WASHINGTON – Members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet impressed tribal attendees of the National Congress of American Indians winter session, held in early March. Several top administrators promised to improve and assist tribes in developing energy resources, while strengthening federal and tribal relations.
In sum, addresses were given by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecelia Munoz.
Chu seemed to make the biggest impression, given the desires of many tribes to benefit from energy initiatives, including renewable developments, planned for by the Obama administration.
The secretary promised to fully empower a tribal office in the energy department and to hold a summit this year on energy issues that affect Indian country. The most recent such summit was held in 1994.
“It is important for policy makers to hear tribal leader’s concerns,” Chu said in a speech given March 3. “It is the obligation of the department to include American Indians and Alaska Natives in the decision making process. Indian country must have a seat at the table. The challenges are great, but the possibilities are greater.”
Chu further said he supports energy tax production credits for tribes and wants the federal government to move faster on cleaning up atomic energy sites on or near reservations.
His remarks were met by a large round of applause.
Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, said Chu’s remarks were refreshing, especially given the limited attention to tribal issues from the Bush administration during the previous eight years.
“I think this bodes well for the kinds of things we are hoping will be beneficial for Indian country.”
Keeping in line with Chu’s promises, Salazar told tribal leaders that his department will assist tribes in their efforts to harness solar and wind energy, as well as in exploring geothermal resources for economic development.
“We must make sure Native American communities are participants and beneficiaries of the new virtual energy revolution. As we move forward, Indian country should not be left behind.”
In a later speech the same day, Salazar spoke to the Council of Energy Resource Tribes summit on Native energy development. He noted that tribal lands have major resources for renewable energy as well as rich sources of conventional fossil fuels.
“Indian country offers some of the premier wind energy sites in the United States. I look forward to exploring with tribes the potential for wind, geothermal, biomass and solar energy development that exists on those lands.”
The Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development has identified 77 reservations that possess commercial-scale wind resources and the ability to support viable wind-based economies. Forty of these are in states that have enacted policies requiring utilities to purchase a percentage of their power from renewable sources.
Jackson discussed a few key energy and environmental issues at the NCAI meeting as well. She said it is important that tribal communities affected by environmental degradation are heard from.
She elaborated in an interview with Indian Country Today after her speech that President Obama is against a proposed nuclear waste storage site in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, which some Western tribes have opposed for spiritual and health reasons.
She said the EPA should be “first and foremost” in assisting tribal leaders in understanding the possible health impacts from mining and other polluting sources near reservations.
Jackson noted, too, that tribal leaders have long been concerned that the EPA’s tribal division is located within its water division.
“It’s time to move the location of that office to give it more of a crosscutting role in the agency. It’s something that I intend to address very soon. I am certainly willing to move it. I think that the most important question is where it moves to, and that’s a decision that I would like to make once we have our full staff in place.”
Jackson also pledged to hold a summit with tribes in the fall that will focus on improving tribal programs and agency responses to climate change.
Beyond energy and the environment, Munoz assured attendees that the Obama administration will work with tribes on a government-to-government basis.
“It’s a time of great promises and extraordinary challenges. You know what works and doesn’t work in your own community. We look forward to working with tribal leaders and NCAI to hear your concerns.”
