AI in Indian Country

October 19, 2026

AI in Indian Country

How artificial intelligence is arriving in Indian Country: the fight over hyperscale data centers, and the health, business and policy work that comes with it. Written for people who have to decide something.

BiweeklyFirst and Third MondayIssue 006RSS

Issue 006

Nothing Has Been Signed

The Cheyenne and Arapaho ban stands, but the accounts of it disagree, and several proximity files have gone quiet without being closed.

The Big Picture

Thomas Pablo reported for KOSU, in a story carried by KGOU on October 6, that the Cheyenne and Arapaho moratorium passed 261 to 83 and runs until October 2029. Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes institute 3-year data center ban, KGOU Governor Reggie Wassana, who favored data centers, called them a “wave of the future” and said developers had pitched building on Tribal property. The story reports no agreement with any developer. It is consistent with the statement the Governor made before the vote, that nothing has been signed.

Newsweek reached a different account of the same outcome. Joe Edwards wrote on October 6, in a story updated October 7, that the Tribal Council approved the ban, and that the project had been projected to generate $400 million to $600 million a year and more than 1,000 jobs. How Native American Tribes Are Fighting Data Centers, Newsweek Ponca City Now and News9, cited in Issue 5, describe a gathering of citizens. The brief has not seen the resolution text and has not reconciled the two.

New This Issue

The Hualapai Nation’s position reaches national coverage. The Hualapai reservation covers nearly one million acres and borders 108 miles of the Colorado River, according to Newsweek. The Tribal Council passed a resolution opposing “irresponsible development of hyperscale data centers,” and Newsweek attributes to the Hualapai chairman the statement, “We will always protect our land, and we will always protect our water.” Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ’s Indigenous affairs correspondent, interviewed the chairman on September 24. Tech companies want to build data centers on tribal lands, KJZZ KJZZ and Newsweek spell the chairman’s name differently, so the brief does not print it. No developer has been named.

Learning and building. No application deadline for AI training aimed at Native learners turned up this fortnight. Two programs are open to inquiry without dates. Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s IndigiAI course is delivered online, charges a $10 application fee and waives tuition for Pascua Yaqui Tribe applicants, and its page lists no start date. Native Intelligence with IndigiAI, Pascua Yaqui Tribe Arizona State University’s Indian Legal Program received $50,000 on June 16 from ASU Women and Philanthropy for “Exploring AI in Indian Country,” with the American Indian Policy Institute and the Center for Tribal Digital Sovereignty, to produce model policies and training for Tribal Nations. ASU Law’s Indian Legal Program awarded $50,000 grant to advance Tribal sovereignty in the age of AI, ASU Law

Story Updates

Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The task force created by TR 26-045 on July 25 carried a 60-day reporting requirement that has now passed by more than three weeks. No report appears in Mvskoke Media coverage or elsewhere the brief could find. This is the sixth issue to flag it. Tribal Digital Infrastructure and Data Sovereignty task force established by Council, Mvskoke Media

Massena, New York (proximity). No Department of Environmental Conservation determination on whether Executive Order 62 reaches the project was found. The Town Board voted 3 to 2 against a six-month moratorium on September 16. Massena town board votes down data center moratorium, WCAX

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (proximity). Alexis Dufresne reported for AI Weekly that councillors voted unanimously to block applications above 50 megawatts until staff draft a framework, with an interim control bylaw due September 21. Sault Ste. Marie halts new AI data centres above 50 MW, AI Weekly The outlet dates the vote September 2; CTV News, cited in Issue 5, reported an August 31 vote. The outcome of September 21 is still unconfirmed.

Osage Nation. No committee action on ONCA 26-70 and no Minerals Council decision on Google’s Project Spring lease was found.

Project Jupiter (New Mexico, proximity). No new filing was found. The Environment Department’s decision deadline remains November 23, and no Tribal Nation or Pueblo is reported as a party. Environmental group asks NM Supreme Court to pause Project Jupiter’s air quality permit hearing, Source NM

Fort Peck. The Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes’ Executive Board barred talks with data center developers in August; Chairman Floyd Azure said three companies had approached the Tribes in the past year. No further action was found. Fort Peck Tribes ban discussions with data center developers, Char-Koosta News

The Data Center Tracker

Mid-month issue, so this entry covers breaking changes only. None was verified. The brief’s count stays at twenty Saying No, five Saying Yes and five Studying, thirty in all. Two sources disagree about the body that approved the Cheyenne and Arapaho ban, and the row stays in Saying No on the strength of the vote count both agree on.

Under the standing proximity rule, two files need stating as they stand. In Page, Arizona, the city sold a 500-acre parcel near Horseshoe Bend to Huntley LLC for $7 million. Madyson Fitzgerald reported for States Newsroom that the company intends a 1 gigawatt facility. KJZZ describes a $10 billion, 500 megawatt project near Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Lake Powell. Developers eye Native nations, tribal communities for new data center projects, States Newsroom The LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation, about five miles south, opposed the sale, and KJZZ reports the chapter says it was not properly consulted. Page’s council approved the project and, according to KJZZ, is unsure where the water would come from. Separately, the same States Newsroom story reports a proposed Microsoft data center in Fernley, Nevada, about a ten-minute drive from the Pyramid Lake Paiute boundary. The brief has not confirmed its size, its water source or any notice to the Tribe, and no consultation is reported. Issue 3 placed the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center upstream on the Truckee River.

Policy Watch

The National Congress of American Indians’ 83rd Annual Convention opened October 18 in Palm Springs and runs through October 22. Its page says the 2026 resolutions are in progress and will be updated during the convention; no data center or AI resolution text had been posted when the brief checked. 83rd Annual Convention and Marketplace, National Congress of American Indians Governor Hochul has until December 31 to sign or veto New York’s Responsible Data Center Development Act. The NTIA Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program closes November 17. New Mexico’s decision deadline on Project Jupiter’s air permit is November 23, and the Court of King’s Bench hears the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation’s Wonder Valley review in December.

Questions Tribal Governments Are Facing

Which body of the Nation adopted the ban, and does the record say so? Two outlets already differ on Cheyenne and Arapaho.

Who in the Nation holds the pen on a lease, a task force report or a resolution, and by what date? Muscogee has missed one.

Does a neighboring town’s approval carry any notice to the Nation? Page approved first and the LeChee Chapter responded afterward.

Sources

The reporting