Who is Intertribal COUP?
Intertribal COUP is a council of Great Plains tribes that provides a forum for utility issues discussion from regulatory and economic perspectives, with a heavy emphasis on wind energy development. The Intertribal COUP Council has representatives from nine Tribes located in a three-state area in the Northern Plains: South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska. The Tribes include the Cheyenne River; Flandreau Santee; Lower Brule; Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara; Omaha; Rosebud; Sisseton; Spirit Lake; and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Telephone Authority is also a member. The Tribes in the Northern Plains have a huge wind resource, one of the best on the planet. It has the potential to provide clean renewable energy for Tribal use and sustainable economic development, as well as for export to large population centers in the Western and Midwestern regions. Wind energy from Tribal lands alone can meet at least one-third of the nation’s energy needs. Wind energy
