The Interior Department's
relocation grants, announced at the White House Tribal Nations Summit on Wednesday, will provide $25 million each to Washington State's Quinault Indian Nation, Alaska's Newtok Village and Alaska's Native Village of Napakiak.
The Quinault Indian Nation is located on the Quinault River at the Pacific Ocean in Washington state, where the tribal community has been impacted by rising sea levels, storm surges and flooding, in addition to risks from tsunamis caused by earthquakes.
The Alaska communities are located in an area of severe erosion, which is forecast to destroy infrastructure within the next four years in Newtok. Napakiak loses about 25 to 50 feet a year to erosion, which is expected to destroy that community's critical infrastructure by 2030.
"As part of the federal government's treaty and trust responsibility to protect Tribal sovereignty and revitalize tribal communities, we must safeguard
Indian Country from the intensifying and unique impacts of climate change," Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said.