Gene Johnson and Harry Golden
SEATTLE (AP) — Tens of millions of dollars raised by Washington state’s landmark climate change legislation will go to Native American tribes at risk from climate change and rising sea levels to help them relocate to higher ground, install solar panels, buy electric vehicles and restore wetlands, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday.
The money, $52 million, comes from the Climate Commitment Act of 2021, which would auction carbon dioxide emission allowances to heavy polluters and invest the proceeds in education, transportation and other programs. Conservative critics who blame the law for rising gasoline prices are seeking to repeal it in November.
Nearly every Native American tribe in Washington state has received funding, including the Quinault Indian Tribe of 3,000 people who live on the Pacific coast of the Olympic Peninsula, which is getting $13 million to relocate two of its main villages to higher ground, away from the tsunami zone and frequent flooding. One of the villages is partly below sea level and separated from the choppy waters by a seawall, where high tides and storm surges inundate homes and government buildings.
The tribes have been working on the relocation for at least a decade, but so far a patchwork of federal and state grant funding has fallen far short of projected costs.
The money will be used to fund a new water tank and pump house on higher ground to serve child and senior services, emergency shelters, residents, government buildings and a relocated public school, as well as to develop a master plan and architectural drawings for a new museum and cultural center.
“We are incredibly grateful for this funding, which allows us to make great strides in our mission to protect residents, homes and critical infrastructure from harm,” Quinault County Mayor Guy Capoeman said in a statement released by the state Department of Commerce. “This funding will allow us to serve our most precious resources, our seniors and children, in a safe location while providing emergency shelters and operational bases when we need to respond to the inevitable flooding and other natural disasters that come with living on the coast.”
Inslee, a Democrat, is in his third and final term as governor and has frequently touted the Climate Commitment Act. Washington state is in the process of linking its carbon market with California and Quebec, which also conduct emissions auctions, but the legislation is being challenged by a voter challenger, Initiative 2117, backed by conservative hedge fund executive Brian Haywood.
Governor Inslee announced the grant during a press conference on Tuesday in Taholah, one of the Quinault communities that will be relocated, along with Governor Capohemann and Commerce Secretary Mike Fong.
Each of Washington state’s 28 federally recognized tribes and four tribes based elsewhere but with land in the state will receive at least $750,000.
The Legislature set aside $52 million in the 2023-25 budget, and the Commerce Department worked with tribes to determine how to spend the money.
For the Skokomish tribe north of Olympia, weatherizing their homes will cost $2 million. For the Makah tribe on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, installing solar panels and battery backups at their community heating center will cost $620,000.
The Lummi Tribe in northwest Washington will use some of the funds to restore salmon in the Nooksack River, while the Spokane Tribe in eastern Washington is looking to improve energy efficiency.
The Shoalwater Bay Tribe, which lives on a small peninsula at the mouth of a Pacific coast harbor, also received about $2.8 million in funding to help with its relocation plan to higher ground.
