Indian Affairs Announces Tribal Energy Development Capacity Grants

Tribal Energy Development

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.

GranteeStateAmountProject
Bristol Bay Native CorporationAlaska$300,000Electric Utility Collaboration: Developing Capacity Amongst Small Microgrids in Bristol Bay
Otoe-Missouria Tribe of IndiansOklahoma$209,845Tribal Utility Authority Feasibility Study Project
Fort Independence Community of the Paiute IndiansCalifornia$165,000Energy Sovereignty: Development for the Fort Independence Community’s Tribal Utility Authority Feasibility Study
Lac Courte Orielles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa IndiansWisconsin$165,000Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribal Utility Study
Seminole Tribe of FloridaFlorida$160,889Tribal Utility Authority Phase III Feasibility Study
Seneca Nation of IndiansNew York$150,050Energy Organizational Development Project
Reno-Sparks Indian ColonyNevada$150,000Hungry Valley Tribal Utility Authority, and Reno Government Complex Energy Infrastructure Feasibility Project
Lummi NationWashington$150,000Tribal Electric Utility District Feasibility Study Project
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe – White Earth Band of Chippewa IndiansMinnesota$150,000Tribal Energy Development Capacity Grant
Standing Rock Sioux TribeNorth Dakota$149,680Standing Rock (SAGE) Renewable Energy Power Authority Capacity Building
Picuris PuebloNew Mexico$118,000Form a Pueblo Tribal Utility and Develop Appropriate Utility Code Provisions
Spirit Lake TribeNorth Dakota$117,720Phase II Tribal Utility Formation & Execution for the Spirit Lake Tribe 2022
Menominee Indian Tribe of WisconsinWisconsin$100,000Tribal Energy Development Capacity Grant – Feasibility Study 
Little River Band of Ottawa IndiansMichigan$99,420Tribal Utility Authority Feasibility Study 2022
Pechanga Band of IndiansCalifornia$94,200Study the Feasibility of Expanding Pechanga Western Electric to Supply Wholesale Natural Gas to the Reservation
Morongo Band of Mission IndiansCalifornia$92,000Continuation of Tribal Utility Authority Feasibility – Special Utility District
Bear River Band of the Rohnverville RancheriaCalifornia$87,382Bear River Energy Regulatory Capacity
Paskenta Band of Nomlaki IndiansCalifornia$72,320Paskenta Tribal Utility and Microgrid Planning Project