Katie Valentine, Think Progress' rising star ecological journalist, generates enthusiasm with a breezy article announcing With Interior Department Funding, Native American Tribe Could Soon Build A Billion-Dollar Wind Farm. 21 Native America energy and mineral projects received $3.2 million of grants including 13 proposals for renewable energy projects and plans.
Not all of the tribes know how much money they’ll receive yet, but renewable projects accounted for the largest chunk of grant money at $1,972,350 for the 13 proposals. One of the tribes to receive grant money is the Crow Creek Sioux tribe in South Dakota, which has plans to build a billion-dollar wind farm. Crow Creek leaders hope the farm will provide free electricity to the 2,000 tribe members that live on the reservation and also generate electricity that the tribe could sell to nearby towns. If the tribe gets enough funding to build the project, leaders say it could produce enough energy to power 100,000 to 400,000 homes.
Stock photo of Chairmen Brandon Sazue
“We never hardly hear good news,” tribe Chairman Brandon Sazue told the Rapid City Journal of the tribe’s grant. “This was one of the greatest pieces of news I have heard since being chairman for Crow Creek.”
The tribe hopes to secure funding in time to start constructing the 150-160 turbine wind farm in early 2016.
The grants are helping fund some projects that, if completed, would be one of only a few of their kind on tribal lands. There’s only one tribal-run wind farm in the U.S. so far — the Kumeyaay wind farm in California, which produces enough energy to power about 30,000 homes. The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma is also working to build a 90-turbine wind farm, but that project hasn’t been completed yet. Government initiatives are looking to jump-start renewable energy on tribal land, however — in 2012 the Department of Energy gave away more than $6.5 million to 19 renewable energy projects on tribal lands, and in 2013 the DOE gave $7 million to nine tribes for wind, biomass and solar projects.
Stock photo of Chairmen Brandon SazueObviously, the Crow Creek Sioux funding must be to develop the proposal, or feasibility study for the billion dollar wind farm as they are still a billion dollars short of full funding. Still its an exciting new step towards a much better future for a group of folks that often feels left out of our collective futures.
The winds of change are blowing in good news from South Dakota, today, fellow Kossacks.