New Englanders Help Build First Native American-Owned Utility-Scale Wind Turbine

Rosebud dedicated, comes on line.

ROSEBUD, SD (May 1, 2003)—Fifteen New England corporations, organizations, and agencies helped make possible the construction of the first Native American-owned and operated utility-scale wind turbine, which was dedicated here today.

By purchasing so called “green tags” from NativeEnergy of Shelburne, VT, the businesses and other groups offset their carbon emissions with the future non-polluting energy that will be generated from the turbine.

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, The Timberland Company, Stonyfield Farm, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Clean Air-Cool Planet, Green Mountain Power, Gravel & Shea, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility, Northshire Bookstore, Renewable Energy Vermont, the Vermont Public Service Board, the Vermont Department Public Service, Equal Exchange, and Chittenden Bank’s Montpelier branch all participated in NativeEnergy’s CO2 offset services.

Such carbon credits are usually “traded,” purchased by industries unable to comply with clean air regulations in order to offset their pollution. But credits purchased through NativeEnergy’s program are retired as tax-deductible donations to Clean Air – Cool Planet, a New Hampshire-based non-profit specializing in solutions to climate change.

NativeEnergy used the proceeds from the purchase up-front of 88 percent of the turbine’s 25-year output of renewable energy credit “green tags” to help build the facility, located on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. The Vermont company “provided about 25 percent of the construction cost of the Rosebud Wind Turbine,” according to Pat Spears, president of the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy (COUP).

The Rosebud Wind Turbine, a 750 kilowatt NEG Micon turbine capable of powering 220 South Dakota homes, “represents the culmination of eight years of effort on the part of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Tribal Utility Commission (TUC) which began collecting wind data to test feasibility in 1995,” said Bob Gough, attorney and first Director of the TUC.

The turbine is the first stage in a plan for intertribal wind development proposed by Intertribal COUP, which hopes tribal-owned wind energy generation will be the basis for community revitalization, sustainability and capacity building.

A grant from the Department of Energy and a low-interest loan from the U.S. Rural Utility Service helped fund the project. Additional financial support was provided by individual WindBuilderssm members across the country.

Spears adds, “ultimately it became clear that NativeEnergy’s payment was critical to covering the costs for this first turbine and for the work that the tribe began for the expansion of wind development on the Rosebud Reservation.”

Environmental benefits are driving the retail market for green tags, which allow individuals and businesses to support renewable generators no matter where they live, and have the same overall impact they would buying renewable electricity, according to Tom Boucher, NativeEnergy’s President and CEO. NativeEnergy takes green tags one step further, he notes, by buying green tags on a long-term basis from developing projects up front, NativeEnergy’s WindBuilders^sm customers actually help drive new construction of new wind projects with each purchase, creating new environmental benefits.

“We seek out smaller projects that really need their long-term green tag revenues secured to make it to the finish line,” Boucher says. “That way, our customers can really make a difference for a specific new renewable project.”

Clean Air-Cool Planet provides the final piece necessary to make NativeEnergy’s program work. WindBuilders^sm customers donate their green tags to Clean Air-Cool Planet, which makes the environmental benefits permanent by ensuring that the green tags are retired, avoiding any possibility these green tags could be traded in the future at the environment’s expense.
The Tribe has finalized the sale of the turbine’s electrical output – without its green tags – to Basin Electric for local use, with a 3.5-year sale of power with green tags – “green power” – from a portion of the turbine to Ellsworth Air Force Base. NativeEnergy acquired the remaining 25-year green tag output on behalf of its customers.

About NativeEnergy
NativeEnergy is located in Shelburne, VT, and offers individuals and businesses simple, effective, and verifiable ways to fight global warming and climate change. NativeEnergy’s patent-pending business process offers a convenient alternative to buying green electricity and is dedicated exclusively to driving the construction of new wind farms and other renewables to create new environmental benefits. NativeEnergy’s regional business customers include Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Gravel & Shea, Northshire Bookstore, Stonyfield Farm, the Timberland Company and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. More info is available at www.nativeenergy.com.

About Clean Air-Cool Planet
Clean Air – Cool Planet is an action-oriented environmental group working directly with corporations, communities, and campuses to develop and implement voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts. A 501(c)(3) qualified non-profit organization, CA-CP works throughout the Northeast to provide practical solutions that demonstrate the economic opportunities and environmental benefits associated with early actions on climate change. CA-CP works directly with a growing number of companies and institutions that exemplify leadership and social responsibility, including Shaw's Supermarkets, The Timberland Company, Tufts University, Middlebury College, and The University of New Hampshire. See www.cleanair-coolplanet.org

Contact: Clean Air-Cool Planet
Bill Burtis, Communications Manager, (603) 422-6464 ext. 105
bburtis@cleanair-coolplanet.org