Two Native American tribes, one with a burgeoning solar industry and another almost totally reliant on coal, search for their own kind of tribal sovereignty.
Our series "Revolt" explores these issues in a fresh context, focused on Middle America. This is the fourth of six episodes that debut weekly.
Full source list and bibliography:- "About a third of U.S. coal reserves west of the Mississippi are on tribal lands." - Property and Environment Research Center- "South Dakota's Pine Ridge reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota Nation, has one of the poorest counties in the U.S." - U.S. Census Bureau- "A lack of infrastructure means sky-high electric and utility bills." - Al Jazeera America- Learn more about Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center.- "My great great grandfather signed a treaty back in 1868." - PBS - "Tribes don't have representation in Congress — or even full ownership of their land. But they do have their own government, law enforcement, court system and tax jurisdiction." - National Congress of American Indians- "About 1 in 3 Crow tribe members live in poverty." - U.S. Census Bureau- "With coal revenues down, in early 2017 the Crow government had to lay off 1,000 of its 1,300 employees." - The New York Times, Billings Gazette- Learn more about Thunder Valley Community Development Corp. and its regenerative community.
