Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Wind-Pump Storage Feasibility Study Project

The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe is a federally recognized Indian tribe organized pursuant to the 1934 Wheeler-Howard Act (“Indian Reorganization Act”). The Lower Brule Sioux Indian Reservation lies along the west bank of Lake Francis Case and Lake Sharpe, which were created by the Fort Randall and Big Bend dams of the Missouri River pursuant to the Pick Sloan Act. The grid accessible at the Big Bend Dam facility operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is less than one mile of the wind farm contemplated by the Tribe in this response. The low-head hydroelectric turbines further being studied would be placed below the dam and would be turned by the water released from the dam itself. The riverbed at this place is within the exterior boundaries of the reservation. The low-head turbines in the tailrace would be evaluated to determine if enough renewable energy could be developed to pump water to a reservoir 500 feet above the river