Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association (MTERA)

Activities

“Environmental Justice” Advocacy

The Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association (MTERA) maintains several initiatives related to “environmental justice” including the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities and Technical Assistance Centers (EJ TCTACs). The EJ TCTACs were announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April 2023 for the purpose of training, assisting, and developing capacity building centers for writing grant proposals, navigating federal grant systems, and effectively managing grant funding. ³

In February 2024, MTERA published a Priority Climate Action Plan to advocate investment in policies and technologies that would reduce pollutant emissions, create new jobs, and increase economic growth for member tribes. The plan was developed through the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) Planning Grant and plots a course for reducing emissions on tribal land with weather-dependent energy. ⁴ In March 2025, MTERA published another Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions on tribal lands. ⁵

Studies

In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the start of the Deploying Solar with Wildlife and Ecosystem Services Benefits (SolWEB), a grant funding initiative that alleged to provide funding to projects meant to reduce the impact of solar and green energy installations on wildlife habitats. ⁶ MTERA was also part of a 2024 study claiming that most of its stakeholders supported a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) proposal that would exempt energy projects developed by federally recognized Native American tribes from deposits and other fees in the generator interconnection process. ⁷

Leadership

Daniel Wiggins Jr. is the executive director of the Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association (MTERA). ⁸ He is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and is the the Mashkiiziibii (Bad River) Natural Resource Department’s Air Quality Technician (AQT). He has worked for the Bad River Chippewa for over 10 years as the AQT and has had oversight of the tribe’s energy activities since 2017. ⁹

Brandy Toft is the Chair of the Executive Officers at MTERA. ⁸ She has been involved in tribal land, natural resource, and energy management and preservation with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe as the Tribe’s air quality specialist. ¹⁰

Finances

In 2023, the Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association (MTERA) reported $810,048 in total revenue, $301,237 in total expenses, and $587,969 in total assets. ¹¹ That year, $608,344 (75 percent) of MTERA’s funding came from government grants. ¹²

As part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Solar for All Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant program, MTERA was awarded over $62.3 million in federal grants starting in 2024 to be paid through 2029. The grants were to be used for increasing weather-dependent and solar energy usage for nearly 35 tribes located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The total award of this grant program between all recipients was $7 billion. ^{13 14 2 15 16}

In July 2024, the EPA announced it would award MTERA over $19.million in grant funding for MTERA’s attempts to reduce pollution and promote environmentalist energy policies within impoverished communities within the tribal territories. The funds were awarded under the Community Change Grants Program, as part of the Biden administration-backed Inflation Reduction Act. ^{17 18}