tribe got wind of a taxpayer-funded $20 million grant landing in their laps, tribal leaders must have felt like a prospector who just struck gold—only to find out later it was fool’s gold and belonged to the bank. Their long-suffering water system, more patches than a riverboat gambler’s coat, was finally due for some honest-to-goodness improvement.

But alas! Washington, D.C., the great and terrible wizard of wealth distribution, had other plans.

“Now we can build homes, create jobs, and finally have water pressure that don’t resemble an old man’s spit!” declared Chair Melanie McFalls with all the optimism of a farmer before a locust swarm.

But fate, in the form of shifting political winds, proved as reliable as a poker game in which the dealer keeps changing the rules. Enter the Biden administration, tossing grants around like a spendthrift uncle at a family reunion, desperate to get the money out the door before Trump came striding back into town.

Then, lo and behold, just as the ink dried, the new sheriff arrived, taking a red pen to it, declaring war on anything smelling remotely like “DEI and Environmental Justice.” It included the tribe’s long-awaited windfall.

The Nevada Clean Energy Fund, which had been holding the purse strings, suddenly found its pockets empty, and tribal plans came to a screeching halt.

“Oh, don’t worry,” said the Environmental Protection Agency in its best soothing tones. “We’re just taking a little look-see to ensure this is a proper use of taxpayer dollars.”

It’s Washington-speak for “Don’t hold your breath.”

Meanwhile, the tribe had already sunk over a million dollars into the project, only to be left holding an empty sack. They’d planned for fire hydrants, clean water, a community hub for emergencies, and even a food pantry expansion, but the federal government had other ideas.

The Trump administration’s latest pastime seems to be rooting out any vestiges of environmental justice as though it were a weed overtaking the lawn of crony capitalism. The Department of Agriculture even pulled funding for the tribe’s local food program because heaven forbid people have fresh produce grown within a stone’s throw of their homes.

So now, the tribe’s fate is in the hands of Nevada’s politicians, all scurrying about trying to figure out who still owes them a favor in Washington. Republican Rep. Mark Amodei is making calls, while Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen is shaking her fist at the White House. Governor Lombardo, meanwhile, is doing his best impression of a man considering his options, which is to say he is considering them very, very slowly.

And so, the machinery of government rolls on, grinding dreams into dust as efficiently as ever. Somewhere, a bureaucrat is undoubtedly patting himself on the back for saving the taxpayers a few bucks—while another one drafts a request for a $50 million study on why Nevada’s tribal water systems are in such a state of disrepair.