Tai Kondo Koester

Tai Kondo Koester is a PhD student in the School of Geography, Development, & Environment at University of Arizona. His research interests broadly concern the environmental politics of the US West and examine how the energy transition is shaping the political and economic futures of tribal nations. His latest project examined the shifting political and economic conditions of southeastern Montana coal country and its consequences for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. He received his Master’s in Geography at the University of Arizona in 2024. Prior to coming to Arizona, Tai worked for three years at Northern Plains Resource Council, a grassroots conservation and family agriculture organization based in Billings, Montana. He staffed the Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA), a contract between Northern Plains and a multinational mining corporation, Sibanye-Stillwater, which extracts platinum and palladium ore from the Beartooth Mountains for use in catalytic converters. Tai is also a fellow with the Climate and Community Institute, where he is coauthoring a report on the role of Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) in the energy transition.