Asserting Native Resilience: Pacific Rim Indigenous Nations Face the Climate Change

GROUPS PRESS FOR TRIBE-FRIENDLY RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICIES

PAGE 154 ASSERTING NATIVE RESILIENCE: PACIFIC RIM INDIGENOUS NATIONS FACE THE CLIMATE CRISIS for renewable energy production. This has created a system where outside companies sometimes think twice about teaming with tribes on renewable energy projects, since, if they do so, the federal government does not allow for a full tax credit. “Projects involving technologies like wind power could stand on their own if none of the energy sectors got [federal] subsidies or incentives, but there are already billions of dollars built into coal, gas, and coal subsidies,” said Bob Gough, a leader with Intertribal COUP. “To compete against them, renewable energy technologies require subsidies as well. You can’t artificially keep the price of energy down, and then expect new kinds of technology to bear all the costs.” The groups are pressing for changes to subsidy laws to make them more tribe-friendly, and also say that any climate change legislation should not allocate funds for nuclear or clean coal technologies, as they believe those practices are often harmful to the Earth and to tribal interests. The policy paper specifically asks that policymakers provide a renewable production refund for tribal projects that can’t utilize current tax credits, as well as offer financial matching grants to capitalize renewable energy potential in tribal communities. The organizations believe that a new crop of tribal renewable projects, which would be assisted by the legislative changes they seek, would provide dual benefits of low carbon power and green economic development where it is needed most. Support for legislative action involving tribes and energy is based on the following research gathered by the groups: a Tribal lands have an estimated 535 billion kWh/year of wind power generation potential. a Tribal lands have an estimated 17,000 billion kWh/ year of solar electricity generation potential, about 4.5 times the total U.S. annual generation. a Investing in renewable energy creates more jobs per dollar invested than fossil fuel energy. a Efficiency creates 21.5 jobs for every $1 million invested. a The costs of fuel for wind and solar power can be projected into the future, providing a unique opportunity for stabilizing an energy intensive economy. In sum, members of the tribal network believe that forward thinking energy and climate policy will have the ability to transform tribal and other rural economies, while also providing a basis for an overall economic recovery in the U.S. Contacts Ed Knight, Swinomish Planning and Community Development, 360-466-7280 Shelly Vendiola, CCEAG Communications Facilitator (Consultant), www.capp.web.officelive.com, msvendiola@gmail.com GROUPS PRESS FOR TRIBE-FRIENDLY RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICIES Rob Capriccioso Indian Country Today, Jan. 23, 2009 Washington, DC – As more tribes explore and get involved in the renewable energy field, a network of tribal groups is asking President Barack Obama to support tribally owned and operated renewable energy projects, along with economic development initiatives that could reduce dependence on fossil fuels. “The Obama economic stimulus plan that incorporates a green economy and green jobs portfolio must include provisions for access of these resources by our Native nations, our tribal education and training institutions and Native organizations and communities ,” according to a policy statement released jointly Dec. 17 by the Intertribal Council on Utility Policy, the Indigenous Environmental Network, the International Indian Treaty Council, and the Honor the Earth environmental group. “When considering energy production, resource extraction, housing, and energy efficiency, it is essential that the incoming administration takes into account the disproportionate impacts of climate change and energy development on American Indian reservations and Alaska Native villages, and the potential for catalyzing green reservation economies.” The groups represent approximately 250 grassroots tribal organizations and tribes that want to ensure American Indian participation and prosperity in the green economy of the future. The statement says that federal government subsidies for the nuclear, coal, gas, and oil industry should be rapidly phased out with a proportional ramp up of subsidies for renewable technologies and locally administered conservation and efficiency improvements. Under current federal law, tribes are not directly entitled to credits provided to non-Native developers PAGE 155 III. CURRENT RESPONSES A METHANE TO THEIR MADNESS: Tribes and Farmers Come Together— Over Cow Manure Lewis Kamb Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 22, 2003 Monroe, Wash.—Who knew the answers to so many problems lie in cow dung? That the odorous piles could preserve farmland, save salmon, even build trust between traditional foes? Through manure, an unlikely partnership has bloomed between Native Americans and farmers in...