Renewable energy vs. cultural preservation - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 141

7 See, e.g. , Sara C. Bronin, The Promise and Perils of Renewable Energy on
Tribal Lands , 26 Tul. Envtl. L.J. 221 (2013) (noting that, as of 1990, about
16,000 tribal households in the U.S. “lacked access to electricity or other
arrangements that would provide electricity at no cost,” a rate that is “ten
times the national average”). Bronin ultimately argues in her article that small-
scale renewables offer the greatest hope for electrification of remote tribal
lands. See id. at 235. See also Matt Rivera and John Roach, Out of Darkness:
Solar Power Sheds a Little Light on Powerless Communities , NBC News (Aug.
11, 2013), available at www.nbcnews.com/technology/out-darkness-solar-
power-sheds-little-light-powerless-communities-6C10867721#out-darkness-
solar-power-sheds-little-light-powerless-communities-6C10867721 (last visited
Aug. 12, 2013) (describing the increasing use of solar panels to provide evening
light to families in the Navajo nation and in rural areas of Africa).
8 See Eve Darian-Smith, Environmental Law and Native American Law , 6
Annu. Rev. Law Soc. Sci. 359, 361 (2010) (noting that it is important “not
to treat all native peoples as one homogeneous category or to consider their
thinking about nature as consistent across all tribes and individuals”).
9 Id.
10 See Crystal D. Masterson, Wind-Energy Ventures in Indian Country: Fashioning
a Functional Program , 34 Amer. Ind. L. Rev. 317, 337 (2009-10) (noting
that “Tribal 'subsistence, culture, and spirituality are intimately connected to
the lands they inhabit'”) (citing Jacqueline P. Hand, Global Climate Change:
A Serious Threat to Native American Lands and Culture , 38 Envtl. L. Rep.
News & Analysis 10329, 10330 (2008).
11 See, e.g ., Denise De Paolo, Oglala Sioux Make Strides Toward Energy
Independence , KSFY.com (July 15, 2013), available at www.ksfy.com/
story/22847509/oglala-sioux-make-strides-toward-energy-independence (last
visited Aug. 12, 2013) (quoting member of the Oglala Sioux tribe favoring
responsible renewable energy development on tribal lands for its ability to
promote the “protection of the land for the future of our people, our genera-
tions, our youth”).
12 Ryan David Dreveskracht, Economic Development, Native Nations, and Solar
Projects , 72 Amer. J. Econ. & Soc. 122, 136 (2013).
13 Other scholars have made note of these challenges. See, e.g ., Darian-Smith,
supra note 8 at 337 (arguing that, “[o]n account of their intimate relationship
with nature, tribes may be less inclined than non-tribal entities to surrender the
pristine landscape of their reservations in exchange for the affluence attainable
from the installation of a wind-power project.”).
14 Paul E. Frye, Developing Energy Projects on Federal Lands: Tribal Rights,
Roles, Consultation, and Other Interests (a Tribal Perspective) , Rocky
Mountain Mineral Law Foundation-Inst., No. 3, Paper No. 15B (Sept.
2009).
15 See Bronin, supra note 7 at 234.
16 See, e.g ., Kristi Eaton, Sioux Tribes Plan Large-Scale Wind Energy Project ,
Yahoo! News (Associated Press) (July 5, 2013), available at http://news.
yahoo.com/sioux-tribes-plan-large-scale-175702015.html (last visited Aug. 14,
2013) (noting that a proposed major wind energy project on Sioux reservation
lands in North Dakota would require “several major [new transmission] lines,
which cost about $1 million per mile and take up to a year and a half to
build”).
17 25 U.S.C. § 3502 (2006).
18 See Bronin, supra note 7 at 229 (describing the Division of Indian Energy
Policy Development and the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs).