Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
One possible means of improving this relationship would be through a
policy that somehow gave tribes some “skin in the game” in connection
with renewable energy projects on off-reservation public lands. Presently,
projects on off-reservation ancestral lands are a “lose-lose” for tribes: these
projects threaten a tribe's cultural resources yet offer no prospect of any
economic benefit. A conceivable way of addressing this problem would be a
program that financially rewards tribes for identifying off-reservation areas
within their ancestral lands on which they would not object to renewable
energy development.
For example, suppose that the United States enacted legislation under
which a tribe could identify “pre-approval zones” on off-reservation,
public ancestral lands within which the tribe would agree not to oppose
renewable energy development under certain specified conditions. In
exchange, the United States government would agree to distribute to the
tribe a modest percentage of all lease revenue the government receives from
renewable energy leasing within these “pre-approval zones.” If necessary,
the government could distribute these payments to tribes in the form of
aid. The aid could even be designed to help fund installations of small
solar energy systems and small- to medium-sized wind turbines capable of
supplying power to tribe members that currently lacked grid access.
Under a program like the one just described, tribes could potentially
receive real economic benefits when renewable energy projects were
developed on off-reservation public lands that were part of their ancestral
lands. This prospect of an economic benefit for tribes might promote more
amicable relations and greater collaboration between the BLM, developers,
and tribes, enabling more of these projects.
Likewise, there are ways that policymakers could improve tribes' ability
to develop wind and solar energy projects
on
reservations. Even if the
United States government proves slow to adapt policies that promote
on-reservation renewable energy projects, state governments could do
much in this regard. For example, state legislatures in the United States
could add “tribal renewable energy” carve-outs to their renewable portfolio
standard (RPS) legislation, requiring that utilities obtain some proportion
of their renewable power from on-reservation renewable energy projects to
satisfy the state's RPS goals. Under such provisions, the fact that a given
unit of renewable energy was generated on Indian trust lands within a
state would be an additional “attribute” capable of attaching to renewable
energy credits. By effectively mandating that utilities obtain some of their
renewable power from projects on reservations, this sort of policy would
create greater demand for on-reservation wind and solar energy.
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In summary, much could be done to bridge differences between renewable
energy interests and tribes and thereby remove unnecessary obstacles that
are slowing the sustainable energy movement. Admittedly, political support
for these sorts of policies presently seems weak in many countries, so it is
doubtful that such policies will be adopted anytime soon. Still, the day will
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