Excel had been ordered by the Minnesota state legislature in 1994 to find an alternative site away from Prairie Island, home to the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Community, for storing its radioactive garbage. In response, Xcel forged an alliance with other utilities to create a ‘private’ dump on one of the poorest and most isolated reservations in the country – Skull Valley.
A protracted and pitched battle around the Skull Valley dump ensued, and last September, grassroots reservation-based groups and their national allies celebrated a precedent-setting victory when two agencies within the Department of Interior rejected plans for the private dump on tribal land.
Now Skull Valley reservation is going solar. Honor the Earth, a national Native environmental advocacy group and foundation that focuses on energy issues, has developed a pilot project in conjunction with OGD and Solar Energy International (SEI) that will present a viable community alternative to destructive energy policies in general, and nuclear waste in particular.
“This is the chance to demonstrate what is right,” said Honor the Earth Executive Director Winona LaDuke. “It’s time to look to a sustainable energy future that is built on developing the abundant and safe renewable resources that exist on Native lands. Native America should have wind and solar power, not coal mines and nuclear waste.”
Winona Duke resides on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. Winona LaDuke is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg , and is the mother of three children.
Now Skull Valley reservation is going solar. Honor the Earth, a national Native environmental advocacy group and foundation that focuses on energy issues, has developed a pilot project in conjunction with OGD and Solar Energy International (SEI) that will present a viable community alternative to destructive energy policies in general, and nuclear waste in particular.
“This is the chance to demonstrate what is right,” said Honor the Earth Executive Director Winona LaDuke. “It’s time to look to a sustainable energy future that is built on developing the abundant and safe renewable resources that exist on Native lands. Native America should have wind and solar power, not coal mines and nuclear waste.”
Winona Duke resides on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. Winona LaDuke is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg , and is the mother of three children.
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