WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Bryan Newland announced that the Tribal Energy Development Capacity Grant Program awarded more than $2.5 million to federally recognized American Indian tribes and Alaska Native entities to develop tribal energy resources.
“These grants will assist tribes in building capacity to manage energy development in their communities,” said Assistant Secretary Newland. “As we look to a sustainable future, it is important that tribes can regulate and benefit from energy development in their communities. By empowering tribes to build this capacity, we are supporting tribal sovereignty and economic development, and helping make lives better for people in tribal communities.”
The Tribal Energy Development Capacity Grant Program is a competitive, discretionary grant program that seeks to develop the tribal management, organizational, and technical capacity tribes need to maximize the economic impact of energy resource development on Indian land. Each year, the program awards funding that provides tribes with necessary resources to develop or enhance tribal policies, codes, regulations, or ordinances related to energy resources, including land-lease regulations for energy development purposes in accordance with the Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership Act, also known as the HEARTH Act.
“These important grants provide tribes with the opportunity to receive financial assistance to evaluate the energy and mineral resource potential of their lands,” said Acting Bureau of Indian Affairs Deputy Bureau Director for Trust Services Trina Lock. “In past years, these grants assisted tribes with forming an intertribal energy agency to improve electric service to Alaska villages and conducting feasibility studies to establish tribal utility authorities in California, Florida and Oklahoma.”
Grant applications were evaluated by two independent review panels to ensure the most qualified projects were selected to receive funding. These panels reviewed the applications’ clarity and completeness, the expected contribution to the applicant’s capacity to regulate and manage energy resources, and the extent to which the anticipated outcome of a proposal met the applicant’s stated goals.
| Grantee | State | Amount | Project |
| Bristol Bay Native Corporation | Alaska | $300,000 | Electric Utility Collaboration: Developing Capacity Amongst Small Microgrids in Bristol Bay |
| Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians | Oklahoma | $209,845 | Tribal Utility Authority Feasibility Study Project |
| Fort Independence Community of the Paiute Indians | California | $165,000 | Energy Sovereignty: Development for the Fort Independence Community’s Tribal Utility Authority Feasibility Study |
| Lac Courte Orielles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians | Wisconsin | $165,000 | Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribal Utility Study |
| Seminole Tribe of Florida | Florida | $160,889 | Tribal Utility Authority Phase III Feasibility Study |
| Seneca Nation of Indians | New York | $150,050 | Energy Organizational Development Project |
| Reno-Sparks Indian Colony | Nevada | $150,000 | Hungry Valley Tribal Utility Authority, and Reno Government Complex Energy Infrastructure Feasibility Project |
| Lummi Nation | Washington | $150,000 | Tribal Electric Utility District Feasibility Study Project |
| Minnesota Chippewa Tribe – White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians | Minnesota | $150,000 | Tribal Energy Development Capacity Grant |
| Standing Rock Sioux Tribe | North Dakota | $149,680 | Standing Rock (SAGE) Renewable Energy Power Authority Capacity Building |
| Picuris Pueblo | New Mexico | $118,000 | Form a Pueblo Tribal Utility and Develop Appropriate Utility Code Provisions |
| Spirit Lake Tribe | North Dakota | $117,720 | Phase II Tribal Utility Formation & Execution for the Spirit Lake Tribe 2022 |
| Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin | Wisconsin | $100,000 | Tribal Energy Development Capacity Grant – Feasibility Study |
| Little River Band of Ottawa Indians | Michigan | $99,420 | Tribal Utility Authority Feasibility Study 2022 |
| Pechanga Band of Indians | California | $94,200 | Study the Feasibility of Expanding Pechanga Western Electric to Supply Wholesale Natural Gas to the Reservation |
| Morongo Band of Mission Indians | California | $92,000 | Continuation of Tribal Utility Authority Feasibility – Special Utility District |
| Bear River Band of the Rohnverville Rancheria | California | $87,382 | Bear River Energy Regulatory Capacity |
| Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians | California | $72,320 | Paskenta Tribal Utility and Microgrid Planning Project |
