The native village of Shishmaref on the Bering Sea coast of Northwest Alaska is washing into the sea.
This article in today's
Anchorage Daily News talks about the costs, and other issues associated with moving the village to a new location. If this is what it takes to move a village of 600 people, I wonder how much it will be to relocate Miami when it becomes necessary?
Some excerpts from the article appear below.
It could cost $180 million to move the erosion-plagued Bering Strait village of Shishmaref to solid ground a dozen miles away... That's the conclusion of a new study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The figures are still preliminary, but they are the best indicator to date of a huge looming expense in rural Alaska, where flooding and erosion threaten dozens of communities. Several, including Shishmaref, are slowly washing away and have begun to press state and federal agencies for money to move.
Neither of Alaska's two U.S. senators had seen the report, issued last month, and they wouldn't comment on the prospects of federal funding for such a move.
A recent report by the General Accounting Office found that nearly 90 percent of the state's 213 predominantly Native villages, historically situated along rivers and coasts, are affected regularly by floods or erosion. Four of them, including Shishmaref, are in imminent danger, it said. Others could lose runways, roads and other public facilities if erosion continues at the same rate.
Global warming has exacerbated the problems, the report said. Melting permafrost is more prone to erosion, and the barrier of sea ice that protects many Arctic communities every winter is coming later in the year, leaving villages like Shishmaref vulnerable to fall storms.
The most expensive option is moving to the mainland, the study found. The $179 million cost includes nearly $20 million to move the community's 150-odd homes and $26 million to move or build public facilities, such as a new school, health clinic, fire hall and city office.
Two of the biggest expenses are $23 million for roads and $25 million for an airport. Water treatment, sewage and solid waste facilities would cost another $25 million. Included in the total is $36 million for contingencies.