What The Federal Government Can Do

The federal government ought to play an active role in bringing renewable energy to Indian Country. Specific recommendations include:

* Evaluate federal Indian policy comprehensively: The federal agencies responsible for providing energy conservation and renewable energy assistance to state and local governments (DOE, HUD, and other agencies such as the Rural Utilities Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture) should review their programs from the last two decades and determine the extent to which tribal governments and reservation communities have been included. Simultaneously, appropriate members of Congress might request an investigation by the General Accounting Office. The review should consider various mandates and initiatives for conserving energy and using renewables in federal facilities, since many tribal government programs operate in buildings owned or constructed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or Indian Health Service.

* Fund provisions now in place: The federal government should demonstrate its support for tribal development of renewable energy resources through increased funding for the tribal provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. This should include two measures currently receiving no funds at all: the program to be administered by the Department of the Interior to provide assistance to tribes, including help in developing codes and regulatory programs, and the Indian Energy Resource Commission.⁶³ The mandate of the Commission should be modified, however, to expressly include renewable energy resources and energy conservation.

What Tribes Can Do For Themselves

This paper has presented a number of options for tribes to pursue in order to increase the use of renewable energy and energy conservation in Indian Country. Tribal governments should consider the following options:

* Building codes: With or without Federal assistance, tribal governments should upgrade building codes to incorporate energy efficiency and renewable energy. In particular, tribes should adopt the Model Energy Code and land use codes that require appropriate solar orientation of buildings.

* Buy renewable power: Even without retail wheeling, tribes legally may designate a power supplier for tribally owned businesses on trust land, and they may be able to do the same for homes and some public facilities. Where regulatory conditions allow, tribes should wheel in their power from electricity providers that rely partially or totally on renewable resources. Tribes might also institute a renewable portfolio standard in their electricity purchases.

* Sell renewable power: Where possible, tribes should explore ways to install their own renewable generating capacity, either for use on reservations or for sale to utilities and power marketers.

* Use local educational facilities: Tribal colleges can investigate and disseminate information about local renewable resources, create indigenous technical capacity, and explore possible sources of and structures for renewable energy financing. Tribal colleges can also help spread popular knowledge about the links among energy, environment, and economy, and about the role that renewables can play on Indian lands. Finally, these institutions can be showcases for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

* Consider exporting Indian skills: Tribal governments or private businesses with experience with renewable energy in Indian Country may be uniquely suited among Americans to pursuing such ventures in developing countries. Such international efforts might take advantage of programs offered by the U.S. Agency for International Development or the Small Business Administration. They might also prove attractive partners or consultants to private-sector or nonprofit entities seeking to promote renewable energy overseas.

* Develop and disseminate knowledge of innovative financing mechanisms: While tribal sovereignty presents certain obstacles to obtaining financing for projects in Indian Country, mechanisms exist to ensure that investors can enforce agreements and secure their interests. These include limited waivers of sovereign immunity, the conduct of business through various kinds of tribal entities that do not share in the Tribe's immunity, and the use of leasehold mortgages to create security interests in land. Tribes must develop these tools and make potential investors aware of them. Tribes also have unique sources of financing that they should develop, publicize, and exploit for renewable energy projects, such as tax-exempt revenue bonds, gaming revenues, federal grant and loan guarantee programs, and the tribe's own freedom from liability for federal income tax.

Abstract Table of Contents Previous Section