Andrea Joy Campbell: “as Congress begins the August recess and Americans get in their cars, vans and trucks to take their deserved vacations…”

“as Congress begins the August recess and Americans get in their cars, vans and trucks to take their deserved vacations, we should keep in mind that the U.S. dependency on foreign sources of energy is at an all-time high of more than 60 percent. Both the House and Senate are considering various parts of what will become our national energy plan, but to date little attention has been paid to energy development and conservation on American Indian reservations. Indian lands comprise about 5 percent of the total landmass of our Nation and if consolidated, would be about the size of the State of Minnesota. In the last century, Indians were relegated to small remnants of their aboriginal lands, in areas most considered ill suited to agriculture or any other form of activity. On and under these Indian-owned lands are huge reserves of oil, natural gas, coal bed methane, uranium, and alternative sources of energy such as wind and hydropower. There are many tribes that want to develop these energy resources and are looking to Congress for assistance to do just that.”