By Acee Agoyo
•
WEBCAST: House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Legislative Hearing
The
House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife is taking testimony on
H.R.729, the Tribal Coastal Resiliency Act, on Thursday morning.
The bill was introduced by
Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Washington) on January 23. It helps tribes living in coastal areas address threats from rapidly changing landscapes and severe weather events.
"We've seen this first-hand in my neck of the woods," Kilmer told the
National Congress of American Indians earlier this year. "From the four coastal tribes that are actively working to move to higher ground, to those on the Puget Sound who have seen fisheries disasters as a consequence of changing ocean conditions."
"That's why I'm the lead sponsor on the Tribal Coastal Resiliency Act, to help provide dedicated resources to coastal tribes to help their communities deal with climate change,"
Kilmer said at the NCAI winter session in Washington, D.C., on February 12.
Kilmer noted that he first introduced the bill in 2015. Though it
received a hearing at the time and has always enjoyed bipartisan support, he said it never made it to the floor of the
U.S. House of Representatives for political reasons.
"For the last decade, climate change has not been a priority for this Congress," Kilmer said, referring to the years of Republican rule in the chamber. "It's another example of how the federal government has failed to uphold its obligations to you."
But with Democrats in control of the House for the 116th Congress, Kilmer said “climate change will be put on the front burner.”
The Quinault Nation is among the tribes in coastal Washington dealing with climate change. Photo by Sam Beebe
For tribes like the
Quinault Nation, the news is welcome. One of the tribe's communities is being forced to
relocate from the Washington coast due to continued
threats of flooding from the Pacific Ocean.
"It's incomprehensible to think about having to relocate from our sacred lands that make up our identity
but because of climate change ... we've had to think of options," Vice President Tyson Johnston told the
House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States at a
hearing on the same day Kilmer spoke to NCAI.
With the new focus in Congress, Kilmer is scheduled to present the Tribal Coastal Resiliency Act at the hearing on Thursday morning. So is
President Fawn Sharp of the Quinault Nation, who was unable to attend the February 12 event because her flight was grounded back in Washington, ironically due to severe weather.
The only other witness scheduled to speak about H.R.729 is
Tim Gallaudet. He serves as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere at as Deputy Administrator for the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency within the
Department of Commerce.
The hearing takes place at 10am Eastern in Room 1334 of the Longworth House Office Building. A total of nine bills are on the agenda.
House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Notice
Water, Oceans and Wildlife Legislative Hearing
(July 25, 2019)
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