More than $50 million in revenue from the state’s carbon market auction will go to 32 tribal nations across the Northwest for clean energy projects and efforts to better protect communities from the effects of climate change.
The impacts on Indigenous communities range from rising tides eroding communities along the Pacific coast, to coastlines covered in dead fish due to falling water levels and oxygen, to wildfires racing through ponderosa pine forests.
The money can be used for a variety of projects that meet a variety of community, cultural and economic needs, including home weatherization, salmon habitat restoration and solar energy. The grant program is funded through the state’s landmark climate legislation, the Climate Commitment Act, which requires the state’s largest polluters to either reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or compensate by purchasing emission credits in quarterly auctions.
Voters will decide the fate of the program in November, but supporters hope such efforts will demonstrate the importance of the program, which critics say is a money-making tool for the state and leads to higher prices for utilities, fuel and other consumer goods.
The carbon market has raised more than $2.1 billion to date.
If the repeal effort is successful, it would eliminate grant funding available to these local governments, tribes and communities. According to the state Department of Financial Management, the revenue losses from the repeal are estimated at $1.42 billion in the first biennium budget through 2025, $1.77 billion in the second biennium and $1.4 billion in the first biennium through 2029.
Gov. Jay Inslee and state Commerce Commissioner Mike Fong made the announcement Tuesday during a visit to Taholah, where the Quinault River flows into the Pacific Ocean and where the Quinault Indian Nation has been working for at least a decade to relocate hundreds of residents and utilities to higher ground.
Quinault received $13 million for five projects to evacuate the two main villages of Tahola and Queets from the flood and tsunami danger zones of the Olympic Coast. The funds will be used to build new water storage tanks and pump houses to provide water for new child and senior services facilities, emergency shelters, housing, government buildings and a relocated public school.
The funding will also help develop a master plan and architectural drawings for a new museum and cultural centre.
“We are incredibly grateful for this funding, which allows us to make great strides in our mission to protect our residents, homes and critical infrastructure from harm,” Quinault Indian Nation President Guy Capoeman said in a statement. “We are truly grateful for the funding for the new ‘Generations Building,’ which will allow us to serve our most precious resources — our seniors and children — in a safe space while providing an emergency shelter and operations center when we need to respond to the inevitable flooding and other natural disasters that come with living on the coast.”
The grants will help coastal tribes, such as Quinault and Shoalwater Bay, relocate to higher ground; support tribes such as the Samish, Spokane, Makah, Tulalip and Swinomish in addressing energy security issues such as solar power and battery storage; and support vehicle electrification and charging infrastructure for tribes such as the Hoh, Sauk-Suitl and Muckleshoot.
The Commerce Department worked with tribes to develop a plan to allocate the $52 million in Climate Commitment Act funding that Congress appropriated for these projects: 33 tribes were eligible to receive $750,000 in flat-rate grants, 10 tribes won competitive grants, and two tribes received funding directly from Congress.
The Skokomish Tribe, whose land sits in forested areas along Hood Canal, the fjord that separates the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas, will receive about $2.8 million from the program.
Skokomish Tribal Vice Chairman Tom Strong said some Skokomish homes were built with poor quality materials and shoddy workmanship, while a lack of financial support from the federal government has left many homes in disrepair.
The new funding will help Skokomish weatherize homes for seniors age 65 and older, which could include installing new insulation, roofs, windows and doors.
Strong believes there are many other issues he would like to see addressed within the community, such as eliminating the septic system on his property, which is located near one of Washington state’s most flood-prone rivers, but the grant will allow the tribe to begin addressing some basic needs.
“I wish we could give everybody a heat pump,” Strong said of state climate change funding, “but it’s really hard for me to justify why we should give them a heat pump when some homes have roofs that have collapsed and may be uninhabitable come fall.”
Swinomish, a tribal community on Fidalgo Island about 65 miles north of Seattle, is installing solar power on three public buildings and nine other buildings, including apartments and cottages. A broader climate action plan.
More than $2 million raised in this funding round will go towards both solar power for police and social services buildings, as well as future climate disaster and renewable energy planning, while a further $750,000 will go towards climate workforce development and other efforts to tackle climate change.
“The Swinomish Tribe is grateful for this Department of Commerce climate change grant, which will support the Tribe’s energy independence and increase resilience during power outages,” Swinomish Tribal Chairman Steve Edwards said in a statement. “The Swinomish Tribe has long been a leader in promoting climate-friendly practices, and this grant will bolster the Tribal community’s ongoing adaptation efforts.”
