With tribal landholdings in the southwestern United States equivalent to the size of Minnesota, it appears that tribal solar initiatives, in the words of one advocate, could "generate enough power to eradicate all fossil fuel burning power plants in the United States."

Honor the Earth's Dann Sisters Project

Western Shoshone territory is where the majority of the country's nuclear waste is slated to go. Yucca Mountain is at the heart of Western Shoshone, or Newe Segobia, and the issue of who owns the land, and who has the rights out here, is key to what will happen. Carrie and Mary Dann are two Western Shoshone matriarchs opposing Bureau of Land Management (BLM) encroachment on their lands. Their struggles of sovereignty and environmental justice are intricately linked to issues of nuclear waste disposal, western mining laws and the taking of Native lands. For the past three decades, the Danns have been the backbone of Western Shoshone resistance in opposing the theft of their land and Nuclear Waste. The Treaty of Ruby Valley in 1863, secured land, which today is within Nevada to the Western Shoshone Nation. At no point in the last 150 years has any other agreement been made that cedes any of the aforementioned land in the treaty to anyone other than the Western Shoshone. Yet, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has consistently tried to remove the Dann sisters from their land. As well, the federal proposal to move the nation's nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, is within the traditional territory of the Western Shoshone Nation, and represents, not only a grave environmental injustice, but a huge mistake for national energy policy, and violation of the 1863 treaty. For more information on Western Shoshone Land struggles, click here.

The Dann ranch has no electricity or running water. They have one refrigerator, two freezers, several house lights, a television, a radio, and a water pump all operating from a gas generator. The electrical load at the Ranch is low, yet this community is central to the Western Shoshone struggle for justice. Honor the Earth seeks to "solarize" a strategic heartland of Western Shoshone territory while drawing attention to America's nuclear waste policy and the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. We believe that the Western Shoshone nation should have solar power not nuclear waste.

Our intent is to build a model and to leverage support for broader alternative energy policy in Native America. Tribal landholdings in the southwestern United States hold vast solar potential and could very well provide support for local economies and for income generation. We seek to leverage support for alternative energy in Native America at both a tribal and national level as part of a broad campaign by Honor the Earth and our affiliates towards energy justice.