PORT ANGELES — Reuben Martinez, a member of the Makah Tribe, will discuss “Energy Sovereignty: Exploring Renewable Energy Projects with Tribal Nations” at 12:30 p.m. Thursday during the Peninsula College’s Studium Generale.
The free virtual presentation is available at https://pencol-edu.zoom.us/j/88082575506. The meeting ID is 880 8257 5506.
Martinez will explore three major areas of renewable energy project development: technical, financial and policy. Looking through a tribal lens, Martinez will examine how sovereignty interacts with these three areas and how they each impact the overall process of accessing renewable energy projects.
Questions considered during the talk will include: How do you fund a project? What kind of renewable energies are there? How does policy shape projects? What is sovereignty? Where appropriate, they will discuss real-world examples of successful renewable energy projects and barriers.
Martinez is a recent graduate of Western Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He is an alumnus of Peninsula College who spent his final year at WWU focusing primarily on renewable energy.
At Spark Northwest, Martinez supports tribes throughout the Northwest as a tribal liaison. He works to identify each tribe’s self-determined interests in renewable energy and works to connect them with funding opportunities, such as applications for programs like the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) or the Washington State Commerce Grant.
Martinez also is preparing to begin pursuing a master’s at the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington, where he plans to focus on the nexus of marine law and policy, renewable energies and sovereignty as means to support Indigenous Nations on a regional and international level as they plan for future generations.
