Native Energy is now Native-Owned
Intertribal COUP acquires majority stake in leading renewable energy marketer, on behalf of its member tribes.
Rosebud, SD and Charlotte, VT (August 11, 2005) - NativeEnergy, the leading national marketer of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and greenhouse gas offsets, and the nonprofit Intertribal Council On Utility Policy (COUP), announced today that COUP has acquired a majority interest in NativeEnergy on behalf of its member tribes. The conversion of one of the country's leading renewable energy marketers into a Native American-owned business marks the next step in the Great Plains tribes' historic effort to power America with Native wind and fight global warming.
The equity investment will give the COUP tribes direct access to the retail market for the renewable power and RECs that their wind farms will generate. The sale of RECs is critical to the successful development of wind farms on the Great Plains reservations. In the past, COUP has looked to NativeEnergy as a wholesale purchaser of wind RECs, whose client list includes recognized leaders Ben & Jerry's, Clif Bar, Stonyfield Farm, NRDC, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Aveda, College of the Atlantic, and Dave Matthews Band. Participating in the retail sale of RECs through NativeEnergy will bring additional revenues to the COUP tribes, as well as access to NativeEnergy's loyal customer base. These revenues are vital to build sustainable economies for the tribes, in harmony with tribal cultural beliefs.
"This is a great day for Native American people everywhere because we are demonstrating that living in harmony with our Mother Earth is not only good for the environment, it is also good business," says COUP President Patrick Spears, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. "We congratulate NativeEnergy on their success on behalf of the COUP tribes' wind development efforts, and appreciate the demonstrated integrity of their management team. The strategic fit could not be better. We look forward to bringing in more tribes as equity participants and taking NativeEnergy to the next level," Spears says.
One of the initial strategic goals of the acquisition is to facilitate the development of an 80 Megawatt (MW) distributed wind project, hosted in 10 MW "clusters" at eight different COUP reservations. In addition to providing enough clean energy to power more than 23,000 homes, these wind farms will also create jobs and revenue streams for the tribes from the sale of electricity and the RECs. This initiative follows the success of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe wind project, the first 100% Native American-owned and operated commercial-scale wind facility, which was built with significant support from NativeEnergy's customers.
Wind turbines generate electricity that would otherwise have to come from polluting power facilities on the regional grid, preventing carbon dioxide (CO2), a leading cause of global warming, from entering the air. These reductions in CO2 emissions are among the environmental attributes that comprise the RECs.
Since its inception in 2000 NativeEnergy has focused on promoting tribal and farmer-owned projects that help tribes and rural communities develop sustainable economies based on the generation of clean, renewable energy. "We will develop a transition and growth plan for the company that will create Native American ownership, management, and staff opportunities and allow NativeEnergy to continue to build and access the market for tribally generated renewable energy, while continuing our support of "off-reservation" renewable projects in partnership with the COUP tribes," says President & CEO Tom Boucher.
NativeEnergy's existing stockholders and management team will stay with the company, with COUP actively participating on the company's board of directors. Through NativeEnergy, the COUP tribes plan to engage businesses and individuals across America in joining the fight against global warming, by helping finance the development of the tribes' vast renewable energy potential.
About NativeEnergy:
NativeEnergy is a national marketer of
renewable energy credits or "green tags," offering
individuals and organizations a means to compensate for their
global warming pollution, or to effectively power their homes
and businesses with renewable energy. NativeEnergy's patent-pending
business process brings upfront payment to renewable projects
for their future green tag output, enabling its customers to
help finance the construction of new wind farms and other renewable
energy projects, such as tribal wind projects and methane digesters
on Pennsylvania family dairy farms, which directly reduce our
reliance on fossil fuels to meet the nation's electricity needs.
Online at: www.NativeEnergy.com.
About Intertribal Council On Utility
Policy:
The Intertribal
COUP is a nonprofit council of federally recognized Indian
tribes in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa, with
affiliates throughout the northern Great Plains. Organized
in 1994, it is chartered and headquartered on the Rosebud Sioux
Reservation to provide a tribal forum for policy issues dealing
with telecommunications and energy utility operations and services.
Intertribal COUP strongly adheres to the principles of tribal
self-determination and ecological sustainability, supporting
the development of sustainable homeland economies built upon
renewable energy resources.
Online at: www.intertribalcoup.org.
Contacts:
Tom Stoddard, NativeEnergy
802-425-3419
Email
Patrick Spears, Intertribal COUP
605-945-1908
Email
