Trump places grant program under ‘rigorous review’
Projects that will bring high-speed internet to underserved parts of the Methow Valley and other areas in Okanogan County are proceeding as planned, despite uncertainties about future federal grants under the Trump administration.
The Okanogan County Electric Co-op (OCEC) will extend broadband fiber beginning this year from Twisp to Winthrop, then branching up the Chewuch River and up Highway 20, to Lost River.
A second construction project, slated to start next year, will bring fiber-optic lines to areas east of Twisp and Winthrop, and farther up the Chewuch, according to an April 15 OCEC newsletter and the Methownet website. Methownet is a retail internet service provider (ISP) owned by OCEC.
A map of the future broadband service areas is available at methownet.com/newfiber.html.
Meanwhile, the Okanogan County Public Utility District (PUD) has state funding to bring broadband service to Conconully, in addition to a federal grant to provide high-speed internet to the Havillah area northeast of Tonasket, PUD Public Information Officer Jessica McCarthy said in an email.
The PUD is only setting up the fiber-optic infrastructure to these communities. Connections to homes and businesses will be provided by retail ISPs.
The Conconully project starts later this year. Extending fiber to Havillah will begin in 2026.
OCEC and the PUD have given no indication these projects are in jeopardy from policy changes at the federal level. OCEC struck a reassuring tone in its newsletter.
“Recently many federal grant funds were frozen or canceled altogether,” the newsletter said. “The good news is the Washington State Broadband Office (WSBO) and the Washington Public Works Board (PWB), the awarding agencies, have indicated OCEC should continue work as planned, and has not indicated our two awarded grant projects are at risk of being frozen or revoked.”
More uncertainty hangs over longer-term local projects that would be funded through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program — part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021.
Current President Donald Trump’s secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick, said on March 5 the BEAD program was undergoing a “rigorous review” and a “revamping … to take a tech-neutral approach.”
National news reports have indicated this neutral approach to internet service could take funds away from fiber-optic projects, such as those proposed by OCEC and the PUD, and divert them to satellite systems such as Elon Musk’s Starlink.
The PUD and OCEC partnered on two BEAD grant requests to bring high-speed internet to more of the Methow Valley. Build-out is tentatively scheduled for 2028–29, the OCEC newsletter said.
“If successful … OCEC anticipates receiving funding to reach nearly 95% of the OCEC electric service territory with fiber-to-the-home projects,” the co-op’s newsletter said.
The fate of the BEAD grants is unknown at this time.
“The guidance from the WSBO is to continue the application process, and we intend to do that,” the newsletter said.
In an email, OCEC General Manager Greg Mendonca added that “we are moving forward in that application process in partnership with Okanogan PUD, hoping for success.”
The PUD has a total of six pending BEAD grants countywide.
“We are awaiting updates on potential federal funding cuts to the BEAD program and will decide on our next steps once more details are known,” McCarthy said.
