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Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research

Abstract

The Navajo Nation, a Native American tribe in the southwestern United States, has an extensive history of disenfranchisement by the U.S. government in many areas, including loss of traditional tribal land, systematic water scarcity, and exposure to environmental hazards, as well as the overall exclusion of Indigenous perspectives from decision-making processes. In recent years, the Navajo Nation has been undergoing a transition from fossil fuels, namely coal plants, to renewable electricity generation, with varying degrees of Indigenous participation and success. In this paper, a comparative analysis of the Kayenta and Red Mesa Tapaha Solar projects and the Black Mesa Pumped Storage hydropower project will be used to assess the differing extents of Indigenous participation in relevant environmental policy and to assess how this participation affects the success of renewable energy development. By studying how Navajo people supported the Kayenta Solar project, protested the Red Mesa Tapaha Solar project, and opposed the Black Mesa Pumped Storage Project, this paper investigates how Indigenous participation can be fostered in the transition to renewable energy. By using Navajo perspectives in news articles, reports containing interviews, and social media posts and comments, I argue that opposition to renewable energy projects stems from the failure to properly incorporate community desires and perspectives in the process of project development.

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