Kivalina, Alaska

Kivalina () is a city and village in Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 census, Kivalina had a population of 444.

The island on which the village lies is threatened by rising sea levels and coastal erosion caused by climate change. , it is predicted that the island will be inundated by 2025. In addition to well-publicized impacts of climate change, the Village of Kivalina has been a party in several environmentally related court cases.

History

Kivalina is an Inupiat community first reported as "Kivualinagmut" in 1847 by Lt. Lavrenty Zagoskin of the Imperial Russian Navy. It has long been a stopping place for travelers between Arctic coastal areas and Kotzebue Sound communities. Three bodies and artifacts were found in 2009 representing the Ipiutak culture, a pre-Thule, non-whaling civilization that disappeared over a millennium ago.

It is the only village in the region where people hunt the bowhead whale. The original village was located at the north end of the Kivalina Lagoon, but was relocated.

In about 1900, reindeer were brought to the area and some people were trained as reindeer herders.

An airstrip was built at Kivalina in 1960. Kivalina was incorporated as a second-class city in 1969. During the 1970s, a new school and an electric system were constructed in the city.

On December 5, 2014, the only general store in Kivalina burned down. In July 2015, a newer store was opened after months of rebuilding to make the store more convenient and safe.

Geography

Kivalina is on the southern tip of a long barrier island located between the Chukchi Sea and a lagoon at the mouth of the Kivalina River. It lies northwest of Kotzebue.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which is land and of it (51.55%) is water.

Climate

Kivalina has a dry subarctic climate, closely bordering on a tundra, with long, very cold winters and short, cool summers. August is the wettest month of the year, while December is the snowiest month.

Demographics

Kivalina first appeared on the 1920 U.S. Census as an unincorporated (native) village. It was formally incorporated in 1969.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Kivalina had a population of 444. The median age was 22.7 years. 42.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 6.1% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 115.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and ove,r there were 108.9 males age 18 and over.

There were 81 households in Kivalina, of which 71.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 30.9% were married-couple households, 34.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 30.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 18.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

! Race !! Number !! Percent

| White || 8 || 1.8%

| Black or African American || 0 || 0.0%

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 434 || 97.7%

| Asian || 0 || 0.0%

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0 || 0.0%

| Some other race || 0 || 0.0%

| Two or more races || 2 || 0.5%

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 1 || 0.2%

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 374 people, and 99 households. The population density was . There were 80 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 3.45% White and 96.55% Native American. The Native Village of Kivalina is a federally recognized tribe with an elected tribal council. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the estimated cost of relocation runs between $95 and $125 million, whereas the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates it to be between $100 and $400 million. The sea ice that was once there, helping to protect the city, has now disappeared. Due to these rising sea levels, maybe people are out of their homes and since resources are becoming scarce, it is leading to overcrowding and poor sanitation.

In 2011, Haymarket Books published "Kivalina: A Climate Change Story" by Christine Shearer.

Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corporation

The city of Kivalina and a federally recognized tribe, the Alaska Native Village of Kivalina, sued ExxonMobil, eight other oil companies, 14 power companies and one coal company in a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco on February 26, 2008, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to global warming that threatens the community's existence. The lawsuit estimated the cost of relocation at $400 million. The suit was dismissed by the United States district court on September 30, 2009, on the grounds that regulating greenhouse emissions was a political rather than a legal issue and one that needed to be resolved by Congress and the Administration rather than by courts.

Kivalina v Teck Cominco

In 2004, Kivalina underrepresentation from the co-founder of Center on Race Poverty and Environment, Luke Cole, sued Canadian mining company Teck Cominco, operator of the Red Dog Mine, for polluting its water drinking water source and subsistence fish resources through their discharge of mine waste into the Wulik River. Teck Cominco settled the suit in 2008 by agreeing to build a wastewater pipeline from the mine to the ocean that would bypass discharging into the Wulik River. However, the pipeline was not constructed and the alternative settlement clause was followed.

Kivalina v. US EPA

In 2010, the Native Village of Kivalina IRA Council brought suit against the US EPA for failing to adequately address public comments in their permitting of the Red Dog Mine discharge plan under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). In 2012, the US Ninth Circuit court upheld the decision of the EPA Appeals Board to not review the permit, citing the insufficiency of the Tribe's argument.thumb|245px|right|"Orange goo"

Orange goo

On August 4, 2011, it was reported that residents of the city of Kivalina had seen a strange orange goo wash up on the shores. According to the Associated Press, "Tests have been conducted on the substance on the surface of the water in Kivalina. City Administrator Janet Mitchell told the Associated Press that the substance has also shown up in some residents' rain buckets." On August 8, 2011, Associated Press reported that the substance consisted of millions of microscopic eggs. Later, officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed that the orange colored materials were some kind of crustacean eggs or embryos, but subsequent examination resulted in a declaration that the substance consisted of spores from a possibly undescribed species of rust fungus, later revealed to be Chrysomyxa ledicola.

Sea level rise and coastal erosion

On numerous occasions, the community has been inundated by storm surges and forced to evacuate. While the risk of inundation from sea water has always existed, storms caused extensive flooding in 1970, 1976, 2002, 2004, and spurred a village-wide evacuation in 2007. In 2009, Kivalina was identified by a GAO report as one of 31 environmentally threatened communities in Alaska. Relocation to a site off the barrier island to higher ground has had little progress. and connects the village with the Kisimigiugtuq School on K-Hill, which opened in November, 2022.

Kivalina in the media

Kivalina's environmental issues were prominently featured in The 2015 Weather Channel documentary "Alaska: State of Emergency" hosted by Dave Malkoff. Kivalina was one of the two towns featured in the Al Jazeera English Fault Lines documentary, When the Water Took the Land. The community, who were originally nomadic, were given an ultimatum that they would have to settle in the permanent community or their children would be taken from them. The village's plight was also examined in Kivalina, an hourlong documentary released as part of the PBS World series America ReFramed. The Atlantic did a photo journalism story documenting climate change in Kivalina in their September 2019 article, The Impact of Climate Change on Kivalina, Alaska.

Education

The McQueen School, operated by the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, serves the community. it had 141 students, with Alaska Natives making up 100% of the student body.