In South Dakota, the Rosebud Sioux tribe is working on a 30-megawatt wind farm that could bring some needed revenue for residents. Per capita income for tribal members is about $7,700 a year.

“We’re broke here,” tribal council president Rodney Haukaas told the New York Times. “We’re poor…The wind is free. There’s energy here all the time.”

The tribe has already had success with wind power, with a 750-kilowatt wind turbine that powers the Rosebud Casino.

According to the Times story, federal officials believe renewable energy could be the next casinos for Indian reservations in windy and sunny states. As we’ve reported, the Navajo Nation is moving in this direction for solar energy.

Unlike the vast majority of Americans, her husband and children had a good chance of qualifying for free, federally funded, comprehensive health care under a program of the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Indian Health Service.

The governor’s husband, Todd Palin, traces his Yup’ik ancestry to his maternal grandmother. Sarah Palin routinely mentions her husband’s background at public appearances, and did this regularly when she ran for governor in 2006. At the time, the issue painted her in a positive light with the Native Alaskan voting bloc.

Todd is a lifelong fisherman. Bristol Bay fishing rights must be bought or inherited in Alaska. In Palin’s case, he says he bought his fishing spot from his grandfather in the 1970s. He also inherited shares in two native Alaska corporations. These shares can only be passed from one blood relative to another. Private citizens cannot purchase them.

Todd Palin’s ancestry grants another plus — it makes him and his children eligible to apply for free government health care.

To qualify for the state-based, federally funded program, Alaska Area Native Health Service, residents must provide proof of ancestry. Cecile Wesley, the director of eligibility at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, told me in an interview that one way of establishing ancestry requirements is to present a shareholder card for one of four Alaska native corporations that list “blood quantum” — the carrier’s percentage of “Indian blood.”

“[Alaska Native Medical Center] does not have a blood quantum requirement,” said Wesley, when I asked what percentage of native blood a resident must have in order to receive the healthcare.

One corporation that issues cards with the blood quantum requirement is the Bristol Bay Native Corp. According to public disclosure forms Sarah Palin filed with the state of Alaska, her husband and their children are BBNC shareholders. Palin’s disclosure form is available here.

Todd Palin and the Palin children are also a shareholders in another Native corporation, Choggiung Ltd.

Wesley said that the Bristol Bay cards have been updated in recent years to include the blood quantum. Older cards would not have been accepted. In that case, the Palins would have had to establish proof of ancestry through the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, or by presenting a membership card in a federally approved tribe.

Like Alaska, the Bureau of Indian Affairs does not set a blood quantum requirement for establishing native ancestry.

Multiple requests for comment from the McCain-Palin campaign were not immediately answered.

It’s unclear whether the Palin’s ever used the native health-service program. But, it’s likely that the family had a better option than “paying out-of-pocket” for health-care coverage.

*Note: This post was originally published at 5:00am Eastern. The time stamp was changed so it would remain on the TWI homepage.

Reports are saying that Palin’s stands on issues of abortion and sex education may be attracting evangelical voters and perhaps scaring off Clinton supporters. What we haven’t heard much about, though, is how her positions on women’s health have played out in Palin’s home state.

Alaska’s population is 15.4 percent Alaska Native or Native American — the largest percentage of any U.S. state. That’s relevant to a discussion on women’s issues for a few big reasons. The rate of rape and sexual assault among Indian women is 3.5 times higher than among women of any other racial group in America. In addition, sexual assault victims in Indian country frequently lack access to basic health resources, including rape kits and screening for sexually transmitted diseases.

This is especially true in Alaska and other rural areas. In some parts of Alaska, rape victims have to travel for days just to reach an Indian Health Service clinic, according to human-rights reports by Amnesty International. And many Indian Health Service clinics have no trained staff members who can provide physical and mental health resources for victims. (You can read about one Alaskan woman’s story — and the stories of other Indian women — in a piece I wrote last year.)

Palin opposes abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. Roughly 25 percent of rapes result in unwanted pregnancies.

Alaska Native women already face discrimination when it comes to their right to choose. Thanks to the Hyde amendment, the Indian Health Service can’t use federal money to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest against a minor or when the mother’s life is at risk.

In an interview last year, Charon Asetoyer, the director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resources Center, had this to say about the Hyde amendment: “We’re the only race in the country that is denied access to abortion merely because of our race.”

Palin’ support of such legislation — and her stands on reproductive health in general — shows she might well be out of step with a large percentage of the women of her own state. We’ll have to wait and see how women across the country respond to her.