Paying a visit to endorse a new compact with the Cherokee Nation, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg was welcomed by tribal officials on June 7 for a signing ceremony at the Chota Center inside Cherokee Nation Casino Tahlequah.

The signing of the compact capped a year of negotiation between the federal Department of Transportation and the Cherokee Nation, during which the CN sought greater autonomy to apply federal funding to transportation projects…

CN constructed one of the first solar canopies in Oklahoma at its Tahlequah headquarters, where it is used to charge the electric fleet and the increasing number of electric cars driven by staff and visitors to the complex.

The tribe has two electric transit buses and charging stations for vehicles bought through a $1.5 million USDOT grant awarded to the tribe in 2018. The CN also operates an electrically powered school bus.