FILE - Sonny Curley looks out to the seawall separating his property from the Pacific Ocean at the home he shares with his children and parents Wednesday, May 22, 2024, on the Quinault reservation in Taholah, Wash. Gov. Jay Inslee announced on Tuesday, July 16, that Washington has awarded $52 million raised by the state's landmark carbon emission pricing law to help Native American tribes respond to climate change.
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. Inslee joined Capoeman and Commerce Director Mike Fong for a news conference Tuesday in Taholah, one of the Quinault villages being relocated, to announce the grants.
For the Skokomish Tribe north of Olympia, it's $2 million to weatherize homes. For the Makah Tribe on the northwestern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, it's $620,000 to install solar panels and battery backup at a community warming center.