Native Americans Endorse Feed-in Tariffs for Oregon

Move Seen as Significant in US' Pacific Northwest

Paul Gipe, Contributor
June 12, 2012 | 7 Comments

The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians is encouraging Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber to include feed-in tariffs for renewable energy in his 10-year energy plan.

The move is significant in a region of North America where the indigenous people have long maintained they should have a say in how land is used and for what purpose. Tribes also directly control large amounts of land with resident populations that could use and profit from renewable energy development.

The Affiliated Tribes action is contained in a resolution passed at their mid-year convention 21-24 May 2012 in Newport, Oregon.

The resolution notes that feed-in tariffs are a highly effective policy mechanism that would lower barriers to the rapid development of renewable energy by tribal communities.

The Affiliated Tribes call on Governor Kitzhaber to introduce a broad statewide feed-in tariff program.

Currently, Oregon has a Volumetric Incentive Rate for solar photovoltaics that some have characterized as a feed-in tariff. The limited pilot program, 6.25 MW per year for four years, has yet to fill out the capacity available.

Governor Kitzhaber's draft 10-year energy plan released 5 June does not mention feed-in tariffs.

7 Comments

Fred Linn
June 22, 2012

Dear Anonymous-------I notice that the "private sector" has no problem at all with manipulating the gambling legal discrepancies in the convoluted and paternalistic legal and regulatory quagmire created by the reservation system when it serves their own purpose. They have no problem at all with building and operating huge, opulent casinos on reservations under much laxer laws and regulation than that required in communities at large, which in general do not allow gambling. In that, that happened here in just the last election. A casino/race track was voted down in the last general election(resoundingly) due to concerns about racketeering, crime, corruption, and community standards. So, no problem, we'll just move the crime, racketeering, corruption and lower community standard to a reservation. They'll pay a small fee to the tribe, of coarse, to do so-----but you can make one SURE bet on the casino----it won't be the tribe that ends up with far and away the greatest benefits, monetary or any other.

ANONYMOUS
June 16, 2012

douglas-prince, Your abusive comments are rather bewildering, and are entirely uncalled for. It's precisely because of such unwarranted, vitriolic personal attacks that I choose to post anonymously. Just how does my comment about preferring new RE energy developments on US native tribal lands be held to the same federal regulatory requirements as everywhere else qualify as "blatant racism and revisionism"? As I stated in my post, I'm truly happy to see native tribes utilize their lands to better the financial situation of their members. As for pointing out the obvious fact that US native tribes currently own large amounts of land, just how does this qualify as "revisionism"? It's just a simple statement of fact. Are you somehow claiming it's not true? In the future, I would hope that your responses thoughtfully address the actual substance in other peoples' posts, rather than simply being infantile name-calling diatribes (such as repeatedly calling me "Turd-Monkey"). You could take an example from JAlejandroSELF's response.

Douglas Prince
June 14, 2012

Alejandro - Good point. I forgot to point out to the Turd-Monkey this was a statewide effort, not exclusive. Unfortunately, when faceless dilettantes like Anonymous want to spew their filth, it kinda grinds my gears. At least you have the forebearance to use a name and not hide yourself. By the way, did you know Anonymous is a Turd-Monkey? Just thought you should know...

John Alejandro
June 14, 2012

They're calling for a statewide tariff, not one exclusive to the tribes themselves. Many states, such as California, have implemented FITs to help spark RE development, which have worked to greatly benefit the private sector, investors, and the public alike; Oregon should follow suit. The fact that the tribes are calling for a statewide FIT shows they understand how clean energy can benefit everyone in OR.

Douglas Prince
June 14, 2012

Anonymous, once again you've proven yourself the Ultimate Turd-Monkey. It's one thing to rail against unfair trade practices, or showing that a particular group may be getting unusually favorable treatment over another. But the blatant racism and revisionism in your statements is almost beyond comment. Almost. Because I, for one, will not sit idly by while you spew your putrid rants, you pathetic, narrow-minded shit-for-brains. 'US native tribes already have the significant advantage of extensive land ownership'? Uhh, yeah, at one time. It was called North America, but a bunch of Europeans kinda kicked them off their property. And the land these people have now is, for the most part, uninhabitable. Good Lord, you pedantic pain-in-the-ass, how the hell do you sleep at night? Crawl back under your John Birch rock, dumbass, and save your spiel for the other Aryans.

ANONYMOUS
June 14, 2012

The natives gave away 98% of their land for concessions. Just like big oil ... oh wait, big oil didn't give anything away, but they got even bigger concessions anyway. How about a special FiT for natives: say 1 stack of blankets per GWh? Just carrying on the tradition of dumping some rotten beef on the natives.

ANONYMOUS
June 13, 2012

While I would be happy to see US native tribes engage in business ventures that generate income for their members, I would also like to think that any developments on tribal lands would be held to the same regulatory and tax requirements as private ventures. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case here. In the RE market, US native tribes already have the significant advantage of extensive land ownership. Government providing them additional cost advantages over the private RE sector would not be fair.

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Paul Gipe

Paul Gipe has written extensively about renewable energy for both the popular and trade press. He has also lectured widely on wind energy and how to minimize its impact on the environment and the communities of which it is a part. For his...