The Cherokee Nation is the first tribe in Oklahoma to install a solar-powered, electric vehicle charging station at its government headquarters.
Cherokee Nation Secretary of Natural Resources Sarah Hill said the tribe began evaluating its carbon footprint about a year ago.
"One of the things that became really clear to us as we looked at that footprint was a lot of it was caused by the traffic, the driving back and forth to the complex," Hill said. "So, this — we identified this as one way to really make an immediate dent into our carbon footprint."
Cherokee Nation has two Nissan Leafs in its fleet now. The cars are 100 percent electric. Employees and visitors can also plug into any of the eight stalls, and the station should help cut electric bills for the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex in Tahlequah.
"It creates energy whether it's got anything [plugged] into it or not. On those days where we don't have the bays completely full or all that energy's not being demanded, that energy is fed back to the complex," Hill said.
Tthe tribe is looking to get ahead of not only climate change, but also changes in transportation.
"For a lot of reasons, both economic and environmental, it makes a lot of sense to begin thinking now about how our infrastructure needs to change to meet that future that we know is coming," Hill said.
The $300,000 charging station was paid for with a Bureau of Indian Affairs climate change grant and was built by Francis Renewable Energy of Tulsa.
