Wind power generates no CO2 emissions.
Rosebud and other Native American reservations in the northern Great Plains have some of the best wind power resources in the country. It’s not just how often the wind blows, or the speeds it reaches—it’s the density of the wind and the endless ridgelines that stretch across reservation lands that make this part of the country ideal for converting wind into electricity. Government studies estimate that the two dozen reservations in the northern Great Plains have sufficient wind resources to produce electricity to power half the United States.1
Some of the sunniest, windiest places in the United States are marginalized communities like Rosebud, which stand to reap huge benefits as the country steps up its commitment to fight climate change with clean energy. The Rosebud Reservation is as poor as anywhere in the United States. Unemployment is a staggering 80 percent. “Bleak and unyielding,” is how Tillie Black Bear, director of the local nonprofit White Buffalo Calf Woman, Inc., described the hopelessness that pervades on the reservation.2
Rosebud has one of the highest suicide rates in the world for youth ages 10-24.3 Could wind power alter this? “It’s the most hopeful thing to happen on the reservation in a long time,” says Ken Haukaas, who lives on the reservation and has been the principal advisor on wind power to the tribal council.4
The council has reached an agreement with a commercial developer to build a 30-megawatt wind farm, and it is negotiating with another developer for a 180-megawatt project.5 Neither project will produce a significant number of jobs on the reservation, but rent paid on the land will be a source of revenue to improve schools, health care, and other services.
It’s difficult to measure the economic value of hope. The 30-megawatt project is expected to generate approximately $250,000 in revenue per year. A casino on the reservation makes twice that much in a month, but it’s equally difficult to gauge the value of the hope drained from the reservation by the casino. The harm done to families and the spiritual malaise caused by the casino are in plain sight.
Nationwide Green Power Superhighways
Footnotes
- Elizabeth Burleson (2009), Wind Power, National Security, and Sound Energy Policy, Penn State Environmetnal Law Review, Vol. 17. [back]
- S.E. Ruckman (July 2, 2008), “Groups Converge on Rosebud Reservation to Deal with Teen Suicide,” Native Times. [back]
- Steve Young (September 22, 2008), “Why Are Lakota Young People Killing Themselves?” Argus Leader. [back]
- Interview with Ken Haukaas, July 28, 2009. [back]
- Ibid. [back]
Issues
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