Intertribal Council on Utility PolicyIntertribal Council on Utility PolicyICOUP_1f8d3dc7-bf66-403c-bc1e-7b9ccbc524daTo provide a forum for utility issues discussion from regulatory and economic perspectives_06b637ca-a0f3-4483-b829-b957da790e82Policy, Analysis, and WorkshopsProvide policy analysis and recommendations, as well as workshops on telecommunications, climate change research, Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) hydropower allocations, energy efficiency, energy planning, and renewable energy, with a heavy emphasis on wind energy development._4dcde34d-8c43-4e2f-babe-db6ee8eb9bc01Wind PowerBuild out the wind power potential of the Great Plains_ca01f97c-681d-4a1f-9054-fb4d96efe23e2Cheyenne River Sioux TribeFlandreau Santee Sioux TribeLower Brule Sioux TribeMandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Sioux TribeOmaha Sioux TribeRosebud Sioux TribeSisseton Sioux TribeSpirit Lake Sioux TribePine Ridge Sioux TribeStanding Rock Sioux TribeCheyenne River Sioux Tribal Telephone AuthorityNatural forces, geography and demographics have placed this vast windshed before the path of over a hundred million northeastern residents. Their need for sustainable energy solution that does not damage the health of their watersheds, forests, and the very air they breathe could not be more clear.COUP's goal of building out the wind power potential of the Great Plains will also help us protect the West's ever more scarce water resources from being depleted and degraded in the process of mining and burningmillions of tons of coal every year.Increasing our nation's supply of wind power will directly reduce the carbon load on the atmosphere, nitric and sulfuric acids poisoning our forests and lakes, human health damage to respiratory systems, and genetic damage to future generations from accumulations of mercury.People also need the better employment prospects of wind power. Centralized power plants can not create the significant benefits to local employment levels provided by de-centralized wind power generation. Preparing tribal colleges to offer the education and training needed to realize these local economic benefits is another part of the solution, and COUP is working to build this capacity.Dependence on non-renewable energy sources creates a host of substantially negative human and environmental impacts on our country. Burning coal has been our primary energy solution since we started mining it over 200 years ago.2010-02-08http://www.intertribalcoup.org/mission/index.htmlArthurColman (www.drybridge.com)colman@drybridge.com