Coastal tribes in the Northwest are struggling to secure federal grants essential for climate adaptation, often bogged down by excessive paperwork and misaligned funding priorities.
Northwest coastal tribes must relocate due to rising sea levels but face obstacles in securing federal funding.
A new report highlights that grant applications are burdensome, diverting critical tribal resources from climate adaptation.
Tribal leaders emphasize that while funding is available for planning, there’s little for infrastructure needed to implement those plans.
Key quote:
“There’s so many lessons there for other kinds of communities who are going to have to face these same issues in the coming years, and the tribes are doing it first.”
— Meade Krosby, senior scientist at UW
Why this matters:
Coastal tribes are among the first to face the harsh realities of climate change. Their struggle to secure necessary funding not only endangers their communities but also offers vital lessons for future climate adaptation efforts.
North Dakota received a $3 million grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to support pollution-reduction efforts as part of the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program authorized in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Louisiana will use a $25 million grant to plug, cap and reclaim up to 900 orphaned oil and gas wells across the state in the first phase of a $4.7 billion federal program included in last year's infrastructure law.
