Sacred Power Corporation-Renewable Technologies for Today

Indian Tribes Lead America's Efforts to Utilize Alternative Energy Sources and Establish Conservation Programs

National Indian Gaming Association
Press Release
April 23, 2007
Contact Jesse Renteria: (202) 546-7711

Washington, DC, April 23, 2007- Indian Tribes across America celebrated Earth Day this past weekend and used the day to showcase tribal efforts that demonstrate a variety of green energy and conservation programs to preserve and improve reservation lands and the overall environment.

An on-going concern and respect for the environment has long been a tenet of native culture. As Chief Seattle so eloquently noted more than 150 years ago, “Man did not weave the web of life-he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”

In Indian Country, it is said that that work done today should provide a better life for the next seven generations. In keeping with that philosophy, tribes have made long-term investments in environment-frendly projects funded, in large part, by resources from Indian Gaming.

For example, a tribe leading the charge in this arena is the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians of California. The tribe recognized years ago the need for a well-conceived, environmentally sound industry to diversify its economy.

Their reservation, located on four sections of non-contiguous land on the eastern half of the Coachella Valley in Reverside County, is approximately 25 miles east of Palm Springs. It comprises 1500 acres and currently has the seventh highest residential electricity rates among U.S. Native American reservations.

The tribe set aside a 590-acre area if its reservation for a resource recovery park. Cabazon now operates Colmac Energy, Inc., a biomass-fueled power generation plant, and First Nation Recovery Inc., a crumb rubber manufacturer from old tires.

Another tribe, the Shakopee Mdwewakanton Sioux Community, located near Prior Lake, Minnesota, has invested in a venture that generates electricity, using waste from malting and food processing. The biomass generation project is environmentally friendly, cleaner than coal and will someday provide enough energy for all Community’s needs and still have excess energy available for sale.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Sacred Power Corporation located at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, is a native –owned and operated small business with a charter to provide renewable and distributive energy and telecommunications solutions. The company’s goal is end our dependence on polluting energy sources and convert to renewable technologies that provide clean, long-term solutions.

NIGA’s Chairman, Ernest L. Stevens, Jr. is committed to promoting Indian Country’s commitment to alternative energy sources. “Indian Country is committed to the development of alternative energy resources,” he remarked. “Indian tribes have a strong commitment to energy independence for Indian Country and our nation as a whole.”

The Tribal Energy Program, under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, provides financial and technical assistance to tribes for feasibility studies and shares the cost of implementing sustainable renewable energy installations on tribal lands.

Through this program, hundreds of tribes have build tribal capacity to manage their energy, assessed the feasibility of energy efficiency and renewable energy installations, and have demonstrated the viability of installing renewable energy on tribal lands.

Mohegan Tribal Chairman, Bruce Two Dogs Bozsum said, “For the Mohegan Tribe, events like Earth Day are not an end onto themselves, but a way to remind and renew our commitments to that cause. For generation upon Generation, the members of the Mohegan Tribe have understood that protecting the environment is part of our obligation to honor our past, strengthen our present, and work toward a better and brighter future-not only for our children but for all children.

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, from South Dakota, is not a Special Policy Advisor at the law firm if Alston & Bird LLP and a leading advocate for the development of renewable energy projects in Indian Country. As he recently noted at NIGA’s annual tradeshow and meeting, “By leading our country in the development of renewable energy Indian Country can enhance their own economic development and in doing so, play a central role in weaning the United States off its addition to foreign oil that is threatening our national security, undermining our economy and destroying our environment..”

Tribes across the country are already making advances in wind, ethanol and solar energy. But, as Chairman Stevens noted, “there is still much more that Indian Country can contribute to help themselves and our nation by coupling the natural resources that are so often abundant on reservations, with the innovative human capital that is plentiful in Indian Country,’’ According to Senator Daschle, “the resources are there, and the time is now.”

The National Indian Gaming Association is non-profit trade association comprised of 184 American Indian Nations and other nonvoting associate members. The mission of NIGA is to advance the lives of Indian People economically, socially and politically. NIGA operates as a clearinghouse and educational, legislative and public policy resource for tribes, policymakers and the public on Indian gaming issues, sovereignty and tribal community development.

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