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48 Tex. Envtl. L.J. 119 (2018)
Resources for Relocation: In Search of a Coherent Federal Policy on Resettling Climate-Vulnerable Communities

handle is hein.journals/txenvlw48 and id is 127 raw text is: RESOURCES FOR RELOCATION: IN SEARCH OF A COHERENT FEDERAL POLICY ON RESETTLING CLIMATE- VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES By ELI KEENE I. Introduction ............................................. .... 119 II. Introducing Community Relocation ................................. 121 A. Community Relocation ... .................................... 122 B. Legal and Financial Obstacles .to Community Relocation ............. 125 C. Alternative Policies ............................. 127 III. The Missing Question: An Institutional Rationale for Relocation......... 129 IV. The Possible Rationales for Prioritizing Communities for Relocation...... 134 A. Federal Indian Law............................................ 134 B. U.S. Constitution and Statutory Mandates ........................ 136 C. International Law ..... ..................................... 138 D. Environmental Justice and Climate Justice .......................... 141 E. Direct Moral Culpability ........................................... 142 F. Values-Based Cultural Considerations ............................... 145 V. Following Guideposts to a Coherent Policy on Relocation ............... 146 A. The General Need to Move Away from Ad Hoc Funding............ 147 B. The Centrality of American Indian and Alaska Native Communities. 148 C. A Single, Centralized Relocation Fund ........................... 150 VI. Conclusion ..................................................... 151 1. INTRODUCTION In 2016, the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians made national headlines in which its members were declared the United States' first climate refugees.' The media reaction was spurred by an announcement that the Isle de Jean Charles community would receive large-scale federal assistance to wholesale relocate 1 Coral Davenport & Campbell Robertson, Resettling the First American 'Climate Refugees', N.Y. TIMEs (May 3, 2016), https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/us/resettling-the-first- american-climate-refugees.html; Carolyn Van Houten, The First Official Climate Refugees in the U.S. Race Against Time, NAT'L GEOGRAPHIC (May 25, 2015), http://news.nationalgeo graphic.com/2016/05/160525-isle-de-jean-charles-louisiana-sinking-climate-change-refu gees/; Madison Margolin, First US Climate Refugees Get $48 Million to Move, CHRISTIAN Sci. MONITOR (May 3, 2016), http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0503/First-US-cli mate-refugees-get-48-million-to-move/. 119

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