Think Progress: The Obama Administration Just Gave Nine Tribal Nations $7M To Fund Clean Energy Proj

The Reid-Gardner coal plant is seen near a farm on the Moapa Indian Reservation.

The U.S. fossil fuel boom has not been easy on American Indians. Pollution is one problem, hunger for coal is another. While the people of the Moapa Paiute Reservation in Nevada wait for a promised solar energy center, smokestacks from the Reid-Gardner coal-fired power plant cake local homes with black dust. West of the Mississippi, Indian reservations contain almost 30 percent of the nation’s coal, but regulations from the Bureau of Indian Affairs limiting reservation energy development prevents tribes from fully capitalizing.

So even when coal is developed, tribes don’t see the money — they just see soot. But American Indian land — which makes up only 2 percent of the country — also has the potential to produce more than 5 percent of total renewable power generation, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, which on Thursday announced an investment of $7 million into nine tribal clean energy projects.

More here: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/11/18/2959721/tribal-nations-fund-clean-energy/

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