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Tribal nations have the ability to regulate energy on tribal lands. A new initiative by tribal elected officials aims to lower the cost of energy for Indigenous people living on tribal lands. 

Michael Childs Jr. is an elected leader from the Prairie Island Indian Community, a Dakota nation near Red Wing. Childs has worked for energy companies in the southeast part of the state for many years. 

He is concerned with energy costs passed onto Indigenous people living on tribal lands. 

“When you look at the majority of Natives ... are they going to be able to absorb these cost increases?” Childs said. 

Data collected by the state of Minnesota shows that Indigenous people who live on tribal lands have the highest “energy burden.”

Energy burden is calculated by how much an individual household’s gross income is spent on  energy bills.  

Data shows Indigenous people living on tribal lands they have lowest average household incomes and pay more of their income toward their energy bills. 

It has been an issue for years. The Minnesota Indian Affairs council believes tribal leaders can help bring down the high cost of energy through policymaking.  

Last week, Michael Childs Jr, and other tribal leaders formed the Tribal Advocacy Council on Energy. 

The effort began with a resolution passed by Minnesota Indian Affairs Council calling for the creation of an elected body dedicated to tribal energy issues.  

The new initiative comes at a moment when the state is working toward a major green energy goal. The state is requiring utilities to give customers 100 percent carbon free electricity by 2040.  

The new council will make policy recommendations to state and federal agencies on a wide range of energy issues. Tribal leaders tapped Childs to help lead. 

“Our Tribal communities are coming together to find collective strength in our relations with the state of Minnesota, to work as allies who recognize the need for a just transition to clean energy, and to create a legacy of energy independence,” Childs said in a recent news release. 

Childs says relationships between state and federal agencies and tribes have been lacking for a long time. 

“Things have happened in the state of Minnesota because there weren’t relationships. One, with the eleven sovereign nations and also us as a group and trying to think collectively,” Childs said. 

Jackie Dionne is a tribal liaison for the Minnesota Department of Commerce. She said Indigenous households on tribal lands have experienced brown outs and black outs for many years. 

“The delivery of energy is being done to tribes, but not under any regulatory authority of tribes,” Dionne said. 

The Minnesota Department of Commerce supports the new council.  

“Energy is still an area in which we have no policy, no ability within the state and federal to work with tribes. Tribes still have their policies, and they can develop energy policies as they want, but the whole delivery system was built without them,” Dionne said. 

Childs hopes that having a seat the table will provide tribal nations an opportunity to influence energy policy at an earlier point. And that improved relationships will keep tribal households from being hit hard with energy costs they can't afford. 

“It’s about trying to build consultation so that we are kinda ... brought into the discussion well before things get started. That’s where this advocacy can really help give that input,” Childs said. 

The new council is comprised of an appointee from each Tribal nation, and an alternate. Ten of the eleven Tribal Nations located in Minnesota have chosen to participate. 

Childs said the next step will be for the council to name a co-chair to help lead their work. 

Melissa Olson

Author

Tribal elected officials say the cost of energy on tribal lands is higher than it should be. So they formed a new advocacy body to make policy recommendations to state and federal agencies on energy issues. 

Tribal elected officials say the cost of energy on tribal lands is higher than it should be. So they formed a new advocacy body to make policy recommendations to state and federal agencies on energy issues. 

Tribal Advocacy Council on Energy aims to ease power woes in Indian Country

Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Commerce

Kimm Anderson for MPR News

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Tribal Advocacy Council on Energy aims to ease power woes in Indian Country

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