Rep. Marilyn Strickland took a tour of the Nisqually Indian Tribe Tuesday, Oct. 8, to visit the tribe’s existing and future projects funded by a $5.4 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Strickland toured the tribe’s public safety building and the elders village, among other visits on her trip.
“When they passed the Inflation Reduction Act and this grant program, it’s one thing to say that we have a program where money is available, but it’s another thing to be thoughtful, strategic and smart in submitting an application to actually get these dollars,” Strickland said to tribal members. “These grants are very competitive. I want to give you all props for just doing the work and the plans.”
Casey Sixkiller, a regional administrator for the EPA, concurred with Strickland and emphasized how competitive the grants are.
“This is one of only 34 projects awarded nationwide in the tribal set aside. [It was] extremely competitive, and Nisqually was one of those,” Sixkiller said.
The grant, under the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, will fund a major project aimed at implementing key greenhouse gas emission reduction measures within the tribe’s community, with a focus on enhancing commercial and residential buildings.
The tribe’s goals for the project are to reduce propane consumption by 40,000 gallons/year at the tribe’s public safety building through the installation of heat pump systems, install a total of 661 kilowatts of solar capacity at four tribal buildings, install solar panels and heat pumps on roughly 30 tribal homes to lower heating and electricity costs, reduce the use of wood and propane stoves, and improve indoor and outdoor air quality. The tribe also aims to create a sustainable model and resources to enable the tribe to integrate greenhouse gas reductions and clean energy transition into future government planning and community actions.
