Amelia Schafer
ICT
On the 10th anniversary of the #noDAPL movement, a three-day summit in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, where the occupation took place, aims to address gaps in renewable energy funding for tribal nations and pave a pathway for future sustainability projects.
Amidst rising energy costs and the halting of numerous multi-million dollar tribal renewable energy projects following federal budget cuts, The People of the Sun summit, to take place Sept. 16-18 and hosted by the capacity-building, nonprofit organization Indigenized Energy, will provide space for strategy building and planning amidst celebration.
“It’s really time to try to understand how important energy sovereignty is,” said Cody Two Bears, a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and CEO and founder of Indigenized Energy. “Whether it’s in your home, whether it’s in your community, your state or your country, it’s really time to look at that and see the importance of truly becoming energy sovereign where you come from.”
Dozens of tribes currently risk losing $1.5 billion in climate project funding previously promised to them through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 as a result of cuts made in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to the Brookings Institute.
Through the event, organizers hope to raise funds to support tribes whose grants were pulled. Two Bears said Indigenized Energy was supposed to be awarded one of the $136 million federal solar grants intended to power five different states, but following the mass cut of renewable energy projects, it lost that funding opportunity.
“There’s a lot of tribes that are sitting here with the whole plan ready to deploy, and this is just another way to create movement on making some of those projects feasible and make sure that they’re not for nothing,” Two Bears said. “So that’s just another way to bring attention and awareness around that, but also another way to make sure that a lot of our energy sovereignty plans through our tribal nations don’t lose that momentum. So that’s the importance of this event.”
The #noDAPL protests brought global attention to Indigenous sovereignty, environmental justice and energy development as a whole, making a 10th anniversary celebration the perfect setting for dialogue on continued development projects, Two Bears said.
At the time of the protests, Two Bears was serving as a tribal council representative for the Cannon Ball district, the very area where protesters were gathered. The movement inspired him to start Indigenized Energy in 2017, he said.
“I got a chance to learn about many different cultures, many different stories, and many different things that have happened as far as extraction and fossil fuels that happen within their reservation homelands,” he said.
While the summit’s main focus centers on tribal energy, the event will also feature a concert with the band Mumford and Sons, and Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas. Taboo is Shoshone and Hopi. The event will also feature appearances from several A-list celebrities, including actors Mark Ruffalo and Shailene Woodley. Woodley attended the 2016 #noDAPL protests and was arrested on Oct. 10, 2016, and charged with criminal trespassing and engaging in a riot while protesting and was later sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation.
“Even though the pipeline has been laid, even though the pipeline has gone through, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we hang our heads and we feel bad because of that,” Two Bears said. “There’s a lot of good that has happened because of it, a lot of seeds have been planted all over the world and we want to be able to recognize all those success stories at this event and to be able to build upon them and then be able to continue to network and collaborate for the future.”
The event will also feature an awards ceremony to celebrate leaders in Indigenous energy.
“We want to make sure we’re showcasing those Native tribes, those champions and leaders out there,” Two Bears said.
Event tickets are not yet available, but proceeds will go toward supporting Indigenized Energy’s goal of providing no-cost, renewable energy projects to tribal nations.
“The reason why there’s a ticket price is because we want to continue to make sure that our work in ongoing supporting tribes is free of charge,” Two Bears said. “A lot of the projects are slowing down and tribes are really wanting to pursue renewable energy more than ever.”
While the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is not directly responsible for organizing the event, all of the events take place on the tribe’s lands and several will be held at its tribal casino, Prairie Knights in Fort Yates, North Dakota.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe did not respond to requests for comment.
