© 2024 Maine Public

Bangor Studio/Membership Department
63 Texas Ave.
Bangor, ME 04401

Lewiston Studio
1450 Lisbon St.
Lewiston, ME 04240

Portland Studio
323 Marginal Way
Portland, ME 04101

Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.

Passamaquoddy Tribe gets $5 million in federal funds for climate change planning

The Passamaquody reservation at Sipayik, or Pleasant Point, is perched just above Passamaquoddy Bay.
Murray Carpenter
/
Maine Public
The Passamaquoddy reservation at Sipayik, or Pleasant Point, is perched just above Passamaquoddy Bay.

A new federal program announced Wednesday aims to help tribal communities that are severely impacted by climate change. It includes $5 million for Maine's Passamaquoddy Tribe.

The Department of the Interior is committing $115 million to 11 tribes, for climate change relocation programs and adaptation planning. The funds are coming from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Tribal environmental planner Marvin Cling says the $5 million in funding will help the Passamaquoddy respond to the effects of climate change.

"To try not to make the impacts so adverse, and we can mitigate and adapt as best as possible," he says.

Cling says the tribe is already working to address erosion, and climate's impacts on drinking water and power supplies.

Murray Carpenter is Maine Public’s climate reporter, covering climate change and other environmental news.