New federal policy gives Native American tribes power to veto green energy development [Video]

Federal regulators quietly implemented a new policy enabling Native American tribes to effectively veto certain green energy development projects on their land.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order rejecting three large hydroelectric pump storage projects — which generate dispatchable utility-scale power by transporting water back-and-forth between two man-made reservoirs, one elevated and the other lower — in northeastern Arizona on Navajo Nation land. The order further establishes the policy impacting future projects on tribal lands. 

That policy replaces FERC’s previous policy of allowing developers to proceed with hydro projects regardless of a tribe’s opposition. The developer of the three pump storage projects submitted applications with FERC in 2021, requesting permits to build the projects in Black Mesa, a mesa on Navajo landsideal for such energy development, but they received opposition from tribal and …