Organizations representing 150 American cities interested in climate protection and a number of Indian tribes in the Great Plains and Great Lakes regions have jointly announced a call to kick off an Energy Independence Day campaign to start building renewable energy generation facilities on Indian reservations. The campaign is scheduled to begin this spring.
The Energy Independence Day Campaign seeks to hasten the day when America is energy-secure and -independent with the production of clean, emission-free renewable energy. This joint campaign seeks to promote tribally-owned clean energy projects to meet the emission reduction goals of U.S. cities, said Susan Ode, outreach director for the U.S. Cities for Climate Protection program of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). Over 150 U.S. cities have already voluntarily pledged to reduce their carbon emissions through conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.
American Indians recognize the value of renewable energy in addressing climate change and in building sustainable homeland economies. This campaign aims to bring rural tribes and urban governments together in a partnership for renewable generation and carbon emissions reductions, said Patrick Spears, a Lakota from the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, and president of the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy (Intertribal COUP).
Intertribal COUP is composed of federally recognized Indian tribes in the Dakotas and Nebraska, with affiliated tribes throughout the West. The group promotes renewable energy policies based on tribal self-determination and ecological sustainability. The Northern Great Plains is perhaps the worlds richest wind energy regime, and COUP has proposed a collaborative intertribal project for some 3,000 MW of tribally-owned wind power to be built on two-dozen Indian reservations across the Great Plains by 2010, said Bob Gough, Intertribal COUP secretary. Bringing tribes with tremendous renewable resources across the country together with cities seeking to reduce the burning of fossil based fuels has created a natural alliance.
U.S. Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) is part of the worldwide ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability. The CCPs goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities through local actions designed to address global warming and improve the quality of life in our communities, said Ode.
The Energy Independence Day Campaign is open to all tribes and cities willing to commit to producing or promoting the purchase of utility-scale renewable energy for sale into the national transmission grid. Local Governments and Tribes can participate through endorsement of the Declaration of Energy Independence, educational and promotional outreach, conservation and energy efficiency, and/or green energy purchases. By encouraging local businesses and households to purchase tribally-generated renewable energy and/or green tags, participating local governments can achieve some or all of their emission reduction goals consistent with their communities global warming reduction strategy, said Ode.
This rural-urban/tribal-cities partnership can create many thousands of good green jobs, foster markets, efficiently and cost-effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and build ecologically sustainable economies based on the clean generation and efficient use of renewable energy, Gough said.
A number of city and tribal representatives are scheduled to convene during the March Pow-Wow to be held in Denver March 21 to officially endorse a Declaration of Energy Independence, which will be circulated among cities and tribes throughout the country and delivered to the White House on the 4th of July.
Loading...