The Bishop Paiute Tribe has announced the completion of over 200 solar installations on homes in their community. This initiative is part of GRID’s Tribal Solar Program, designed to provide clean and renewable energy to 50 tribal communities across Arizona, California, Montana, New York, and South Dakota.
The Bishop Paiute Tribe, located at the foot of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, is the eighth largest tribe in California, with over 2,000 enrolled members. The Tribe is committed to self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and maintaining strong self-governance as a sovereign nation.
Thanks to the Bishop Paiute Tribe’s support and the qualified tribal members’ participation, the Tribal Environmental Department has achieved its goal of serving over 200 out of 400 potential homes with clean, renewable solar energy by 2023.
The solar systems are provided to homeowners at no cost to them. The program is funded by cost-shared grants to the individual tribes from the DOE, Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs, which provides technical assistance, training, and funding to tribes across the country. These installations were also funded in part by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the federal stimulus bill to aid public health and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The no-cost solar power installations make an incredible difference in the everyday lives of our
community members. The savings from the installations are making a real difference, especially for tribal members in the greatest need. This is a large step towards becoming more self-sufficient,” said Mr. Brian Adkins, Tribal Environmental Director.
The Bishop Paiute Tribe’s Energy Vision is a commitment to progressive development and self-
sufficiency that the installation of these solar power systems has furthered. The Tribe prioritizes its members’ well-being and the community’s environmental sustainability. Through continuing education and its environmental programs, the Tribe is working to achieve energy self-sufficiency while preserving cultural traditions, protecting the environment, developing the economy, and sustaining the efficient use of resources.
Over the life of the 207 solar systems installed by the Bishop Paiute Tribe to date, over
13,000,000kWh of electricity will be produced, saving the residents nearly $3,000,000 in energy costs while eliminating 6,250 tons of greenhouse gasses. This amount of greenhouse gas is the equivalent of planting over 145,000 trees or taking 1,200 cars off the road for one year.
Beyond the environmental and direct financial benefits of the solar installations to the homeowners served, a crucial part of the program is the economic benefits provided by on-the-
job training for members of the Bishop Paiute Tribe. GRID Alternatives Inland Empire performs the solar installations in conjunction with local trainees from the Tribe. On-the-job training during essential projects like this can lead to further employment and high-paying careers in the growing solar industry.
If you, or anyone you know, is interested in this program, please reach out via the contact
information listed below to see if your home qualifies for a no-cost solar system.
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About the Bishop Paiute Tribe: A Sovereign Tribal Nation governed by an elected council. The
Bishop Paiute Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of Mono and Timbisha Indians of the Owens
Valley in Inyo County in eastern California.
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About GRID Alternatives Inland Empire: GRID Alternatives envisions a rapid, equitable transition to a world powered by renewable energy that benefits everyone. Our mission is to build community-powered solutions to advance economic and environmental justice through
renewable energy.
So the Bishop Paiute Tribe is a “sovereign nation” in the sense of many other so-called sovereign nations: it remains “sovereign” only insofar as the American taxpayer pays for it.
Well, the taxpayers also paid to illegally kick them off their land, massacre them, and march them to a concentration camp a hundred miles away, if that makes you feel better.
Vaguely Tit-for-tat When the Native American “take-over” took place, IMO, the Native American’s should get AND keep getting things out of that siege. Who the hell did those foreigners think they were coming into and onto THEIR land and do what they did, and continued to do AFTER they were… Read more »
No, they are sovereign in the sense of the US Constitution and constitutional law recognizing precedent. Tribal relationship with Federal and State governments was established and clarified before California was even a state. Tribal members pay fed taxes. Most likely they have much more legal ground to bitch about fed… Read more »
Wow, I’d get solar if it was free to me! I guess the best I can do is see my tax dollars subsidizing a portion of our community who are already heavily subsidized! Thanks Federal Government, your fairness astounds me!
get. a. life.
What kind of life you got Quacque? Why should one segment of our community get free solar, and the rest of us have to pay? What about that unfairness don’t you understand? I don’t owe the Tribe anything, in fact, I think they should pay me back for the $30,000… Read more »
there seems to be a lot you don’t understand. Maybe there are classes at the local community college that can help. You might even find a way to get them for free.
Ask a Parent
If your Husband was DUMB enough to sit in a casino and go through $30,000.00 , don’t blame the casino for that…blame the Husband…
you think you should be entitled to the money your husband lost gambling? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Mono Resident
I’m sure, if her Husband won $30,000.00 of that casino money instead of losing it, he’d donate some of that money he won to the tribe..hahahahahahahahahaha !!
Ask a Parent And with your thinking, and how you’ve been TOLD to think and what to say,, probably by fox news, imagine the “entitlement” of social security retirement added to that..and health care for those that can’t afford it…and prescription drug prices for those that can’t afford them either.… Read more »
It’s pretty clear from your comments past and present you don’t consider the Tribe part of your community. And guess what, they don’t have to be. They are sovereign from the State of California, and from you. They are free to interact with the federal government through their own government.… Read more »
Wow!!