An interview with Sierra Graves: Director of Tribal Affairs and Tribal Liaison at the California Energy Commission
By Ysabelle Yrad, WCOA Fellow at Blue Lake Rancheria
Over the past three months, the WCOA fellows diligently advanced their fellowship projects at their host agencies while also coordinating interviews with West Coast ocean leaders to gather valuable insights from coastal managers in our region. Below is the transcript from Ysabelle Yrad’s interview with Sierra Graves, the Director of Tribal Affairs and Tribal Liaison at the California Energy Commission
Sierra Graves is the Director of Tribal Affairs and Tribal Liaison at the California Energy Commission (CEC or Commission). Sierra participates in the West Coast Ocean Alliance Offshore Wind Working Group, and attended the WCOA Offshore Wind Summit in April 2024. We caught up after the summit & the public comment period of Assembly Bill 525: Draft Strategic Plan for Offshore Wind Development, where Sierra has been facilitating the Offshore Wind Tribal Working Group, among many other tasks. Below is a summary of Sierra’s responses to our interview together.
Can you provide a high level overview of what your job addresses, and what your day-to-day work is like?
My job is different every day. I’m in the Office of the Public Advisor, Energy Equity, and Tribal Affairs, which means that I get to work across the commission, helping people bring Tribal Affairs into various programs and policies. Some days that looks like working on policy like offshore wind, SB 100 (the statewide 100% clean energy plan), SB 605 wave and tidal, or supporting the cultural resources team in the siting of power plants.
It also looks like working on funding programs, like the first ever Tribal specific funding solicitation coming out of the Clean Transportation Program. And it means innovating within state parameters to always do better and be responsive to what Tribes are asking. The Tribal Specific Zero Emission Vehicle solicitation is now the largest CEC grant to not require cost match or a limited waiver of sovereign immunity.
I also get to work with Assistant Tribal Liaisons in every CEC division and office. Each of the Assistant Tribal Liaison’s is committed to working to advance tribal affairs within their divisions, and bring unique expertise to the space. The best days are going out and meeting with Tribes and talking about our funding programs, to see how we can help connect Tribes with the right funding program for their energy plans, or even better, attending a ground breaking for an amazing project we just funded.
What is your favorite aspect of your current work?
The Tribal microgrids - I love doing stuff with Tribal microgrids! Tribes keep telling us they want microgrids, they want energy sovereignty, and microgrids are often their chosen method to get it. These are extremely impactful and is a clear space that California Native American Tribes are leading in their partnership with the state.
Could you share the story of your career journey? How did you come to work at the California Energy Commission?
Mine is probably a different journey, because my background is not in energy at all. My passion was always Environmental Justice (EJ), in both grad school research and work. I was doing a doctoral program and decided to leave because COVID happened and I wanted to do more than just read books and write papers. So, I took a leave from my program (and had every intention of going back and finishing because I was already four years in), and I ended up working in the public health space during the pandemic.
I worked at San Diego County Public Health and had a dual appointment in outbreak operations and tribal affairs. This was 2 different type of skill sets, that both ended up giving me skills I use in my current role. While I oversaw different special teams, the Tribal team became my passion. I was mentored by someone on loan from the CDC, after he was deployed to various COVID responses including the Navajo response to COVID. As the pandemic began to slow, I decided I was ready to get back towards my passion for climate justice work and came to the CEC.
What topics were your focus while working on Environmental Justice?
It was mostly water and public health related, and I served at the intersection of these on the International Boundary and Water Commission Citizens Forum which aims to facilitate communication around the poor water quality along the U.S. and Mexico border. When it rains, there’s sewage plumes in the ocean because there’s not enough wastewater treatment. I was also fortunate to receive mentorship during a fellowship at the Environmental Health Coalition, and former Senator Denise Ducheny in her State Senate role and supporting her when she left the Senate and went into consulting.
What are the most important skills to develop for a position like yours, or what you have found to be important skills?
Kindness. Leadership. Listening. For technical skills, I would say GIS. All of my research was very quantitative and I was doing code in R, but often not spatial. I’ve never had GIS as a limitation however, since data training provided an opportunity to understand complex data. I think it is also largely being willing to learn and learning on the job – like being able to find where the information is.
Do you have examples of how you are working to collaborate with others, such as outside of the CEC, to achieve a mutual goal?
The Tribal Offshore Wind Working Group is where we’re working the most together now. We’re actually standing up another Tribal Working Group around SB 100, which will inform that report. We’re trying to work collaboratively, with Tribal Nations and with agencies like CARB and CPUC for SB 100, to weigh in on policy. One thing we learned working on OSW was we are better when we all come together, California Native American Tribes and all agencies and levels of government together.
Can you also share any recent examples of how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are demonstrated at the CEC?
We have a JAEDI framework (Justice, Access, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) within the CEC. We also have these groups, JAEDI-in (within the CEC workforce) and JAEDI-out (the programmatic and policy work). The group I was on with JAEDI-out was trying to work on solutions to get technical assistance for Tribal Nations and disadvantaged communities.
Our commissioners also support energy equity, through action, prioritizing, and funding. The fact that we’ve now done over $100 million in Tribal microgrids is not because there’s a Tribal microgrids program. It’s because leadership makes sure there’s equity implemented into all decisions. The funding comes from the EPIC program for most Tribal microgrids, or from the Long Duration Energy Storage program for the bigger ones.
Could you share some of the success and challenges you’ve encountered in your role?
The biggest success is easily the microgrids. We just had the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians ground breaking, which at the time was the biggest energy grant to a Tribe at $32 million. It’s hugely impactful, and will support so much of their load, including buildings that serve as an emergency operations center.
There’s also little successes too, like having the no limited waiver in that $10 million dollar Clean Transportation Program, which has garnered a lot of interest. And this is a challenge - all of our money is legislatively directed, which can make it hard to be responsive in some cases to things that need to happen that Tribes are asking for.
Sierra’s background in environmental justice, water, and public health was inspiring to listen to and connect to her story. Learning about her current role also expressed to me the energy equity work happening at the CEC, in state leadership, and with Tribal Nations. Thank you to Sierra Graves and others who have taken the time to share their work and career advice to WCOA fellows like me.
