Indian Energy Resources

Indian energy resources hold significant potential for development, but remain largely undeveloped. Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) reviews and approves leases and other permits required for development. Other Interior components and federal agencies also have roles in this process. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 provided the opportunity for interested tribes to pursue tribal energy resource agreements (TERA)agreements between a tribe and Interior that allow the tribe to enter into energy leases and agreements without review and approval by Interior. The act also authorises Interior to provide grants to tribes to develop the capacity needed to enter into a TERA. However, no tribe has entered into a TERA. This book examines factors that have hindered Indian energy development; factors that have deterred tribes from pursuing TERAs; and the effectiveness of Interior's efforts to build tribes' capacity to enter into TERAs. Moreover, the book provides results of a final evaluation report on oil and gas leasing in Indian Country; and uses an established geospatial methodology to estimate the technical potential for renewable energy on tribal lands for the purpose of allowing Tribes to prioritise the development of renewable energy resources either for community-scale on-tribal-land use or for revenue-generating electricity sales.