Published at: 3/2024
The Bay Mills Indian Community Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP), prepared by the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan with support from the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program, lays out a tribe-specific roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building climate resilience. It begins with a generalized greenhouse gas inventory for the community’s key sectors — including electricity, waste, residential/commercial, and transportation — using national and state data and tribal energy assessments. The plan identifies several near-term, prioritized GHG reduction measures such as building a new waste transfer station, improving energy efficiency in tribal homes and facilities, installing combined heat and power systems, and developing a 12 MW solar farm on tribal trust land. It also includes a benefit analysis that considers improved air quality, health outcomes, economic returns, and resilience improvements, and lays out implementation considerations and potential funding sources for the community’s projects. The PCAP serves as a first phase toward a more comprehensive climate action strategy, which will include a full greenhouse gas inventory and future emissions projections.