This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.
August 08, 2003
DOE to Award $2.9 Million to 16 Tribal Clean Energy Projects
DOE announced on August 8th that it will award Native American tribes a total of $2.9 million for 16 clean energy projects. Of the total, DOE is awarding nearly $2.2 million for seven projects to help develop renewable energy technologies on tribal lands. In addition, more than $700,000 will go to nine tribal groups to support the initial steps to develop renewable energy and energy efficiency on their lands.
Among the seven renewable energy projects, the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes plan to buy, install, and operate a 660-kilowatt wind turbine on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana. Three other tribes-the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Montana, and the Makah Indian Nation in Washington-will begin developing 30-megawatt wind energy projects on their lands. The Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, located in northeast Alaska, will study the feasibility of powering an entire village during the summer using solar energy. The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, located in Minnesota, will investigate using biomass resources to create a sustainable business that produces and sells bioproducts. And finally, the Fort Mojave Tribe in Arizona will investigate power production from a variety of renewable energy sources. See the DOE press release.
The nine tribal groups taking the initial steps toward clean energy development include the Hopi Tribe in Arizona; the Yurok Tribe, Smith River Rancheria, and Cabazon Band of Mission Indians in California; the tribes of the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota; the Seneca Nation of Indians in New York; the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and Fort Sill Apache Tribe in Oklahoma; and the Samish Indian Nation in Washington. These initial steps include strategic planning within each tribe, analyzing the tribe's energy options, figuring out what organizational structures are needed to develop energy projects, and building the capabilities needed within the tribe to support the projects. Particularly noteworthy is the Yurok Tribe's approach to energy development: the tribe is studying the feasibility of forming its own electric power utility. See the DOE press release.
