Exploring opportunities for low-carbon energy and potential impacts on natural and cultural resources
This project explored opportunities for low carbon energy options on the northeastern part of the Olympic Peninsula.
(Map by Shon Zimmerman | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory provided technical assistance to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe (JST), a federally recognized sovereign Tribal Nation located on the North Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, to support their planned transition to low-carbon energy. As part of this effort, PNNL provided information about multiple low-carbon energy options available to JST in their local area of interest, including solar photovoltaic, land-based wind, geothermal, marine energy, and biomass cogeneration options. This included a list of valuable resources and references related to each energy option, detailed on the individual pages of this site. Learn more:
In addition to providing information about these energy options and potential resources in the Tribe’s area of interest, PNNL also provided general information about some of the potential impacts of these energy options on natural and cultural resources important to the Tribe. This is not a recommendation on which renewable energy option to pursue, but instead an informational resource that can be used to help inform JST’s future energy projects as they transition to low-carbon energy sources.
Disclaimer: Tribes disproportionately bear the impacts of climate change, including, but not limited to, the loss of culturally and economically important natural resources, the loss of traditional foods, severe health impacts, and displacement from traditional villages and lands. As tribes work to decarbonize their energy sector and transition to a clean energy economy in an attempt to avoid the crushing impacts of climate change, the rights, culture, and economies of tribes must be protected and restored. Tribal communities have unjustly and disproportionately experienced the impacts of the extraction, processing, distribution, and use of energy, including harm from pollution, loss of lands, and loss of cultural and economic opportunities.
This document aims to provide general information on low-carbon energy resources without endorsing any specific technology or its suitability for a specific ecosystem, community, or site. All development and siting decisions must include free, prior, and informed consent of all tribes with usual and accustomed or ceded territories on the proposed location of the project. Federal agencies must ensure the protection of treaty rights and collaborate with tribes to establish and fund consultations and processes that ensure the rights and wishes of tribes are protected.