The Department of Energy gave the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation what seemed like very good news earlier this year: It had won a $32 million grant for a novel solar energy project in Washington state. Built over a series of old irrigation canals, the proposed solar panels would generate electricity for tribal members without removing farm acreage from cultivation. The location would preserve the kinds of culturally sensitive land that have prompted concerns about other renewables projects.
Months after announcing the grant, the same department is making it nearly impossible for the tribal nation to access the money.
The bureaucratic whiplash stems from the fact that while one part of the Energy Department hands out money for clean energy projects, another part decides which projects get access to the Northwest electrical grid. The Bonneville Power Administration’s process for approving connections comes with such exorbitant costs and is mired in such long delays that the federal grant could well expire before the tribe can touch a dime.
So this seems a bit of a technical and bureaucratic challenge than intentional malice and fuckery.
The main fuck up imo is that the grant is contingent on connecting to the Bonneville grid. If they strike that condition against the funding or a portion of it, you could have a working local grid, and isolate between the existing grid and the solar one, cutting between them twice a day until such time the connection agreements are settled.
If offered $100M with no conditions except that $150M needs to be spent to have a chance to get it, that’s more of a gamble than a grant.
Don’t forget that the Yakama tribe was one of the resistant tribes in the western expansion that has to live with Handford on its traditional land.
