Residents of eroding village welcome Obama’s attention
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Residents of one of Alaska’s most eroded villages are thankful for President Barack Obama’s attention to their plight during his visit to the state this week, saying they hope it will help them secure funding to build an evacuation road to drier ground.
Kivalina (kiv-uh-LEE’-nuh) is 80 miles northwest of the regional hub of Kotzebue (KAHT’-seh-byoo), where Obama is scheduled to visit Wednesday during his tour of Alaska to show the effects of climate change.
Millie Hawley is the president of Kivalina’s tribal council and one of 10 village leaders who flew by charter plane to Kotzebue. She says she’ll introduce the president before his address.
Hawley says her village at the tip of a barrier reef has no more than a decade at the current site before encroaching erosion takes over.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
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