Federal regulators have granted Native American tribes more power to block hydropower projects on their land after a flurry of applications were filed to expand renewable energy in the water-scarce US Southwest. Previously, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted developers approval to move ahead with planning even if tribes objected. That practice came to an end last week.<\/p>\n
Now, a new commission policy allows tribes to quickly veto proposals, forcing businesses to cooperate if they want the federal government to grant them exclusive rights to their hydropower projects. \u201cThis is the acknowledgement and respect of tribal sovereignty, which is critical,\u201d said George Hardeen, spokesperson for the Navajo Nation\u2019s president\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently rejected seven proposals for projects on the Navajo Nation, which stretches 27,000 square miles (69,000 square kilometres) across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. When it issued those rejections, the commission also announced the policy change, handing tribes the same power as federal agencies to block projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt applies anywhere that a hydropower project might be proposed on tribal lands throughout the United States,\u201d said Aaron Paul, an attorney with Grand Canyon Trust, a conservation group. The Hopi Tribe, which is completely surrounded by Navajo, urged the commission to cement the policy announcement in a formal rule, worrying a different administration would be less favourable to tribes and change the policy.<\/p>\n
The hydropower projects are essentially big batteries that generate energy when demand is high and there aren\u2019t a lot of other renewable sources like solar and wind available. Hydropower can be turned on when it is needed and works by releasing water from an upper reservoir to a lower one.<\/p>\n
At a later point when the electric grid has excess power, water is pumped in a loop back up to the higher reservoir, recharging the battery. Developers have expressed new interest in building these pumped hydropower projects as coal-fired plants shut down in the Southwest. The canyons, towering mesas and dramatic river valleys in the area are ideal terrain because the projects require moving water between different elevations.<\/p>\n
Environmental groups and some members of the Navajo Nation argue the projects require enormous amounts of water \u2013 particularly in a part of the country that already doesn\u2019t have enough. Roughly one-third of the 175,000 people on the Navajo Nation don\u2019t have running water at home. People are sensitive to how scarce water is, and \u201cthey would more likely say no\u2019 to these kinds of projects,\u201d Hardeen said.<\/p>\n
Some of the proposals that were rejected came from Nature and People First. For example, the company told federal regulators it wanted to build the Black Mesa East project on the Navajo reservation in Arizona that would have two upper reservoirs with a combined capacity of 100,000 acre-feet and a single, lower reservoir with the same total storage capacity. An acre-foot of water serves two or three homes annually.<\/p>\n
The project was proposed near a home site lease that Jheremy Young\u2019s family has held for generations. He\u2019s happy the commission blocked it. The area around the mesa is rugged, quiet and vast, and water has to be hauled in. \u201cThat\u2019s where my dad came from, that\u2019s where his father came from,\u201d Young said. \u201cThe sentimental value of the land \u2013 the story, the history \u2013 were the biggest concern.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Navajo Nation told federal regulators the company hadn\u2019t consulted with the correct tribal authorities or addressed key concerns about water use and harm to golden eagle and other species\u2019 habitats. Hardeen said now, developers will first need to go through the Navajo Nation Division of Natural Resources. Denis Payre, president and CEO of Nature and People First, said the commission\u2019s decision was \u201cundeniably disheartening.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company secured support from local Navajo communities and talked with Navajo government officials for a project he said would create jobs. \u201cDeveloping pumped storage projects is inherently challenging; this additional obstacle threatens to halt our collective efforts,\u201d Payre said.<\/p>\n
The company submitted a proposal for a much larger project than it intends to construct, giving it flexibility to build a smaller project on the piece of land it finds is best after study and tribal consultation. That approach and using that amount of water engenders opposition, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are going to propose a small project, actually propose a small project,\u201d said Taylor McKinnon, the center\u2019s Southwest director. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also rejected proposals from Rye Development, which said it values tribal consultation and will continue to study opportunities on tribal land.<\/p>\n
Malcolm Woolf, president and CEO of the industry group National Hydropower Association, said he supported tribes\u2019 right to stop unwanted projects. But he said the new policy could halt planning too soon. The commission denied preliminary permits for the seven projects, which only recognize a business is first in line to develop a project and allows further studies.<\/p>\n
Developers have to consult with tribes before they can be granted a license and start building. Companies don\u2019t want to navigate a complicated permitting process and spend years working with a tribe only for another business to swoop in and win rights to the project at the last minute, Woolf said.<\/p>\n
One company quickly caught up in the new policy is Pumped Hydro Storage, which wants a preliminary permit for a project near the Little Colorado River on Navajo Nation land in Arizona. In light of its new policy, the commission asked for more input from those it potentially impacts before they decide what to do.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s manager, Steve Irwin, said pumped storage is important but hard to build on the Navajo Nation\u2019s land. \u201cThere\u2019s no clear pathway to doing business on the reservation,\u201d Irwin said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like you have to have 100 per cent unanimous consensus. It\u2019s not majority, it\u2019s got to be 100 per cent, and it\u2019s like, you are never going to get 100 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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