Michigan tribes receive $38 million from the Biden-Harris administration to take climate action, implement community-driven clean energy projects

Tribes to install solar, improve energy efficiency, upgrade housing, and more with new resources from the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected four tribes in Michigan to receive more than $38 million in Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) made available by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The awards to these four tribes in Michigan make up nearly 10 percent of the CPRG tribal award dollars nationally.

These awards will empower tribes across the state to implement community-driven climate solutions, supporting their efforts to lower costs, upgrade infrastructure, reduce air pollution, advance environmental justice, and accelerate clean energy solutions. Projects will support solar installations, energy efficiency and electrification improvements, recycling services, electric vehicle infrastructure, and more.

“Michigan is committed to working with our tribal communities to drive projects and investments that lower energy costs, create good-paying jobs, protect our natural resources, and help achieve the goals of the MI Healthy Climate Plan,” said Phil Roos, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). “Tribes in Michigan have been long-standing leaders in climate action. These investments from the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act will accelerate their efforts and further position Michigan as a national leader in clean energy, ensuring a sustainable and prosperous future for all.”

• Bay Mills Indian Community will receive $17.3 million to install a ground-mounted solar farm and battery storage system that will provide Tribal citizens in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan with clean, affordable, and reliable electricity. The award also creates a workforce development program to train Tribal members to fill new high-quality clean energy jobs.
• Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will receive $14.9 million to undertake energy efficiency assessments and upgrade low-income Tribal housing units and businesses. The award also supports the solar arrays on residential and commercial buildings, allowing the tribe to meet a majority of their energy needs with renewable energy.
• Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi will receive $1.2 million to take climate action across multiple sectors, including expanding Tribal recycling programs, converting the commercial vehicle fleet to electric vehicles, promoting energy-efficient lighting fixtures in the local greenhouse, and supporting habitat restoration efforts.
• Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians will receive $5 million to install solar, retrofit buildings with HVAC Air-source and ground source heat pumps, and develop and install electric vehicle charging stations across the Tribal government campus.

These four awards are among 34 applications and $300 million in funding from the CPRG program that will cumulatively reduce greenhouse gas pollution nationally by over seven million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050—equivalent to the carbon dioxide emitted from nearly 1.4 million homes’ electricity use for one year. More information on CPRG tribal awards can be found on the EPA’s website.

EGLE is committed to working with Michigan’s federally-recognized tribes to advance the goals of the MI Healthy Climate Plan. In August, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that EGLE had received $129.1 million from the EPA under the CPRG program to launch the Renewable Ready Communities (RRC), a program that will provide financial incentives, technical assistance, and more to support the deployment of utility-scale renewable energy and energy storage that is permitted through local processes. The state’s award reserved at least $10 million for projects and support for tribal communities.

Michigan Leads on Clean Energy

Two years after the passage of the Biden-Harris Administration’s IRA, Michigan continues to secure funding to create a brighter future for Michiganders. According to a recent report, Michigan is No. 1 in the nation for winning IRA-funded projects, resulting in more than $26 billion in new investments across the state, supporting over 21,000 good-paying jobs. The investments, along with Governor Whitmer’s clean energy laws and bipartisan economic development tools, are growing the middle class, creating good-paying jobs, bringing supply chains home, lowering energy costs for families, and positioning Michigan to achieve the goals of the MI Healthy Climate Plan.

“Michigan continues to lead the way in drawing down billions of dollars in federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act to support our climate goals and create a more sustainable future,” said Zachary Kolodin, chief infrastructure officer and director of the Michigan Infrastructure Office. “This funding is driving investments that will be felt for generations by lowering energy costs, protecting our water and air, creating good-paying jobs, and reshoring our supply chain to ensure Michigan remains a key hub for clean energy innovation and infrastructure development.”

For more information on Michigan’s success in leveraging IRA funds, check out this press release.

About the CPRG Program

The EPA’s CPRG program provides $5 billion in grants to states, local governments, tribes, and territories to develop and implement ambitious plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. Authorized under the IRA, this two-phase program provides $250 million for noncompetitive planning grants and approximately $4.6 billion for competitive implementation grants.