Alaska town sues over global warming

ANCHORAGE (AP)


Kivalina is a traditional Inupiat Eskimo village of about 390 people about 625 miles northwest of Anchorage. It is built on an 8-mile barrier reef between the Chukchi Sea and Kivalina River.

Sea ice traditionally protected the community, whose economy is based in part on salmon fishing plus subsistence hunting of whale, seal, walrus, and caribou. But sea ice that forms later and melts sooner because of higher temperatures has left the community unprotected from fall and winter storm waves and surges that lash coastal communities.

“We are seeing accelerated erosion because of the loss of sea ice,” City Administrator Janet Mitchell said in a statement. “We normally have ice starting in October, but now we have open water even into December so our island is not protected from the storms.”

Relocation costs have been estimated at $400 million or more.

AP