https://www.propublica.org/article/newtok-alaska-climate-relocation
"NEWTOK, Alaska — A jumble of shipping containers hold all that remains of the
demolished public school in Newtok, Alaska, where on a recent visit, a few
stray dogs and a lone ermine prowled among the ruins.
Late last year, the final residents of this sinking village near the Bering Sea
left behind the waterlogged tundra of their former home, part of a fraught,
federally funded effort to resettle communities threatened by climate change.
Nearly 300 people from Newtok have moved 9 miles across the Ninglick River to a
new village known as Mertarvik. But much of the infrastructure there is already
failing. Residents lack running water, use 5-gallon buckets as toilets and must
contend with intermittent electricity and deteriorating homes that expose them
to the region’s fierce weather.
Newtok’s relocation was supposed to provide a model for dozens of Alaskan
communities that will need to move in the coming decades. Instead, those who’ve
worked on the effort say what happened in Newtok demonstrates the federal
government’s failure to oversee the complex project and understand communities’
unique cultural needs. And it highlights how ill-prepared the United States is
to respond to the way climate change is making some places uninhabitable,
according to an investigation by
The Washington Post,
ProPublica and
KYUK
radio in Bethel, Alaska.
Dozens of grants from at least seven federal agencies have helped pay for the
relocation, which began in 2019 and is expected to cost more than $150 million.
But while the federal government supplied taxpayer dollars, it left most of the
responsibility to the tiny Newtok Village Council. The federally recognized
tribal government lacked the expertise to manage the project and has faced high
turnover and internal political conflict, according to tribal records and
interviews with more than 70 residents as well as dozens of current and former
members of the seven-person village council.
Federal auditors have warned for years that climate relocation projects need a
lead agency to coordinate assistance and reduce the burden on local
communities. The Biden administration tried to address those concerns by
creating an interagency task force led by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency and the Interior Department. The task force’s report in December also
called for more coordination and guidance across the federal government as well
as long-term funding for relocations.
But the Trump administration has removed the group’s report from FEMA’s website
and, as part of its withdrawal of climate funding, frozen millions in federal
aid that was supposed to pay for housing construction in Mertarvik this summer.
The administration did not respond to a request for comment."
Via Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
