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This week’s podcast comes from the Fiber Connect 2022 conference held in Nashville, Tennessee last month where Christopher caught up with Heather Mills, Vice President for Grants and Funding Strategies at CTC Technology & Energy.
During the conversation, Heather challenges Christopher’s assessment of the BEAD program in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and what he calls the program’s “complex and onerous” requirements. Heather kicks things off by telling Christopher to “get over it” because ultimately the program uses tax dollars and it’s important those funds are not misspent.
Christopher and Heather then dive into the various criticisms that have been lodged since the BEAD NOFO was released, including the letter of credit requirement, compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act, environmental assessments and the meaning of “climate resiliency,” and whether the various regulatory hoops program participants have to navigate will ultimately crowd-out smaller and mid-sized ISPs.
This show is 34 minutes long and can be played on this page or via iTunes or the tool of your choice using this feed.
Transcript coming soon.
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Thanks to Arne Huseby for the music. The song is Warm Duck Shuffle and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.