Alternative Energy in American Indian Country: Catering to Both Sides of the Coin
This article looks at both sides of the renewable energy “coin” in relation to American Indian country. On the one side, it appears that tribal governments are opposed to any energy development on their lands. All told, however, this couldn’t be further from the truth – tribes merely seek a seat at the table when decisions are made regarding developments that will adversely affect their lands and/or areas of cultural significance. Indeed, contrary to being opposed to alternative energy development, tribes are very actively seeking to develop their lands in a manner that is consistent with their cultures and traditions. But, large-scale alternative energy projects are virtually absent from Indian country. This article argues that the oft-overlooked other side of the renewable energy “coin” are the federal regulations that hinder these projects from coming to fruition. The final section of the article will discuss what Congress is – and is not – doing regarding the two sides of this “coin.”
Where the wind blows: Exploring barriers and opportunities to renewable energy development on United States tribal lands
Abstract Despite hosting nearly 8% of the United States’ wind energy potential, only one utility-scale wind farm exists on tribal lands. Several barriers hindering tribes’ capacity to harness their lands’ wind potential have been identified, including federal bureaucratic inefficiencies, difficulties securing financing, an inability to capitalize on the Federal Production Tax Credit, and internal administrative disagreements. Few studies have explored, in depth, how these barriers impact the wind energy development process, such as understanding the wind resource, project permitting, transmission, securing a power buyer, and financing. This study presents a comparative analysis framework exploring how barriers to tribal wind energy development influenced two projects: the unsuccessful Rosebud Sioux North Antelope Highlands project and the ongoing Oceti Sakowin Power Authority (OSPA) project. The study finds the OSPA, a newer coalition of tribes including the Rosebud Sioux, has created a novel ownership structure and development strategy with potential to overcome existing barriers, although reliant on finding an electricity buyer and the continuation of the Production Tax Credit. These findings further the scholarship regarding barriers to wind energy development on tribal lands, going beyond understanding what factors limit development to illustrate procedural strategies tribes can employ to overcome the aforementioned barriers. The strategic changes made by the OSPA can hopefully be utilized by future tribal projects to enable wind energy development making it possible to bring affordable, sustainable energy, and economic opportunity to tribal communities.
Flow in a branching open channel: a review
Branching channel flow refers to any side water withdrawals from rivers or main channels. Branching channels have wide application in many practical projects, such as irrigation and drainage network systems, water and waste water treatment plants, and many water resources projects. In the last decades, extensive theoretical and experimental investigations of the branching open channels have been carried out to understand the characteristics of this branching flow, varying from case studies to theoretical and experimental investigations. The objectives of this paper are to review and summarise the relevant literatures regarding branching channel flow. These literatures were reviewed based on flow characteristics, physical characteristics, and modeling of the branching flow. Investigations of the flow into branching channel show that the branching discharge depends on many interlinked parameters. It increases with the decreasing of the main channel flow velocity and Froude number at the upstream of the branch channel junction. Also it increases with the increasing of the branch channel bed slope. In subcritical flow, water depth in the branch channel is always lower than the main channel water depth. The flow diversion to the branch channel leads to an increase of water depth at the downstream of the main channel. From the review, it is important to highlight that most of the study concentrated on flow characteristics in a right angle branch channel with a rigid boundary. Investigations on different branching angles with movable bed have still to be explored.