Wind Obstructions On Dakota Pipeline Lands

What's Keeping Tribes From Harnessing Their Wind Energy?

Chris Clarke, May 2, 2017 (KCET)

“The Dakota Access Pipeline goes through some of the windiest parts of the Great Plains, and wind power generation in the Plains States has grown rapidly over the last decade…But in the rush to develop wind power, the Native peoples of the Plains are being left behind…While private landowners have enjoyed nearly a decade of Obama-era incentives to develop wind energy, Plains tribes seeking to harness the wind blowing past their lands must contend with several unique obstacles to development that don’t face their neighbors…Oglala Sioux tribal leaders of the the Rosebud Sioux reservation have been eager to build wind turbines on their lands for more than 20 years…[But plans for the] Owl Feather War Bonnet wind power facility on the Rosebud Reservation were delayed [by mismanagement and bureaucratic complications] for so long that the would-be buyers of the plant’s electricity backed out in 2008…[Despite reforms, proposed] projects remain in limbo…” click here for more

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