Sunday, September 6, 2020

Standing Rock Developing Wind Farm

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is developing a wind farm, the first of its kind on an Indian reservation in North Dakota. About 60 turbines are slated to dot the Porcupine Hills between Fort Yates and Porcupine. Tribal leaders have nixed moving ahead with a wind farm in the past, reaching the conclusion that they would have little ownership of such a facility if a developer were to build one on Standing Rock.

To aid in that effort, Standing Rock over the years has secured small grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to study wind development potential on the reservation, as it's long been something the tribe has wanted to pursue. With that work done and with the right approach moving forward, the tribe now hopes to attract a developer aligned with its values to build the project.

Standing Rock is pursuing the idea amid its fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has spurred efforts to harness renewable power on the reservation. A small solar farm already exists in Cannon Ball. Standing Rock is working with advisers, including LIATI Capital, Connexus Capital and Hometown Connections, to make the wind farm come to fruition.

The wind farm would be named "Anpetu Wi," which in Lakota means "the breaking of the new day." The Lakota people traditionally have prayed at that time, SAGE General Manager Joseph McNeil said. "You're praying for guidance, you're praying for wisdom, you're praying for what's best for the day for your family, for the people," he said. "This is really how we look at this project, as a prayer to guide our people into the future, into the new day." 

The wind farm would have a 235-megawatt capacity with the potential to expand down the road. SAGE recently filed an interconnection request with the Southwest Power Pool, which oversees the power grid in a number of central states, including in parts of North Dakota. McNeil said he anticipates the interconnection process to take at least two years as the grid operator studies plans for the wind farm. In the meantime, SAGE plans to work on other aspects of the project, including building access roads through the area this year in an effort to make use of the Production Tax Credit, a federal wind incentive expiring at the end of 2020.

SAGE also intends to do other work, such as identifying the exact location for each turbine with the help of Standing Rock's Tribal Historic Preservation Office, which will survey the area for any cultural resources that should be avoided. The project also will need various environmental analyses.

Philanthropic foundations already have contributed nearly $2 million toward those efforts, and SAGE is launching a crowdfunding initiative at www.anpetuwi.com to raise another $1.5 million to complete the work. SAGE is seeking donations as the tribe's resources have been drained amid the coronavirus pandemic and a drop in revenue from Prairie Knights Casino following the pipeline protests in 2016 and 2017. The total project cost is estimated to be $325 million. SAGE plans to secure that funding through additional crowdfunding and by partnering with a developer and investors. SAGE also hopes to court an entity to purchase the power generated by the wind farm. SAGE leaders envision that the wind farm, once built, eventually would generate revenue for the tribe, as well as provide construction and maintenance jobs for tribal members.

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Earth: The Free Will Planet

Earth has always been a free will planet. We incarnate here on Earth to experience freedom of choice. A free will system is an experimental laboratory for creation. We can choose to do anything we want, no matter how it affects others. There are other worlds where we learn other experiences, but the human realm is the only one in which our choices (good or bad) affect our future. We live in a reciprocally interrelated world where there are repercussions for our actions. As conscious moral agents, humans have power that the beings in other realms do not; this clearly underscores the importance of moral action and spiritual development.
 
Freedom of choice is our human birthright and gift from the Creator. When the Creator created the world, he gave humans the option to choose between good (light energy) and evil (dark energy). Light energy is unlimited and comes from the divine source. It is highly vibrational, expansive and full of love. Dark energy is dense, negative, and goes against the flow of the universe. It is about manipulation, oppression, conquest and fear. Darkness is part of who we are, and we all have to take responsibility for it.
 
At any moment, each of us is confronted with choices between good and evil forces. The dark forces were created so humans could realize their inner powers and develop the soul. The darkness consistently tries to make people choose between the good and bad and tries to tempt them to choose the bad. Its goal is to force us to behave in opposition to our true soul, to be bad. When we choose good over evil, we grow spiritually and bring more light into the world. This is how we learn to take responsibility for our own actions and eventually realize that self-centeredness is counterproductive to the evolution of the individual and the collective.
 
The Great Shift
 
A growing number of voices in the international shamanic community are telling us that Mother Earth and her inhabitants are undergoing a fundamental, evolutionary change -- a change that many of us will experience first-hand in this lifetime. Some call it the Kali Yuga, the age of maximum darkness and ignorance; a time when the dark forces of the unconscious are at their strongest. Some call it the Era of Strife, Tribulations, or End of Days. Others refer to this unfolding event as the Turning of the Age or a Great Shift in consciousness that was foretold long, long ago.
 
Great shifts in energy are taking place at this time. The veil between the spiritual and physical worlds is growing thinner. In other words, the boundaries between spirit and matter have greatly dissolved, and these worlds are currently overlapping and blending together. There is a major battle going on in the spirit world between the light and the dark, and it is spilling over into the material world. It is not hard to see that, even though we live on a planet that surrounds us with beauty, there is a lot of darkness manifesting within humanity. The dark is making a bid for power. The light is countering every move made by the dark; the light will ultimately prevail.
 
In the struggle between good and evil, we are all being called upon to choose which side we are on -- the light or the dark. This is not judgment day. It has nothing to do with religion or ideology. This is about human existence, free will, and each of us claiming our sovereignty. Sovereignty is the supreme power to self govern -- to be the exclusive controller of one's own body and life. If we claim our sovereignty, we can shape a truly New World.