In partnership with Consumers Energy, FireKeepers Casino announced Monday that it would be the first gaming property of its kind in Michigan to source all of its electricity from renewable power sources.
According to the Battle Creek Enquirer, businesses that join Consumers’ renewable energy program agree to match their energy consumption with wind and solar energy developed by the Michigan-based company.
FireKeepers’ resulting reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is expected to be the equivalent of taking 61,000 gas-powered vehicles off the road. Coincidentally, the casino sponsors an annual NASCAR Cup Series race, the FireKeepers Casino 400.
“We’ve been given the responsibility by the Creator to protect Mother Earth,” Tribal Chair Jamie Stuck of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, which owns FireKeepers, said Monday. “Sometimes we as human beings fall short, but all we can really do is do our best and try to learn from our mistakes and correct our actions so that we’re looking after the next Seven Generations and what type of world we leave them with.”
This isn’t the Nottawaseppi Band’s first foray into clean energy. As The New York Times reported, in 2011 the tribe formed a solar power company to provide some electricity to its casino, as well as several facilities on its nearby reservation.
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