The Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $300 million in grants to 33 tribal nations and one U.S. territory. Recipients plan to apply the funding to reduce air pollution, transition to clean energy use and promote environmental justice.
More than $20 million in grants will go to three tribal communities in the upper Missouri River basin, EPA announced on Sept. 5. The funding will increase access to electric vehicles for public services, expand solar energy infrastructure and help reservation households decrease reliance on propane heating.
The Inflation Reduction Act made the funds available through the largest EPA grant competition ever offered to tribal communities, according to EPA Administrator Michael Regan. The agency received more than 100 proposals nationwide nationwide for more than $1.3 billion.
“We know that the need is incredibly high,” U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told reporters during the announcement. She joined Regan and Hopi tribal leadership in Arizona for the media call.
She placed the blame on “decades” of under investment. “But what we’re doing here will have lasting and enduring results,” she said.
In North Dakota, Spirit Lake Nation plans to use part of its more than $7 million in grant funding to purchase electric vehicles for the health authority to transport elders and handicapped residents. It expects to install electric vehicle charging stations.
Located at Fort Totten, N.D., the tribe aims to install solar arrays and a community garden, improve home weatherization and boost domestic appliance efficiency. Its agenda includes furnishing geothermal heat pumps. Another part of the package consists in promoting waste-prevention and recycling practices at households, commercial and tribal offices.
“This has given us an opportunity to sit down and analyze our major greenhouse gas emissions as well as come up with strategies to reduce these sources,” said Joshua Tweeton, environmental director of Spirit Lake Nation, in an EPA news release.
The Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota also garnered an award of more than $7 million. The grant goes toward transportation infrastructure – from purchasing electric garbage trucks to installing vehicle charging stations. As reported by the South Dakota Monitor, the state notably chose not to apply for a similar multi-million dollar opportunity.
In Minnesota, the Lower Sioux Indian Community will receive $4.9 million to research efficiency shortcomings and understand weather impacts on sustainably-sourced building materials. Their funding should help the community transition to bio-based insulation for buildings and air-source heat pumps to shift away from propane heating.
“When it comes to reducing energy use and protecting the environment, the path forward often comes through community driven solutions,” said Debra Shore, EPA administrator for the region including Minnesota, in a news release. “This is particularly true of tribal nations, who have long worked at the forefront of these issues.”
This announcement aligns with the Biden Administration’s multi-billion-dollar efforts to invest in local climate change solutions and transform federal funding. It serves as a way to uphold the U.S. government’s trust responsibility to tribal nations.