San Manuel Band of Mission Indians – 2017 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians (San Manuel) received a power allocation from the Western Area Power Authority (Western). Based on this new opportunity, as well as limited capacity issues, San Manuel initiated efforts to evaluate the feasibility of creating its own utility to maximize the Western benefit to San Manuel and to look at other sustainable energy solutions for the benefit of its people. This funding will allow San Manuel to navigate the many legal and regulatory requirements involved in setting up a tribal utility organization, training for tribal staff, and hiring a full-time manager to oversee the new energy organization.

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians is a federally recognized American Indian tribe located next to the cities of Highland and San Bernardino, San Bernardino County, California. The San Manuel Reservation was established in 1891 and recognized as a sovereign nation with the right of self-governance.

San Manuel has been actively engaged in developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy over the past six years to assess and develop energy resources and energy conservation/efficiency measures and to form a tribally owned organization to manage those efforts on the San Manuel Reservation. In 2010, the Tribe initiated efforts via a Steering Committee to develop a Master Plan for the San Manuel Reservation. After a series of workshops and meetings from 2012 to 2014, the Tribal General Council adopted and approved the Master Plan in August 2015. The vision statement for the Master Plan captured the Tribe’s long-term vision for “educating our youth, preserving our environment, housing our families, and sharing our common experiences of the present with future generations…seeking to build a future of which we can be proud.” The Master Plan identified energy and energy efficiency as high priorities for the Tribe.

Prior to this project, the Tribe initiated a Feasibility Assessment that included preliminary legal and technical steps to develop a tribally-owned utility. Research results are considered in a Strategic Energy Plan for the San Manual Reservation that is consistent with the priorities and vision of the San Manuel Master Plan. With this project, the next phase of a tribal energy organization vision will be realized.

The San Manuel Tribal Utility Organization Project will allow the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians to retain needed expert consultants and hire/train key staff to develop and implement a tribally owned utility organization for the San Manuel Reservation by the end of the two-year project period.

The overall goal of the project is to increase the capacity of the Tribe to meet the long-term energy needs of the San Manuel Reservation. The Tribe intends to achieve this goal by pursing the following two objectives: 1) By the end of Year One, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians will complete a comprehensive Formation Strategy to determine specific technical, financial, legal, and regulatory steps that must be taken to implement a tribally owned utility organization on the San Manuel Reservation; and 2) By the end of Year Two, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians will implement a tribally owned utility organization overseen by a dedicated full-time manager.

Activities specific to completing the formation strategy for the tribal energy organization include finalizing power supply, infrastructure, utility formation, and operations and maintenance strategies. Other activities toward realizing the Tribe’s energy vision will also include successfully recruiting a Utility Manager; establishing an energy organization; securing power purchase agreements; and performing staff training and community outreach.

The San Manuel Reservation consists of nearly 1,000 acres of steep terrain at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains located next to the cities of Highland and San Bernardino, San Bernardino County, California, and bordered to the north by the steep foothills of the San Bernardino National Forest. The total population of the Tribe now is between 200 to 300 members. Because the Reservation consists of mostly steep mountainous terrain, fewer than 100 tribal members live on the Reservation; a majority of others live in nearby communities within the southern California region and elsewhere. 

The project is complete. For additional details, see the final report.

The project was competitively selected under the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy Fiscal Year 2016 funding opportunity announcement, “First Steps Toward Developing Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency on Tribal Lands – 2016” (DE-FOA-0001621) and started in August 2017.

The November 2017 and December 2018 project status reports provide more information.