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WASHINGTON – Energy infrastructure is lacking for tribes like the White Earth Nation in Minnesota. The tribe has “suffered from the effects of energy poverty,” said Raymond Auginaush, a council member for the White Earth Nation.

Auginaush testified before lawmakers last week in Washington, D.C., to urge them to take action on such issues and advised them about how to do so in a way that would be of the greatest benefit to tribes.

The Tribal Energy Reauthorization Act would ensure the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs (OIE) at the U.S. Department of Energy continues to operate through 2030, with a budget of $50 million per year.

Auginaush said it is important that the reauthorization bill passes because the DOE has allowed the tribe to “create greater control of their energy imports” by establishing a plan for solar and wind energy infrastructure.

For example, the DOE helped the Ute Mountain Ute tribe construct community-scale solar panels in 2017.

“We are also looking at job opportunities through this,” Auginaush said. Further funding would allow for solar farms and hydroelectric dam construction on tribal land.

Respecting sovereignty while boosting energy independence

Kevin Frost, director of the OIE, said his staff is working to build the energy independence of tribes while understanding and respecting their sovereignty. He said his office works as a liaison between complicated treaty policy, sovereign tribes and the federal government to establish energy project grants.

“We honor every tribe’s energy goals,” Frost testified.

Frost is a member of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and served on the Tribal Council. He recognized the tribe as a fast-growing leader in energy independence, reflecting on when he once lived without electricity.

“I know the luxury and privilege of flipping a light switch,” Frost said in his introductory statements to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Maranda Compton, co-coordinator of the Native Affairs practice at the firm Van Ness Feldman, works with the OIE regularly. She said the office has deepened its interactions with tribes over the past couple of years by providing technical expertise, funding and loan guarantees.

The OIE identifies viable and affordable sources of energy capital, and loan guarantees in particular have been an effective tool for tribes, Compton said.

Since 2018, the OIE has also funded energy infrastructure for tribes. In the past, the office focused solely on energy generation, not things like transmission lines. The opportunity to fund community-level infrastructure projects on tribal land through the Tribal Energy Reauthorization Act is a key development because tribes don’t always attract the kind of commercial development they need, Compton said. Tribes have a local government that doesn’t have a tax base like other communities to fund infrastructure.

“I hope these community-level opportunities show Indian country is a great place to develop cutting edge energy projects,” which companies can then take to market at the commercial level, Compton told The Durango Herald in a phone interview.

Under Frost’s leadership, Compton said the OIE has the “benefit of a director from Indian country, from a tribe that is pretty progressive and commercially savvy.”

By providing a wider array of options and focusing on what works best for each tribe, Frost has promoted economic self-determination and enhanced tribal sovereignty in his role as director of the OIE, he said.

Cost-sharing for energy projects In his testimony before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Frost advocated protecting cost-sharing, which otherwise might have been removed under the reauthorization bill.

“Cost-sharing is a foundational element of responsible expenditure of taxpayer funds, and the department has significant concerns about completely removing the requirement” because it could limit the number of projects the office can authorize, Frost testified.

Instead of eliminating the requirement, Frost said he would work with legislators to develop a methodology that avoids an unaffordable financial burden on indigenous tribes.

“Lower tribal cost-share translates into increased DOE funding per grant, fewer tribal energy projects, and therefore fewer tribes benefiting from the same level of funding,” Frost wrote in his testimony.

Emily Hayes is a graduate student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald.