Wayne Shammel, Tribal Attorney, Umqua T We’re not shareholders and investors, or
random regional users of power; our identity is tied to our place on the earth.
Direlle Calica, Center Director for Northwest Energy Tribes
Tribes have become more and more engaged in the energy industry because essentially natural
resources play a huge role.
Margie Schaff, Partner, Schaff & Clark-Deschene, LLC
As the dams were built, as the reclamation projects and the flood control projects were
built, they heavily impacted tribal resources.
Steve Wright, BPA Administrator Our goal is to find a way to make sure that
tribes end up in a place where they would say, you know, maybe the federal hydro system,
the development of it though that is something that we would not have done, but there has
been some value that’s been created here.
Sonya Tetnowski, Former Co-Chair ATNI, CEO of Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe
Wholesale power sales to Indian Tribes had never been done before.
In 2000, we said we want development and energy sales specific to the tribes.
Bonneville allocated a great deal of resources to our organization to look at utility development.
Roger Taylor, Tribal Program Manager – National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Of the 565 tribes across the country there are only a handful of tribal utilities.
Ray Wiseman, General Manager, Yakama Power You’ve had 80 years of electrical service
here on the reservation yet you’ve never enjoyed any of the benefits of the employment
or having the ability to have lower rates, or direct control.
Deborah Whitefoot, Member, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
Now Yakama Power is here, which is going to benefit our children and their children.
Shirley Crique, Elder – Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
It’s a change in our life as Yakama Nation.
Jerry Martin/Lead Lineman, Yakama Power I grew up on this reservation; I grew up in
one of the first housing projects this place ever had.
Coming back as a Native American lineman…
There’s not many … anywhere.
You’ve got a couple of other utilities that are on this reservation that are serving customers
here.
Deborah Whitefoot, Member, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
Business is a competition.
Jerry Martin/Lead Lineman, Yakama Power We were told that we didn’t know what we
were doing, we’re gonna get people killed.
Ray Wiseman And I watch the crews put up power lines,
tear down poles, replace infrastructure, and uh, you know, and I think two years ago I
didn’t even have this capability, we didn’t have a crew and yet now we have an all native
crew able to go out and do the construction.
Shirley Crique, Elder – Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
There’s not anything that we can’t do.
Ray Wiseman We’ve been to Mission Valley Power a couple
of times to look at their warehouse.
Our goal is to get to 16 megawatts as fast as possible.
Ralph Goode, General Manager, Mission Valley Power
The tribes a minority here.
This was open to homesteading in 1910.
We’ve been successful at running Mission Valley Power since 1988.
Shawn Blixt, Lineman, Mission Valley Power This is my tribe.
This is where I’m from.
Ralph Goode Welcome to Mission Valley Power.
It is an agreement between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai
Tribe on a 638 contract.
Shawn Blixt I just hope it keeps going.
Ralph Goode The United States government through the BIA
approves our budget, approves our rate changes.
Out of our 83 employees we have about 66 that are tribal members.
Shawn Blixt Job’s been great for my family.
AT the end of October will be the end of my 16th year.
Ralph Goode We have about 18,000 customers.
Most people thought that the tribes couldn’t run this.
I’ve been told many times that our reliability has improved over the years.
Shawn Blixt That’s my hope, that it always stays under
tribal control.
Don’t let anybody throw your dreams away for ya.
Ron Doan, General Manager – Umpqua Indian Utility Cooperative
It seems incredible that October of 2001 this utility flipped its first switch.
Dan Courney, Chairman – Cow Creek Tribe of Umpqua Indians
It was a significant moment when that actually happened.
Wayne Shammel Costs of electricity were so key to the tribes’
economic development function which is really right at the heart of where Cow Creek was
I would say 15 years ago.
Tribes can form utilities and take themselves rapidly into a hole doing it.
Margie Schaff, Partner, Schaff & Clark-Deschene, LLC
We did a good cost comparison and determined that it was a cost-effective thing to do.
Wayne Shammel As long as we can aggregate the capital and
the knowledge.
Ron Doan The savings that we’ve realized in terms
of power pricing has allowed this tribe the capability of moving the projects forward.
Bill Drummond, Deputy BPA Administrator The change in the relationship with the tribes
has almost been revolutionary in the past ten years.
Margie Schaff Opening some of these doors has given these
tribes a new way of stepping in and being a part of all the negotiations that are related
to the hydro electric system.
Roger Taylor It also puts the tribes in the lead.
Wayne Shammel This is right, it’s ok.
Direlle Calica We can participate now and change the way
the industry is going.
Wayne Shammel Think about it, it’s raw, it’s physical,
tied to the rivers,
The biggest hurdle is making the decision to say yes.
Wayne We ‘can do this.
Deborah Whitefoot We’re getting back some of what was taken
away from us.
This is part of everyone’s step to heal.
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