In anticipation of the enactment of FY 2014 appropriations, the Department of Interior’s Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) is soliciting grant proposals from tribes and tribal resource development organizations under the Energy and Mineral Development Program (EMDP) and the Tribal Energy Development Capacity (TEDC) program. Applications for each funding opportunity are due by February 18, 2014.
Energy and Mineral Development Program. Eligible projects are those on Indian land which: explore for energy and mineral resources, inventory or assess known resources, or perform feasibility or market studies that tend to promote the use and development of known energy and mineral resources. Energy resources may include conventional energy resources and renewable energy resources. Mineral resources may include industrial minerals, precious minerals, base minerals, and ferrous metal minerals. The term “Indian land” for the purpose of eligibility for the EMDP is defined as:
a) any land located within the boundaries of an Indian reservation, Pueblo or Rancheria;
b) any land not located within the boundaries of an Indian reservation, Pueblo or Rancheria, the title of which is held –
i. In trust by the United States for the benefit of an Indian tribe or an individual Indian
ii. by an Indian tribe or individual Indian, subject to restriction against alienation under laws of the United States
iii. by a dependent Indian community
c) land that is owned by an Indian tribe and was conveyed by the United States to a Native Corporation pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, or that was conveyed by the United States to a Native Corporation in exchange for such land.
Further information on the EMDP may be found at: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/12/20/2013-30282/grant-program-to-assess-evaluate-and-promote-development-of-tribal-energy-and-mineral-resources
Tribal Energy Development Capacity Program. The TEDC program helps tribes in assessing, developing, or obtaining the managerial and technical capacity needed to develop conventional and renewable energy resources on Indian land (same definition as above) and to properly account for the resulting energy production and revenues. The same federal law (the Energy Policy Act of 2005, PL 109-58) that authorizes this grant program also authorizes tribes to enter into Tribal Energy Resource Agreements (TERAs). A TERA is an agreement between a federally recognized tribe and the Secretary of the Interior that allows the tribe, at its discretion, to enter into leases, business agreements, and rights-of-way for energy resource development without further review and approval by the Secretary. Part of the requirement for a tribe achieving a TERA is a Secretarial determination that the tribe has the capacity to regulate the development of its energy resources. Hence, a TEDC grant may prove helpful to a tribe who is pursuing a TERA.
Further information on the TEDC program may be found at: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/12/20/2013-30281/grant-program-to-build-tribal-energy-development-capacity
Please let us know if we may provide additional information regarding the Energy and Mineral Development Program or the Tribal Energy Development Capacity Program.
