FOREST COUNTY POTAWATOMI COMMUNITY

PROJECT GREEN FIRE

Jeff Crawford

Attorney General

Forest County Potawatomi Community

Significant Recent FCPC Environmental Initiatives

• Successful opposition to and resolution of Crandon Mine matter.

• Protection of Tribe’s reservation and northern Wisconsin through Class I redesignation.

• Research regarding causes of mercury impacts in Wisconsin lakes and support of state’s new 90% mercury reduction standards.

• Tribe’s service on Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming.

Governor’s Task Force

• FCPC membership on electric generation, cap-and-trade, forestry and agriculture, and waste recovery work groups.

• All of these groups developed policies that promote renewable energy development in Wisconsin.

• Policies include a 25% by 2025 RPS that includes large hydro but is based on the premise that First Nation concerns regarding Manitoba’s existing hydro system and new proposed projects, including issuance of final licenses, will be resolved before new projects are built.

• FCPC now working actively and cooperatively to implement task force recommendations.

FCPC’s Energy Efficiency and Carbon Reduction Initiatives

• Work with Focus on Energy (Wisconsin’s public benefits provider) to audit all FCPC buildings (including its business operations) with significant energy usage.

• Based on these audits, FCPC is implementing measures to improve its energy efficiency.

• Compared to a baseline 2007 period, FCPC efforts have resulted in an almost 15% reduction in energy and 22% reduction in carbon emissions per gross square foot of its major buildings.

• In addition, FCPC has switched to a 4-day work week, which has resulted in 170 tons of carbon reduction.

FCPC Renewable Energy Projects

• Overall goal: carbon-free energy self-sufficiency for Tribe, and potential additional green energy sales from Wisconsin and reservation-based sources.

• Performing renewable energy site assessments for small wind and biomass and solar PV and hot water heat for reservation and Milwaukee buildings.

• Exploring potential larger biomass-to-energy projects, including those that help convert older Midwestern coal-fired facilities to biomass (and thereby reducing carbon, mercury, sulfur, and other emissions).

• Evaluating potential small hydro projects utilizing existing dams that need to stay in place.

FCPC Strategies for Energy Efficiency and Green Energy Development

• Development of initial and overall due diligence checklist to ensure projects meet environmental, self-sufficiency, and economic goals.

• Partnership with Focus on Energy: audits and incentives.

• Maximizing value of tax incentives, grants, and financing opportunities under stimulus package.

• Identifying additional grant opportunities from DOE and other federal agencies.