"We believe the wind is wakan, or sacred, and bringing the power of the wind to our communities and our future is key to our survival and a part of honoring our instructions..." - Pat Spears, President Intertribal Council On Utility Policy.

The first Native American-owned and -operated large-scale turbine in the country went on line in February 2003. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe's 750-kilowatt wind turbine is the first commercial turbine, with 30 megawatt projects planned for the Northern Cheyenne reservation (Montana), Makah reservation (Washington), and Rosebud in South Dakota. As well, the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of Fort Peck hope to bring a 660-kilowatt turbine on line. That turbine alone will reduce the tribal electric bill by $134,000 annually, help establish a senior citizen's kitchen to feed elders daily, and finance other programs through savings. Recently funded projects on the White Earth, Red Lake, Leech Lake, Fond Du Lac and Grand Portage reservations will bring more power to lands in Minnesota. Broad work in both technical assistance and creative financing mechanisms by Honor the Earth, in coordination with Intertribal Council On Utility Policy has the promise, if supported, of bringing more wind power to the reservations, and to the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) grid system.

Electricity generation capacity in the United States is about 600-gigawatts. Native reservations in the Great Plains possess the wind energy potential for over one-half of that amount. Placement of even a fraction of this energy source on reservations into the United States electricity grid would make a significant impact on the standard of living for Native Americans, adding to a tribally-owned and managed economic flow to benefit some of the most impoverished communities in the country. These tribal communities also represent, in the words of Robert Gough from the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy, the "head winds" for the regional "windshed;" in other words, the prevailing winds from the region largely move eastward into the area of greatest United States energy usage. As Gough further explains, with regards to future electrical generation, "the Great Lakes and Northeast can either fill that demand with coal or we can fill that with wind." The coal generation (evidenced by Basin Electric) represents not only a CO2 contribution to global warming and climate change problems, but additionally, the toxic emissions of coal fired power plants: mercury, heavy metals, SOX2, NOX3, all of which drift into the Great Lakes region. The options for large-scale tribal wind generation, therefore, would provide substantial ecological as well as long term economic benefits to customers from the region and the United States overall. Tribal wind advocates hope to bring at least 3000 megawatts of wind power to the market in the next ten years.

This is just a beginning. Solar power has similar potential. Each year, as Dennis Hayes (founder of Earth Day) notes, the sun pours more power onto America's highways than all fossil fuels used in the world.

Indian country has unemployment rates that are 50% or more, so the communities could benefit both from small-scale assembly work, and from the potential for renewable energy's job creation in rural areas. Investing in alternative energy is investing in jobs, since the fuel supply is from the Creator. The European Union estimates 2.77 jobs in wind for every megawatt produced, 7.24 jobs/megawatt in solar, and 5.67 jobs/megawatt in Geothermal. Or, in short, l000 megawatts of alternative energy power averages 6000 jobs, or 60 times more high paying jobs than in fossil fuels and nuclear power. So, we can either create jobs and economic stability in Indian Country or we can continue to line the pockets of utilities and energy companies.

Pine Ridge Reservation Project

Honor the Earth is engaged in two renewable energy projects that will serve as the beginning of an alternative energy system for the Pine Ridge reservation. In partnership with community groups, the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, Intertribal COUP and Native Energy, Honor the Earth is helping to leverage the funds needed to construct wind turbines at KILI radio and the White Plume Tiosapaye/Community Center. We also continue to develop other potential partners for the future in order to expand our wind energy work.

A prime example of two extremes, the Pine Ridge Reservation on the plains of western South Dakota has excellent wind energy potential. Yet, the Reservation encompasses one of the poorest counties in the country. The Oglala Lakota suffer from 70% + unemployment and a per capita income far below the poverty level. Monthly residential electric bills in the area average $87, but in many Lakota households range to $l50-200 a month because of large, extended families living in each home and energy inefficient appliances.

The KILI Radio station in Porcupine, SD Sitting on an isolated butte six miles from Wounded Knee, KILI Radio is the largest Native radio station in the country. The station is owned by Lakota Communications, Inc., a community-owned, non-profit corporation. KILI is also recognized by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and is the emergency broadcast station for southwestern South Dakota. Because KILI is one of the largest consumers and most visible entities on the reservation, a wind project that generates even a portion of KILI's power supply would allow the station to more effectively serve the Lakota people and promote alterative energy development on a wide scale. The wind speed at KILI radio is l2.8 miles an hour at 60 feet up and l3.6 miles per hour at 80 feet up- with excellent potential.

The White Plume Tiospaye, an influential family, was part of the four-year Big Foot Memorial Ride to the Wounded Knee Massacre site as part of a healing process for the Oglala. White Plume has been active in repatriation work, most notably regarding the possessions of victims of the Wounded Knee Massacre, which are held in various private collections. The White Plume Tiosapaye has carried out the policies of the Oglala Lakota Nation in production of industrial hemp, and has for four years produced industrial hemp crops on the reservation. This Tiosapaye would seek an integrated alternative energy system for the local community center, including solar photovoltaics and wind.

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