Federal regulators quietly implemented a new policy enabling Native American tribes to effectively veto certain green energy development projects on their land.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order rejecting three large hydroelectric pump storage projects — which generate dispatchable utility-scale power by transporting water back-and-forth between two man-made reservoirs, one elevated and the other lower — in northeastern Arizona on Navajo Nation land. The order further establishes the policy impacting future projects on tribal lands.
