ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept. 2 (UPI) — President Barack Obama will visit the remote Alaskan town of Kotzebue Wednesday to pledge help for Arctic areas affected by climate change.
The visit to Alaska is meant to dramatize the effects of global climate change and the actions of the Obama administration to deal with it.
During the first trip north of the Arctic Circle by a sitting president, Obama is expected to observe first-hand the effects of warming temperatures and their effect on shorelines and community infrastructures. The White House said he will announce federal grants to deal with coastal erosion in areas such as northwestern Alaska, which could include relocation in extreme cases.
The assistance package will include grants from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency for water and waste projects in vulnerable areas, and projects to help residents, including Native American tribes, reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.
Kotzebue, on an inlet of the Bering Sea, built a sea wall in 2012 to confront storm surges typically suppressed by now-gone sea ice. Nearby communities have observed significant soil erosion caused by the disappearance of permafrost.
The trip to Kotzebue will end Obama’s three-day visit to Alaska, designed to highlight the effects of global climate change in one of the United States’ most ecologically vulnerable areas. Tuesday he visited Kenai Fjords National Park in southern Alaska, where a glacier has receded over a mile in 200 years but has retreated visibly more quickly in recent years.
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