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Tens of millions of dollars raised by Washington state’s landmark climate law will go to Native American tribes at risk from climate change and sea level rise to help them move to higher ground, install solar panels, buy electric vehicles and restore wetlands , Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday.
The money – $52 million – comes from the 2021 Climate Commitments Act, which auctions off allowances for heavily polluting companies to emit carbon, with revenue invested in education, transportation and other programs. Conservative critics who blame rising gas prices sought to repeal the law in November.
Nearly every Native American tribe in Washington received money. Among them is the 3,000-member Quinault Indian Nation on the Pacific coast of the Olympic Peninsula, which received $13 million to help move two major villages to higher ground, away from the tsunami zone and persistent flooding. Part of one of the villages is below sea level, separated from the roaring sea by a sea wall, and the waves and huge waves have flooded the houses and government buildings.
“The Quinault is a perfect example of two things: people who are threatened by climate change, and people who are willing to do something and believe in our ability to do something,” Inslee said. “So when I think about what you’re doing, it’s very inspiring to me.”
The tribe has spent at least a decade in the relocation effort, but so far the patchwork of federal and state grants has fallen far short of the expected cost.
The money will help finance new buildings for children and elderly services, emergency shelters and new water tanks and pump houses on high ground to serve residents, government buildings and relocated public schools. It will also help pay for the development of master plans and architectural drawings for new museums and cultural centers.
“We are very grateful that this funding allows us to take a big step in our mission to get rid of people, homes and our critical infrastructure,” said Quinault President Guy Capoeman in a statement issued by the state Department of Commerce. . “This will allow us to serve our elders and children, our most precious resource, in a safe place while providing emergency shelter and a base of operations when we have to respond to the inevitable floods and other natural disasters that are part of life on the coast.”
Inslee, a Democrat in his third and final term as governor, has often mentioned the Climate Commitment Act. Washington is in the process of linking the carbon market with California and Quebec, which also have emission allowance auctions, but the law faces a challenge at the ballot box in Initiative 2117, supported by conservative hedge fund executive Brian Heywood.
Inslee joined Capoeman and Commerce Director Mike Fong for a news conference Tuesday in Taholah, one of the relocated Quinault villages, to announce the grant.
Twenty-two federally recognized tribes in Washington, plus four others based elsewhere but owning land in the state, received at least $750,000 each.
The Legislature made $52 million available in the 2023-25 ​​budget, and the Department of Commerce is working with tribes to figure out how they want to use the money.
For the Skokomish Tribe north of Olympia, it’s $2 million to weatherize their homes. For the Makah Tribe in the northwestern part of the Olympic Peninsula, it’s $620,000 to install solar panels and battery backups at a community heating center.
The Lummi Nation in northwest Washington will use some of the money to restore salmon in the Nooksack River, and the Spokane Tribe in eastern Washington is looking to improve energy efficiency.
The Shoalwater Bay Tribe, on a small peninsula at the mouth of the harbor on the Pacific coast, was also awarded a grant to help with the relocation plan to higher ground, approximately $2.8 million.
