TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30th, 2010, PINE RIDGE, SOUTH DAKOTA-
The Pine Ridge Reservation of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) is set among rolling grassland hills and prairies dotted with pine trees, and overseen by the barren Badlands of South Dakota. Home to 40,000 people, Pine Ridge is the second-largest Native American reservation in the United States and is roughly the size of Connecticut.
The recipient of a block grant worth more than $827,000, the tribe has made great strides toward its vision of putting renewables and people to work on the reservation. Through its newly formed OST Renewable Energy Development Authority (OST-REDA), the tribe already has achieved its goal of laying out a comprehensive energy efficiency and conservation strategy and developed a training program for energy auditors and retrofitters (including 15 tribal members).
OST also has conducted outreach and education throughout the reservation to promote the availability of financial assistance for weatherization programs made available through state, federal, utility, and nonprofit organizations. To date, tribal residents have submitted more than 661 applications for weatherization assistance. “We drove everywhere we could, serving elders first, and going to where the need was the most,” said District Coordinator Manager Juliette Broken Rope, who oversees a staff of seven newly hired district coordinators serving the vast Pine Ridge Reservation.
(Left) Waysha White Face and Juliette Broken Rope. (Right) This home on Pine Ridge Reservation, SD, is a candidate for weatherization assistance.
The need for weatherization of tribal residences is great, as South Dakotan summers and winters are extreme. In addition, Pine Ridge faces difficult economic conditions as a community affected by poverty and where the unemployment rate is well above the national average and housing infrastructure has been devastated by both natural disasters and time.
“I’m glad we had an opportunity to get the weatherization program up and running,” said Waysha White Face, a tribal member and OST-REDA’s project manager. “We’ve trained tribal members in green jobs that we believe will further serve our own reservation…maybe other reservations as well. We plan on weatherization being a big part of Pine Ridge’s energy future. The next step for us is to get the houses weatherized, but it starts with these seeds, serving our elders, family, and those in need, along with a community that understands what energy efficiency and training can do for us here.”
Content for this blog post courtesy of Tsali Cross, Project Officer, EECBG Tribal Energy, Department of Energy.