WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary -- Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney announced today that the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) has approved $1.55 million in Tribal Energy Development Capacity (TEDC) grants to equip federally recognized American Indian tribes, federally recognized Alaska Native entities, and tribal energy resource development organizations with the managerial and institutional capacity to develop energy resources and account for the resulting energy production and revenues.
The grants will enable tribes to enact energy regulations, conduct feasibility studies to form tribal utility authorities, and develop other kinds of legal infrastructure needed to regulate and manage energy resources.
According to the U.S. Department of the Interior Economic Report, Fiscal Year 2019, energy resources generated over $6.63 billion in revenues for tribes in 2019, far outpacing all other sources of tribal revenue outside of gaming.
“Tribal Energy Development Capacity grants support a tribe’s ‘energy sovereignty,’ that is, to use its resources for its needs, to have the ability to do so effectively, and to ensure such resources will be maintained into the future,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs for Policy and Economic Development Mark Cruz. “IEED supports tribal governments in developing the legal infrastructure for managing their energy assets, and I encourage other energy resource tribes to look at the TEDC grant program as a tool in their planning.”
TEDC is a competitive, discretionary program. Applications were evaluated on their clarity and completeness, the expected contribution to the applicant’s capacity to regulate and manage energy resources, and the extent to which the anticipated outcome of a proposal met the applicant’s stated goals.
IEED is administering this program through its Division of Energy and Mineral Development (DEMD).
The TEDC grantees and funding amounts are:
- Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, CA: $99,500
- Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, CA: $98,188
- Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana: $96,600
- Bristol Bay Native Corporation, AK: $99,000
- Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, MN: $50,000
- Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California: $80,000
- Mesa Grande Business Development Corporation, CA: $80,000
- Southern Ute Indian Tribe, CO: $100,000
- Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, CA: $80,000
- Hughes Village, AK: $121,500
- San Pasqual Band of Diegueno Mission Indians, CA: $100,000
- Seminole Tribe of Florida, FL: $100,100
- Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, MN: $80,000
- Hopi Tribe of Arizona: $95,000
- Lower Brule Corporation, SD: $100,000
- Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, KS: $100,000
- Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), MA: $80,000
IEED administers the TEDC grants program through its Division of Energy and Mineral Development (DEMD). Please visit the IEED website for more information about this and other IEED programs and services.
The Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs advises the Secretary of the Interior on Indian Affairs policy issues, communicates policy to and oversees the programs of the BIA and the BIE, provides leadership in consultations with tribes, and serves as the DOI official for intra- and inter-departmental coordination and liaison within the Executive Branch on Indian matters.
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For Immediate Release: December 5, 2020
