Biden Administration Giving $75M to 3 Native Tribes Threatened by Rising Seas
MOVING DAY
The Biden administration is giving three Native tribes $75 million to relocate from coastal areas at risk of destruction from climate change, according to the Department of the Interior. The department said Wednesday that the Alaskan communities of Newtok and Napakiak, and the Quinault Indian Nation in Washington State, would each receive $25 million. The awards are part of a large $135-million package being doled out to 11 total tribes in order to help them move and relocate their buildings further inland, away from erosion and encroaching seas. The other eight tribes, which include Native communities from Maine, Louisiana, Northern California, and Alaska, will be given $5 million each. “It gave me goosebumps when I found out we got that money,” Joseph John Jr., a council member in Newtok, told The New York Times. “It will mean a lot to us.” Tribal nations, after centuries of disenfranchisement and oppression, are more vulnerable to the effects of a rapidly warming planet, with their pockets of reservation land facing higher risk of extreme heat, wildfires, and drought.