Native American community breaks ground on historic clean energy project
On Friday, the Gila River Indian Community, whose land is in what is now Arizona, made history — breaking ground on the first solar-panel-lined water canal project in the US.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to show that not just the Gila River Indian Community, but that a tribal nation can lead in water conservation and in generating green energy,” Stephen Lewis, governor of the Gila River Indian Community, told The Independent after breaking ground on the project.
Thousands of years of Gila River stewardship and decades of water rights activism came to a head as the Gila River Indian Community became the first in the western hemisphere and the second on Earth to begin construction on a solar-panel-lined water canal.
On the surface, this project is a breakthrough
