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As the White House transforms into a Tesla showroom<\/a>, a departing Commerce Department official issued a blistering warning Sunday about how another company owned by the richest man in the world stands to benefit at rural Americans\u2019 expense.<\/p>\n Evan Feinman<\/strong> was previously in charge of the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which aims to expand broadband access in unserved or underserved parts of the country. On Sunday, according<\/a> to Politico<\/em>, Feinman sent a farewell email to colleagues, noting that Friday was his last day, and urging them to not allow the BEAD program to become coopted by Starlink, Elon Musk<\/strong>\u2019s satellite internet service.<\/p>\n \u201cStranding all or part of rural America with worse internet so that we can make the world\u2019s richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,\u201d Feinman wrote, according to Politico<\/em>.<\/p>\n The rebuke came weeks after the Department of Commerce announced it was overhauling Biden administration rules for awarding grants through the BEAD program. Where the prior rules gave preference to broadband projects relying on fiber-optic cable, the new rules would take a \u201ctech neutral approach,\u201d Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick<\/strong> told<\/a> The New York Times<\/em>. The<\/em> Wall Street Journal<\/em> previously reported that the change could boost Starlink\u2019s cut of the BEAD pie from<\/a> around $4 billion to up to $20 billion.<\/p>\n Beyond concerns about self-dealing between the Trump administration and the president\u2019s biggest booster, broadband experts have also argued<\/a> that the new rules could ultimately lead to worse internet service for Americans, given the differences in reliability between satellite and fiber internet. Others have argued that the rule change is needlessly slowing down<\/a> states who have already spent years developing their plans, and now may need to go back to the drawing board.<\/p>\n In his email, Feinman reportedly called out Louisiana, Delaware, and Nevada, in particular, as states that were ready to begin building out their broadband networks but have been in \u201climbo\u201d since the start of this administration. \u201cShovels could already be in the ground in three states, and they could be in the ground in half the country by the summer without the proposed changes to project selection,\u201d Feinman wrote.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Starlink is at the center of a separate controversy over the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s reported<\/a> plans to cancel a $2.4 billion deal with Verizon to upgrade air traffic control infrastructure and route the contract, instead, to the Musk-owned company. On Monday, The Guardian<\/em> reported<\/a> a group of congressional Democrats wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/strong>, as well as the Department of Transportation\u2019s acting inspector general, asking them to investigate whether Musk \u201chas participated in any particular matter in which he has a financial interest, which would violate the criminal conflict-of-interest statute.\u201d<\/p>\n In this administration, of course, that seems like wishful thinking. For now, Bondi is busy investigating who\u2019s been vandalizing Tesla dealerships across the country. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything,\u201d she said<\/a> on Fox Business Network last week, \u201cyou better watch out because we\u2019re coming after you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n