"The dismantling of the Immediate Action Workgroup creates a tremendous gap for communities faced with climate-related threats," Bronen states in her report.

Federal aid lacks a legal framework
But on a federal level, Bronen said, it is as if the issue doesn't exist.

"Our disaster relief legislation is really anachronistic," she said. "It does not allow communities to access disaster relief funding for a relocation effort."

Instead, federal agencies reserve their funding for protecting towns and cities that already exist, because "a relocation of this type has never occurred before," Bronen said. "We don't have a legal framework to use that money in a new place."

In the meantime, Newtok is the only community that has successfully identified a site to move to, but the process has been extremely slow. The city is forced to negotiate with 25 different government agencies to build the infrastructure necessary to support the community, like schools, medical facilities and an airstrip.

But erosion continues to threaten the town's water supply, and the Ninglick River is projected to reach the local school by 2017. In Bronen's report, she quotes Stanley Tom, a tribal administrator for the Newtok Traditional Council: "Getting funding takes time that we don't have. We can't keep up with the erosion."

Bronen called for Congress to form a government relocation framework at a federal level to prepare for more moves caused by climate change -- in Alaska and beyond.

"What's happening in Alaska is really relevant to coastal communities all over the United States," she said. "If the sea level is going to rise as the scientists predict, we need to think now of what we are going to do."

Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500

8 Comments

1. 1. Hypatia2 02:04 PM 1/31/13

   Key heavy sarcasm:
   
   You notice, of course, how proactive former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin had been in addressing these well-documented existential problems of her Native constituents. She lobbied fiercely in Washington for funding to relocate these ancient communities.
   
   Uh, what's that you say? She never did even BEGIN to address these established issues. Instead, she bailed part-way through her term, when the money offers for speeches were more attractive than her responsibility to her constituents.
   
   Shucks...guess there is no Santa Claus...
   
   QED

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2. 2. Hypatia2 in reply to EmelenHilliard 02:06 PM 1/31/13

   I usually don't bother to address spelling, grammar and syntax on-line. It's so common now...
   
   But this one really got to me, especially as it was in the context of a fairy tale.

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3. 3. ErnestPayne 02:17 PM 1/31/13

   Soon to be a full scale tragedy. What is Alaska doing with its oil revenue?

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4. 4. BoSt 03:54 PM 1/31/13

   Is the lack of action due to the Alaskan State Government's rejection of Global Warming, or is it because they are acting from an endemic bigotry against Native Americans?

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5. 5. outsidethebox 08:21 PM 1/31/13

   I spent a lot of time in Alaska. Never met a person who said it was getting too warm. I met a few who had moved from Fairbanks to Anchorage because they said Fairbanks was too cold.

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6. 6. podboq 09:37 PM 1/31/13

   Why do they need help to move? i've never received Government help to move anywhere... Stalled for 10 years? What might they have accomplished in 10 years if they'd been working to move, instead of waiting on whatever they're waiting on?

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7. 7. jimhatem 02:25 PM 2/2/13

   What a bunch of hooey. Talk about cherry-picking data sets. Well, here is one for you: in the last decade Alaska has COOLED 2.4F. This is the kind of journalism we get when science has been hijacked by politics.

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8. 8. Ottawa Mike in reply to jimhatem 02:52 PM 2/2/13

   I agree. And don't be surprised if somebody comes along and says 13 years is not enough time to make a statement about trends.
   
   Don't worry though, I have your back with trends for Alaska cooling for the past 35 years: http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/ClimTrends/Change/7711Change.html
   
   So you're right. The real world data makes articles like this seem quite biased and unscientific.

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