Can the Renewable Energy Transition Restore Indigenous Cultural Connections?

The elder’s words echoed Pratte’s unshakable conviction that developing critical infrastructure—electricity, water and technology—benefits quality of life and cultural connections for members of Native Nations. In 2025, Painted Desert Power began permitting and development on 4,500 acres of Navajo Nation trust lands, where some members have sheep grazing permits. Pratte negotiated that the revenue from Painted Desert will be equitably distributed between chapters of the Navajo Nation and grazing permit holders impacted by the project’s land use. The effort is projected to reduce harmful emissions by more than 100,000 metric tons each year, the equivalent of removing 100,000 gasoline engines from roads annually, and it will bring jobs back to the community.

According to Pratte, renewable energy development can directly fund services for Diné people. “We have a responsibility to be truly economically sovereign,” she says.

Meeting ongoing challenges

While Tribal Nations are well-positioned to develop renewables amid the current energy transition, some Indigenous communities are wary—for good reason. Historically, energy development played a key role in the United States’ expansion West, and in the drive to extract natural resources, the federal government sidestepped Tribal sovereignty and rights. Pratte says, “In some cases, the left hand of the government was the beneficiary, and the right hand of the government was supposed to be acting as the trustee. That has created a great deal of mistrust in any of these processes.” Still, innovative leaders like Pratte see community benefits from renewable energy development.

Establishing these partnerships is no small feat, but the efforts are worthwhile. They affirm Tribal energy sovereignty, a term Williams uses to describe the autonomy Nations have to develop infrastructure that best benefits their members. “At the end of the day, that’s it,” he says.

One key step is building early consensus with Tribal communities and their elected leaders about energy development on or near Tribal lands. Echoing Pratte, Williams says he is “prioritizing consultation at concept, not at white paper or when you’re getting to redline.” Consultation at concept happens well before the state or federal permitting step. It not only ensures developers invest in the right energy projects, but it also works to buttress Tribal sovereignty. Consultation would then enforce Tribal Nations’ right to be co-developers in land use decisions related to the energy transition.

To gain input, consultants connect with Tribal members through many outlets, including webinars, presentations to General Councils and social media targeting youth who have moved away from Tribal lands. “That’s one of the unique challenges, is really reaching out to every Tribal member because you don’t want to get to the end of a project and have Tribal members object.” It’s important that developers “deviate from the check-the-box approach and have actual robust Tribal engagement—getting ahead of the projects instead of behind.”

Early consultation and consensus are major priorities at ATNI, which has funding over the next 24 months to create a groundbreaking heatmap. The map flags where development on Tribal land is a no-go while ensuring sensitive cultural knowledge and data remain controlled by Tribal Nations. ATNI will also provide a resource hub with case studies and templates for developers that demonstrate early input from Tribal Nations for sited energy projects. The group’s Tribal Advisory Committee serves as a critical waypoint for developers siting renewables on Tribal lands, as they elevate Tribal concerns, rights and interests at the beginning of a process.

A future with Tribal energy sovereignty

“Renewable energies are going to be a trillion-dollar industry,” says Jessie Israel, special projects director at TNC. Israel says if Tribal Nations are driving energy siting, they will have opportunities to harness substantial revenue and benefits for their communities. Israel is working to ensure Indigenous Nations engage the energy transition on their own terms, a message she carried to an ATNI energy summit in February. But for that to happen, a new process needs to emerge that connects energy projects with Tribes significantly earlier in the process—long before developers propose a site. Israel says, “Railroad infrastructure, hydro-electrical infrastructure, levee and diking infrastructure, mineral extraction all have a fairly complex history in relation to their interaction with Tribal natural resources and well-being. Historically, when infrastructure was built across the West, Tribes were not always appropriately engaged. Now we have an opportunity to flip that script.”

When planning ahead, leaders like Israel and Williams keep the past in mind. “To me, it seems like a second coming of the rail systems. That changed the United States economy, similarly to our digital economy that’s presenting itself now,” says Williams.

Indigenous leaders are ready to harness these economic and cultural opportunities, and the loudest support is coming from surprising places. “I think if you had asked me in 2017 where we might get the most resistance, I would have assumed it was the elders, but it was the reverse,” Pratte says. She credits the “forward-thinking people in the community who can see the long-term benefits and have stepped up and said, 'We need to do something for our kids. We need to have jobs for our kids. So, the people who have been consistently living on the Nation are the biggest supporters.”