Northwest tribal leaders fight for treaty rights

WASHINGTON — A proposed coal terminal and affiliated railway for Cherry Point has sparked concern about treaty violations and environmental degradation for many Pacific Northwest tribal leaders, 10 of whom rallied Thursday in Washington, D.C., against what they said is government disregard for their treaties.

About a block from the White House, three Lummi Nation sisters sang a song referencing the 1855 U.S. treaty with Pacific Northwest tribes, which reserves rights for fishing, hunting and sacred grounds.

Tim Ballew II, chairman of the Lummi Nation, said those rights are in jeopardy.

“All the tribes are standing here today in solidarity to protect not just our reservation community, but everybody’s community from the impacts that cannot be mitigated,” Ballew said in front of leaders from the Tulalip, Swinomish, Quinault, Lower Elwha Klallam, Yakama, Hoopa Valley, Nooksack and Spokane nations and the president of United South and Eastern Tribes.

The proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal, a subsidy of SSA Marine, would act as a trading hub between landlocked domestic companies and markets in Asia, said Joe Ritzman, vice president of business development for SSA Marine. The deepwater terminal would handle as much as 60 million tons of commodities, primarily coal, and the project would coincide with a railway expansion.

But land designated for the project includes burial sites for Lummi ancestors and artifacts, Ballew said, and the coastal development would harm tribal fishing traditions.

“The location of the pier will take away fishing grounds, and the increase in vessel traffic would impede access of our fishermen to fishing grounds throughout our usual and accustomed areas,” Ballew said.

Examining impacts

The state, Whatcom County and the federal government are reviewing the possible environmental impacts of the proposed export terminal and associated rail expansion. They plan to release state-local and federal environmental impact statements in 2017. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal review agency, also is inspecting tribal treaty rights at play.

“Our current focus is the impact on treaty fishing rights, and it’s the government’s responsibility to uphold the treaty,” Ballew said.

The Lummi Tribe, whose reservation is minutes from Cherry Point, entered the Treaty of Point Elliot more than 150 years ago. It ensures the sovereign nation’s right to “fish at usual and accustomed grounds and stations is further secured to said Indians in common with all citizens of the Territory.”

JoDe Goudy, chairman of the Yakama Nation, said his tribe has faced similar treaty battles in Oregon, most recently when the governor halted a proposed coal export plant near their sacred ground and Columbia River fisheries. But that decision is under appeal, Goudy said.

“The recognition from us collectively (is) that those reserved rights go hand in hand with our sustained existence as peoples,” Goudy said. “A direct attack on such things, in our hearts and minds, is a direct attack on our sustained existence.”

Not only would the Pacific Gateway Terminal affect the Lummi Nation, Goudy said, but the proposed railways would also transport coal by the Yakama Nation’s portion of the Columbia River.

With plans for mitigation strategies and a 75 percent natural buffer of the 1,500 acres for the project, Ritzman said he expects his company’s proposal to meet all state and federal environmental requirements and not impact the fisheries.