A coalition of 14 tribes received $135.58 million for solar energy, part of a Biden administration program to help more homes run on renewable energy. The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation, which leads the coalition, says the funding will create jobs in their communities and make electricity more affordable.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced $7 billion in “Solar for All” grants yesterday for 60 awardees, including MHA Nation. The money, which comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, is supposed to bring residential solar systems to about 900,000 “low-income and disadvantaged” homes. Six of the grants, totaling $500 million, will go to tribes.
Funding for MHA Nation is expected to bring solar power to 8,500 homes across all 14 tribes. He is also expected to create “hundreds” of jobs, focusing on developing a renewable energy workforce within tribal communities.
“Who knows our communities better than us, right?”
There is no single formula for how these projects will be implemented in each community. It will be up to each tribe to decide what is best for them. Most importantly, each project is Native-led, ensuring that the jobs, skills and other benefits of each program remain local.
“Who knows our communities better than us, right?” J. Garret Renville, tribal chairman of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Nation, said in a Press conference yesterday. “If we can empower five or 10 contractors within our own tribal communities, we are now starting to fuel our own economy.”
The MHA Nation grant will support projects spread across North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin and Wyoming, covering regions of the U.S. that produce a large amount of oil and gas. “The land of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is located in a region rich in fossil fuels, and the pressure to harness those resources has been strong for as long as I can remember,” said Ron Corn, a member of the organization's advisory board. nonprofit Indigenized Energy and member of the Menominee Tribe.
However, these energy resources do not necessarily benefit the tribes. Energy security (access to reliable and affordable electricity) remains a major challenge. More than 54,000 people lack electricity in their homes on tribal lands, according to a 2022 Department of Energy report survey. According to Cody Two Bears, those connected to the electric grid often have to pay higher electricity rates than off-reservation residents. Two Bears is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation and executive director of Indigenized Energy, which he founded in the wake of protests to stop the Dakota Access pipeline.
Indigenized Energy, which works with tribes to develop sustainable energy systems, will manage the $135,580,000 grant and lead projects with the tribes, including:
- Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) – Fort Berthold Reserve
- Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Nation
- Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
- Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians
- Spirit Lake Nation
- RoseBud Sioux Tribe
- Yankton Sioux Tribe
- Oglala Sioux Tribe
- Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe
- northern cheyenne
- Chippewa Cree-Rocky Boy
- Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of Fort Peck
- Blackfeet Nation
- Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming
“The more we keep it Native-led and the more we involve our own members, our own people and these reservations, the more successful we will be in making sure that our next seven generations of our tribes are taken. take care,” Cody Two Bears said on the call.
