about welrp

7/30/2019 About Welrp

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was received the same time the organization received two otherawards; the Blue Cross Upstream Award for our work on diabetes, andthe Northwest Area Foundation Great Strides Award, which we aresharing with the White Earth Community Investment Initiative. We also

received international recognition through the 2003 Slow Food award,recognizing our integral part in Indigenous food systems andbiodiversity, in particular our work to preserve the genetic integrity ofwild rice.

The White Earth Land Recovery Project became twenty years old in2009, a distinguished achievement for a grassroots Native Americanorganization. After twenty years, of working on many facets of ourcommunity, we are proposing an agenda for our organization in theupcoming years in four areas: (l) Nurturing Civil Society, (2) Energy

Sovereignty (3) Food Security and, (4) Economic and EnvironmentalJustice. Our strategies respond to our present situation as a Nativecommunity- one in which our reservation has a stronger set of non-profit organizations and broader community participation than manyreservations, and has, as a consequence, many opportunities to deepencollaborative work for a stronger ji- misawaabandaaming, a view for thefuture. With the creation of NIIJII Broadcasting, and our work to createthe first Native American radio station in northwestern Minnesota, wewill further this collaboration.

Over the past twenty years, we have accomplished much, bothindependently and in collaboration with a number of organizations. Wehave:

Purchased or recovered l400 acres of land, including areas used for maplesyrup production, heritage farming, cultural preservation and economicdevelopment.

We have trained over 300 Vista, and other volunteers in communitydevelopment, renewable energy, an advocacy work, and conductedextensive training programs with tribal and non tribal college andsecondary education programs, including the Pathways for a GreenerFuture Program, Fergus Falls Community College, University of Minnesotaat Morris, Northwestern University, Hamline College, St. ThomasUniversity, Northwestern University, and the University of Minnesota. We


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have hosted over 30 Vista and AmeriCorps volunteers, and many tribalvolunteers.

We have completed assessments of food and energy security on the White

Earth reservation, and shared these with tribal and non tribal programsincluding the National Congress of American Indians, Society of AmericanIndian Government Employees, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, WEWIN,United Tribes Technical College, Leech Lake Tribal College, and manyother entities. We have prepared testimony on Green and IndigenousEconomics, presented at numerous meetings regionally, nationally andinternationally.

We have worked successfully to oppose the genetic engineering of wildrice, the installation of new coal generation in our region ( Big Stone II

from Ottertail Power), and advocated on numerous environmental issues,ranging from sulfide mining to logging. We have prepared experttestimony on pesticide contamination , in particular focused on industrial

potato farming, and prepared numerous publication and articles, widelypublished on these issues.

We created Native Harvest, marketing wild rice, maple syrup , food andart products from the White Earth reservation, with $l50,000 in sales this

past year, and projected $250,000 in sales by 2012, with related

enterprises Ojibwe Foods.

We have created the first successful farm to school program on the WhiteEarth reservation and on any reservation in Minnesota, serving the PinePoint Elementary School, and now being expanded to two additionalschools. This is a national model.

We have hosted nine successful Indigenous Farming Conferences, bringingtogether Native and allied farmers in the region, and worked to restore

endangered varieties of flint corn to viable levels of production, which wehope in the next ten years will provide for food for our community, andsignificant production for sale as well as our farm to school programs.

In 2011, we brought Niijii Radio, KKWE 89.9 FM onto the air, representingthe first independent Native American radio station in Minnesota.


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We have conducted feasibility studies, anemometer readings and erectedtwo wind turbines, ten solar thermal projects and two solar photovoltaic

projects on the White Earth reservation and Red Lake reservation, andhave collaborated and created the intellectual capital for larger scale

wind on the White Earth reservation, including the tribal 750 KW Heronwind project. With our sister organization, Honor the Earth, we have beenworking with the Oglala Sioux Tribe, KILI Radio and the Bureau of Indian

Affairs on a 65 KW Nortank Turbine on the Pine Ridge reservation inSouth Dakota.

In broader outreach work and collaborations, weve published numerous

booklets and articles on sustainable and green economics .

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Community: The White Earth Reservation, or Gaawaabaabanikaag, isthe homeland to the Anishinaabeg of the Mississippi Band (also knownas the Ojibwe or Chippewa). Our ancestors chose this land because ithad the biodiversity and spiritual significance to provide for at least thefuture seven generations of our people. The land was reserved underthe 1867 treaty, which designated 837,000 acres to be the White EarthReservation. Today, our people, as the White Earth Tribe, hold only

76,347 acres or about 9% of the original land base. White EarthReservation encompasses 100% of Mahnomen County. One-third ofBecker is within the boundary of our reservation and approximatelyone-third of Clearwater County.

Twenty two percent of the Mahnomen County is governmentconsidered to live in poverty, and is the poorest county in Minnesota.The entire county is within the reservation borders. But we recognizethat money is not the only indicator of wealth. Our people are rich in

culture, a land of 47 lakes and 500 bodies of water full of fish andmedicinal plants, as well as a bountiful wild rice crop which feeds ourbellies and our souls. We also have vast, untapped renewable energyresources, and an economy which could be re-tooled to be moreefficient and create local multipliers.

Leadership: WELRP has a wealth of knowledge and experience


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directing this project and working together as a team. Our staff isprimarily residents of the White Earth Reservation. Executive Director,Winona LaDuke has led the organization since its founding in l989, afterserving as a plaintiff in land rights work on the reservation. LaDuke has

degrees from Harvard University and Antioch College ( MA RuralDevelopment) , and was a graduate fellow at the Massachusetts Instituteof Technology. Widely published , her work remains a significantcomponent to the work of the WELRP. Daryl Smith, Chief FinancialOfficer has an MBA from Boston University, and a long career in nonprofit organizational accounting and management. Teresa LaDukeserves as administrative director of Honor the Earth and has extensivejournalism experience. John Shimek is our renewable energy organizerand is a graduate of the White Earth Tribal Pathways out of PovertyGreen and Renewable Energy Training Program . This fall, he will be the

Vista position for renewable energy (one of three positions in ourorganization plus eight this summer). He has undertaken significanttraining in wind and solar thermal and photovoltaics, and will becertified for installation in our program. Cordero Hale is our secondVista renewable energy program staff. We anticipate hiring a renwableenergy policy coordinator, and consulting engineering staff to carry outthe wind energy interconnection and coordinate our engineering andpolicy work.

Board of Directors:

Chair: Kathy Goodwin, Naytauwash Community member, long timeadvocate and tribal employee, working primarily with communitycouncil and elders , Tribal member.

Steve Larson: Store owner and manager in Detroit Lakes, communitymember, and member of Kiwannis and Rotary Clubs. Wife is tribal

member.

Audrey Thayer: Executive Director of the Northern Minnesota AmericanCivil Liberties Union, Tribal member.

Sue Wika: Professor of Sustainable Agriculture at Fergus FallsCommunity College, organic farmer.


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Two seats are likely to be filled this summer. The board meets quarterlyand reviews programmatic and financial matters of the WELRP and itssubsidiary organizations, Niijii Radio, Native Harvest and Ojibwe Wind.

White Earth Renewable Energy Work and Energy Justice

Opportunity for White Earth Tribal Renewable Energy

Development and Broader Implications:

The White Earth reservation is in possession of class four commercialwind in the western portion of the reservation, substantial efficiency or

negawatts savings, solar thermal potential for many tribal homes,solar photovoltaic opportunities for tribal buildings and housing, andsubstantial access to biomass resources. Very few of these resourceshave been developed. In 2007, the White Earth Land Recovery Project,with the White Earth Tribal Council produced the White EarthAnishinabe Energy Plan, discussing many of these issues. This reporthas been used by our community and distributed to a number of tribalcommunities nationally.

In the past five years, two wind projects have come under constructionon the reservation: the WELRP Lolland project of a 75 kW wind turbine,and the White Earth Tribal Councils 750 kw Heron wind project located

in White Earth village. Neither of them is presently operational. TheWhite Earth Land Recovery Project, with partners listed previously hasinstalled approximately ten solar thermal and two solar photovoltaicprojects on the reservation and on Red Lake reservation, and in theLittle Earth Housing Project.

During the 2010-2011 period, as well, the White Earth Tribal Councilreceived a substantial Pathways out of Poverty grant from the USGovernment to create a tribal renewable energy training program Thisprogram graduated with certificates approximately 50 individuals, whohave some level of skill and interest in this arena. We wish to utilize andfurther train many of these individuals for renewable energy. In thebroader context, consider the Following:


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Tribal lands have an estimated 535 Billion kWh/year of windpower generation potential.

Tribal lands have an estimated 17,000 Billion kWh/year of solarelectricity generation potential, about 4.5 times total US annualgeneration.

Investing in renewable energy creates more jobs per dollarinvested than fossil fuel energy.

Efficiency creates 21.5 jobs for every $1 million invested. The costs of fuel for wind and solar power can be projected into

the future, providing a unique opportunity for stabilizing anenergy intensive economy.

In particular, we also note the Northwest Area Foundation prepared areport in l998, Renewable Energy Potential of Tribal Lands in Montana,

the Dakotas and Western Minnesota beginning to address this set of

issues. The report was prepared by the National Center for AppropriateTechnology. Additional reports have been prepared by the IntertribalCouncil on Utility Policy and Honor the Earth. (2010). All reportsindicate a lack of infrastructure, intellectual and technical capital andgreat renewable potential.

Climate Change, Economics and Security:

In a time of global climate destabilization and a reduction in access tocheap fossil fuels, tribal communities will face increasing hardship,which they have little or no ability to address through structural andsystemic change. Already, the White Earth reservation expendsapproximately one quarter of tribal income on energy, whether for

heating,, electricity or transportation. This represents a significant drainon our tribal economy, and, also is a prime indicator of a potentiallyunstable future.

Just as the human body adapts itself to the regular intake of hard

drugs, its systems coming to depend on them to such an extent that theuser goes through a period of acute distress if they are suddenly


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withdrawn, so the use of hard fossil energy alters the economicmetabolism and is so highly addictive that in a crisis a user community orcountry will be prepared to export almost any proportion of its annualoutput to buy its regular fix. Even in normal conditions, a community in an

industrialized country can devote a fifty of its external income to buyingenergy, an expense that not only constitutes a serious drain on itsresources but locks the community into the unpredictable gyrations of theworld trading system.

Richard Douthwaite, Short Circuit 2000

The White Earth reservations exchange of gross domestic product for

energy is higher than the national average of most industrializedcountries, yet is representative of northern remote tribal communities

who lack infrastructure or efficiency and have relatively recentlytransitioned to a fossil fuel economy. On a worldwide scale, thisexpenditure represents the largest transfer of wealth in the history ofthe world. On the White Earth reservation, this represents a veryunstable environment for future development.

In the past few years, for instance, the fuel assistance needs of the WhiteEarth reservation have been met by a combination of federal and statefunds, and those of Citizens Energy/CITGO Petroleum. The tribal

budget for fuel assistance is over $l million annually, and is projected torise. (This program, however, has been one which has had consistentsupport at a federal and state level, as the revenue transfers to theutilities and fossil fuel industry.) We believe that this continuedtransfer of wealth is best addressed by efficiency and local heatingoptions. This is an immediate family and community based approach toaddressing the drain of wealth from the community.

Regionally, these problems are augmented. Not only is much of the

housing in our northern reservations, older, trailer or generally lackingefficiencies in basic heating, but extreme weather patterns remain in theregion. Indeed, several severe weather emergencies have occurred innorthern reservations over the past two years, (Cheyenne River andNett Lake) which are likely to become more common in the climatechallenged world ahead. And, as well, sear winds have hit the WhiteEarth reservation causing dramatic damage in the past decade.


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Consider the following:

Energy distribution systems on rural reservations are extremelyvulnerable to extended power outages during winter storms,threatening the lives of reservation residents.

Reservation communities are at a statistically greater risk fromextreme weather related mortality nationwide, especially from cold,heat and drought associated with a rapidly changing climate.

Reservations are waiting on more than 200,000 needed new houses. About 1/3 of reservation homes are trailers, generally with

completely inadequate weatherization.

20 years, we will be spending some 20% of world GDP on climatechange related mitigation and disasters.

Policy and Grid Access Issues

Our tribal community, and several others in our region, are also facedwith multiple electrical providers, a lack of expertise as a tribalcommunity, either in aggregating or wheeling power (through WAPAallocations for instance), or in creating policy and mechanisms tobargain for lower prices and more efficiency. Indeed the White Earthreservation has several utilities- Ottertail Power (which also serves part

of Red Lake, Sisseton, Spirit Lake and Turtle Mountain reservations),and several rural cooperatives (Wild Rice Electric Coop, Itasca Mantrap)which are purchasing as a part of Great River and Basin Electric. Thetribal community exercises little or no decision making authority inthese utilities, and limited strategic analysis has been undertaken as toopportunities to move these entities towards more ecologically andeconomically sensible strategies. Much of this work has historicallybeen discussed by the Intertribal Council on Utility Policy.

This situation is augmented by state net metering policies in Minnesota.Although Minnesota is a leading state in wind energy development, theindustry has been polarized into two segments- large scale utility windand small scale home owned wind- or wind generation which producesat a level under the net metering regulations. In short, Minnesotas

ceiling on net metering preferential purchases) at 40 kW, is costprohibitive for reliable and community based wind generation


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development. Most tribal communities, in our region, while possessinggood commercial wind potential, lack the resources for larger scaledwind generation, and are limited in their interest or trust in enteringinto partnerships with wind developers for larger scale utility wind .

This situation is complicated by grid access issues in the WAPA andOttertail grid area, in particular, as limited access has become anobstacle. These issues have been of major interest to manyenvironmental and renewable energy organizations in the state, and aswell the University of Minnesota at Morris.

Finally, these policy and economic issues are coupled with technical andintellectual capacity access. The US renewable industry, in particularthe wind industry is far behind European wind development- in termsof technology, policy and intellectual capital. This is an immense

problem in the largest energy market in the world. This is also veryproblematic in tribal communities increasingly grid tied, and dependentupon large scale utility generation in the face of global climate change,directly related to, for instance coal generation. (Basin Electric is thesingle largest CO2 emitting utility in the US and the generating plants,primarily in North Dakota have huge ecological footprints for ourregion.) Over the past decade, the White Earth Land Recovery Projecthas worked to begin addressing these issues through education,advocacy, tribal policy proposals, state and national policy

recommendations and pilot project development. Much of our work isdocumented in the White Earth Anishinaabe Energy Plan, and severalother publications as well as numerous articles and a number of pilotprojects. We wish to nurture this work, and build on our intellectualcapital to create solutions to this dilemma. We have companioned ourwork with Honor the Earth, a national organization, and with SolarEnergy International, Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (Pine River),Lakota Solar Enterprises (Pine Ridge)and other organizations.

Indigenous Renewable Energy Development Systemic Challenges:

On a worldwide scale, there is significant renewable energy potential inIndigenous territories, yet the same challenges are found everywhere,often causing opposition to renewable energy projects, and or a lack ofcommunity control and ownership. Energy is an essential element toIndigenous economies in this critical millennium, and investments must


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be made in strategic planning to insure that development is subject tothe criteria of: (1) meeting energy needs; (2) is culturally appropriate;(3) is environmentally sustainable; (4) is socially responsible; and, (5) iseconomically just and viable. In addition, criteria of interspecies and

intergenerational justice need to be considered in this arena.

The challenges include a history and set of relations and builtinfrastructure which are in many cases part and parcel of the US

unsustainable fossil fuels nuclear or centralized power productionsystem.

A second challenge involves lack of access to financial capital forIndigenous self-determination in energy, as the vast majority of energycapital is enmeshed in large scale corporate and government controlled

energy projects.

A third set of challenges involve the technology itself, as renewableenergy in the North American context lags far behind the worldstandard, due to misprioritized investments and the lack of political willat federal, state and local levels of governance.

This is to say that whether the renewable energy strategy involves tidalgeneration, mid-sized wind, or scaled solar, the intellectual and

technical capital for most of these projects and prospects lies either in aforeign country or in the military sector of the American economy, andhas not been released for civilian use, even though energy self-sufficiency is a key element of national security.

A fourth challenge faced by Indigenous peoples in energy self-determination is intellectual capital. This challenge is a result of both abrain drain of tribal intellectuals to large corporations (who recruitsuccessfully most Indigenous engineers, economists, geologists etc), and

the fact that the actual technical and intellectual capital for renewabledevelopment exists by and large outside of North America. Scandinavianor European countries have come to address the energy issues with farmore commitment.


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All of these challenges must be addressed to create sustainableIndigenous renewable energy and self-determination, and all havemechanisms to provide for a solution.

European Renewable Energy:

We are interested in looking more broadly for our strategies, essentiallytowards European economies and technology. In a recent publication onEuropean wind energy, the following is noted,

The global wind industry has been growing at a rate above 40% perannum during the past five years with the top markets being Germany,Spain, Denmark and the US. The production of wind turbine-generated

electricity is hence drastically increasing and some countries have nowreached double-digit (percentage) coverage of their electricityconsumption Denmark being the leading country with 13-14%compared to only 2% in the US.

Wind energy employed some 60,000 people worldwide in 2001, ofwhich 45,000 were in the European Union. (Krohn 2002).

The electricity is supplied from almost 50 different countries althoughthe greater part is provided from wind turbine plants in Germany,

Spain, the US and Denmark (measured in kilowatts, Denmark isresponsible for more than 50% of the worlds production of windenergy).

On the supply-side there are roughly 25 larger manufacturers of windturbines in the world. Of these 25 the top ten manufacturers form astrategic group providing approximately 95% of the total recordedinstallation. The four leading companies in the top ten Vestas WindSystems (DK), Enercon (GE), NEG Micon (DK) and Gamesa (SP)

together account for two thirds of the total supply and hence dominatethe world market for wind turbines. Led by Danish Vestas Wind Systemswhich has for years maintained its position as the worlds largestmanufacturer of wind turbines and leads this top ten cluster ofcompanies, these manufacturers together now account forapproximately 45% of the US$4.5 billion global wind turbine marketmaking tiny Denmark, with a population of only 5 million, the world's


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top manufacturer and exporter of wind turbines. The Germanmanufacturers Enercon, Nordex and Repower together form the secondlargest cluster in the strategic group with approximately 30% of themarket, followed by the Spanish cluster of Gamesa, Made and Escotecnia

with a total market share of approximately 14%. The only Americanmanufacturer in the top ten, GE Wind, accounts for 9% of the worldmarket leaving only 5% of the world market to the remaining 15manufacturers.

Several factors account for the historic health of the Danish and Germanwind industries. First, in the case of Denmark Remote and peripheralcommunities have to face various challenges, particularly as todaysworld has got more and more interconnected and relies on centralizedglobal hubs for all sort of business, including manufacturing and

technological development, among others. Remote areas need therefore

In particular, peripheral regions have to cope with a few uniquecharacteristics, such as:

1.Remote location. This element is highly related to a relative lack ofaccessibility to economic activity, which, according to someliterature, determines the locational advantage or disadvantage of

an area relative to all other areas considered [1].

2.Low population density. Highly dispersed population makes it difficultfor the implementation of effective and economically affordablestrategies and projects that would increase efficiency (e.g., energyand water use), productivity and mobility.

3.Prejudicial demographic structures. Subject to out-migrationparticularly of young peopleremote areas have to accommodate asmall population and elderly inhabitants, resulting in adversedemographic dependency ratios.

4.Weak urban networks. Peripheral regions generally show a lack of citiesin their territorial area, or develop behind the shades of a sole, mainurban settlement. As a consequence, they might find it difficult toconnect with neighboring regions (in both physical and functionalterms) and gain from the involvement into larger markets.


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5.Fragile economic development. With low connectivity, adversedemographics and higher logistic costs, remote areas normallyshow lower employment rates and less developed economicstructures.

The results of this set of circumstances mean that European, inparticular Danish and German wind technology and policy is faradvanced from American policies. And, it is interesting to note thatDenmarks periphery status has allowed, and forced the development ofa renewable energy economy. We believe that Denmarks experience,and creation, particularly of small to medium, robust machinery hassignificant potential for application in our region. We have an emergingpartnership with the Danish Center for Folk Energy, and will be meetingwith them this summer, as well as other entities in Europe.

Goals:

l) To create a model tribal energy strategy based on reduced fossil fueluse, innovative technologies and community-scaled and appropriatechoices.

2) To implement community scaled energy efficiency and renewableenergy models on the White Earth reservation using both the most

innovative in resources, and the least expensive and greatest recyclingprograms.

3) To create intellectual and technical capital for community scaledrenewable energy, which is replicable regionally to northern tribalcommunities, through a training center, pilot project and collaborativework with academic and technical institutions.

4) To create resources for tribal energy policies and promote broader

state energy policies which will provide energy security for our tribalcommunity and a model for capitalizing a sustainable energy economy.

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