Federal Regulations Proposed To Streamline Renewable Energy Projects On Tribal Land

For business, tax and legal reasons, most tribal renewable energy projects involve a tribe leasing land to a private company for the renewable energy development—and, as a matter of federal law, such leases must be reviewed and approved by the Department of Interior (DOI). The draft regulations would provide the first established procedures for obtaining federal approval specifically for WSR leases and permits. This is significant because there is a vast potential for renewable energy development on tribal lands but, despite considerable tribal interest, very few such projects have been developed so far. If and when finalized, the WSR regulations should help spur renewable energy development by streamlining the federal approval process for such projects on tribal land.

Unrealized Potential for Renewable Energy Development
Tribal lands have many inherent advantages for renewable energy development. Significantly, large swaths of land—more than 55 million acres in the lower 48 states²—are owned by the federal government in trust for Native American tribes. Though it represents only 5% of the land area of the United States, Indian country contains 10% of all renewable energy resources. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimates that there is the potential for approximately 535 billion kWh/year of wind energy alone on tribal land, equivalent to 14% of the United States' current annual energy generation.³ For solar resources, NREL estimates that tribal land has 17,600 kWh/year of solar energy potential in the lower 48 states, which is 4.5 times the current U.S. annual energy generation.

Read more: Federal Regulations Proposed To Streamline Renewable Energy Projects On Tribal Land

¹ Preliminary Draft of Part 162, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, INDIAN AFFAIRS (proposed February 15, 2011) (to be codified at 25 C.F.R. 162), available at http://www.bia.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/text/idc013123.pdf
² NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION , THE NEW ENERGY FUTURE IN INDIAN COUNTRY: CONFRONTING CLIMATE CHANGE, CREATING JOBS, AND CONSERVING NATURE (2010) available at http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/Media-Center/Reports/Archive/2010/~/media/PDFs/Global%20Warming/Reports/03-23-10_NWF_TribalLands_LoRes.ashx
³ Lizana K. Pierce, DOE’s Tribal Energy Program (DOE 2010).