QIN/Shoalwater included in $52 million through Climate Commitment Act funding
$52 million will go to Native American tribes in Washington at risk from climate change and rising sea levels to help them move to higher ground, install solar panels, buy electric vehicles, and restore wetlands.
Governor Jay Inslee made the announcement in Taholah on Tuesday alongside Quinault Indian Nation President Guy Capoeman and Director of Commerce Mike Fong.
The money comes from the 2021 Climate Commitment Act, which auctions off allowances for heavily polluting companies to emit carbon, with the revenue invested in education, transportation, and other programs.
Conservative critics who blame the Climate Commitment Act for increased gas prices are seeking to repeal the law in November.
Nearly every Native American tribe in Washington is receiving money as part of the recent announcement, and Gov. Inslee told KXRO on Tuesday that all of the funding for these projects came from the CCA.
The Quinault Indian Nation was awarded a quarter of the awards, $13 million, to help relocate its two main villages, in Taholah and Queets, to higher ground, away from the tsunami zone and persistent flooding.
“The Quinault is a perfect example of two things: people who are threatened by climate change, and people who are willing to do something about it and are confident in our ability to do something about it,” Inslee said. “So when I think about what you’re doing, it’s very inspirational to me.”
The tribe has spent at least a decade on the relocation effort, but so far a patchwork of federal and state grants has fallen far short of the expected cost.
The money will help fund a new building to house child and elder services, an emergency shelter, and a new water tank and pump house on high ground to serve residents, government buildings, and a relocated public school. It will also help pay for the development of a master plan and architectural drawings for a new museum and cultural center.
“We are incredibly grateful for this funding allowing us to take a big step forward in our mission to get our people, our homes and our critical infrastructure out of harm’s way,” Quinault President Guy Capoeman said in a statement issued by the state Commerce Department. “It will allow us to serve our elders and children, our most precious resource, in a safe space while providing an emergency shelter and operations base when we need to respond to inevitable flooding and other natural disasters that are part of life on the coast.”
Inslee, a Democrat in his third and final term as governor, has frequently touted the Climate Commitment Act. Washington is in the process of connecting its carbon market with California and Quebec, which also have emission allowance auctions, but the law faces a ballot-box challenge in Initiative 2117, backed by conservative hedge fund executive Brian Heywood.
Inslee spoke to KXRO on the impact a reversal of the act would have on future projects.
Twenty-eight federally recognized tribes in Washington, plus four others that are based elsewhere but have land in the state, are receiving at least $750,000 each.
The Legislature made the $52 million available in the 2023-25 budget, and the Commerce Department worked with the tribes to figure out how they wanted to use the money.
The Shoalwater Bay Tribe was also included in the funding announcement, awarded around $2.8 million to help plan a relocation to higher ground.