The report highlights the powerful conversations, meaningful collaborations, and momentous accords reached among Native American tribal leaders and officials from the federal government – including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Department of the Interior about the critical considerations needed to support a just transition to a clean energy future.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, an Indigenous-led nonprofit that supports the self-determined efforts of Native American tribes to transition to a clean energy future, today released the 2023 Tribal Energy Equity Summit Proceedings Summary Report.
The report highlights the powerful conversations, meaningful collaborations, and momentous accords reached at the 2023 Tribal Energy Equity Summit among Native American tribal leaders and officials from the federal government – including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Department of the Interior about critical energy considerations such as siting, transmission, interconnection, and the many resources currently available to tribes to support a just transition to a clean energy future.
“For four days in May 2023, the Tribal Energy Equity Summit convened for the first time in history Native American tribal leaders with officials from the federal government for the purposes of establishing relationships and catalyzing more meaningful and effective dialogue about energy,” said Chéri A. Smith (Mi’kmaq Descendant), Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy Founder, President, and CEO. “The most significant takeaway from the Summit proceedings report is that it reveals the somber truth that virtually every major energy development in our country’s history has happened at the expense of Native American people,” Smith said. “We are hopeful that the reverent conversation and demonstrable meeting of the minds that occurred at the Summit will spark the consequential changes to energy policy and regulation needed to ensure a just transition to clean energy for tribes.”
Throughout the Summit, tribal participants discussed how tribes desire to “show up as leaders” in the transition to a clean energy future, exercising sovereignty and jurisdiction over their power and the significance of working collaboratively with U.S. federal agencies. To that end, they developed and issued a Tribal Statement of Intent, to guide future engagement and dialogue between Tribal and federal governments:
“We demand to be met where we are in energy development and regulation – and to be included at the leadership tables that inform, educate, and share policy and regulations – to remediate past harms, to promote and protect sovereignty and inclusivity, and to ensure generational benefits and equity for all Native Americans.”
2023 Tribal Energy Equity Summit – Proceedings Summary Report Highlights
The 2023 Tribal Energy Equity Summit Proceedings Summary Report contains the results of consensus and caucus work conducted by participants and documented by facilitators Lesley Kabotie (Crow) and Paul Kabotie (Hopi) and their team of professionals at Indigenous Collaboration, a Native-woman-owned public benefit corporation.
History of energy regulation and development and its impact on tribes: Summit facilitators guided tribal leaders in sharing their personal experiences with the trauma caused by energy development and regulation in Indian Country and weaving it together with the documented historical timeline. The report chronicles this highly sensitive and interactive session.
Strategic approaches to ensuring this transition is equitable and just: Tribal leaders discussed how tribes desire to “show up as leaders” in the transition to a clean energy future, exercising sovereignty and jurisdiction over their energy sources and systems, and the significance of working collaboratively with federal representatives at the Tribal Energy Equity Summit and beyond.
Organized and hosted by the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, with financial support from the MacArthur, McKnight, and Energy Foundations, the 2023 Tribal Energy Equity Summit was a pivotal convening of over 200 attendees, including 50 Tribal leaders from 42 Native American Tribes and Alaska Nations, 50 tribe-supporting organizations, 12 officials from the Departments of Energy and Interior, 17 officials from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, including keynote speaker, FERC Chairman Willie Phillips. The 2023 Tribal Energy Equity Summit Proceedings Summary Report is the first in a series of Summit follow-up activities promised for participants, as well as those who could not be in attendance, to continue the dialogue and momentum that was kindled at the Summit.
To download the 2023 Tribal Energy Equity Summit Proceedings Summary Report, click here.
About Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy
The Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy is an Indigenous-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports the self-determined efforts of Native American tribes to transition to a clean and regenerative energy future. The Alliance’s no-cost offerings include the critical technical and financial assistance and wrap-around services necessary to build tribal capacity to access and manage the unprecedented amounts of federal funding currently available for developing clean energy infrastructure.
The Alliance provides assistance to tribes through a curated network of preferred energy service providers and developers who are carefully vetted by a Native-led committee of energy experts to minimize the chances for exploitation. The Alliance is funded by philanthropy, including the MacArthur Foundation, Energy Foundation, and Invest in Our Future fund.
For information on joining the Alliance as a tribal partner or preferred provider, visit www.tribalcleanenergy.org
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SOURCE Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy
