A unanimous U.S. Senate vote this week has given new hope to backers of promised housing for Native Americans along the Columbia River east of Portland.
In the wake of a White House decision to halt development of promised houses for Columbia River tribal members, a smaller initiative to maintain and upgrade 31 existing fishing sites where sometimes dozens of Native fishing crews live at least six months of the year is again gaining traction.
Oregon and Washington legislators again have asked for money to improve deplorable safety and sanitation conditions at small riverside campsites, where tribal members launch boats, clean salmon and camp in tents and makeshift shacks.
The bill, which was introduced in March and approved by the Senate on Wednesday, calls on the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to visit the sites and study what is needed to improve them, then bring the infrastructure in line with the amount of use they get. That would include improved sewer connections, electrical grids and adequate water, among other needs. Officials have not attached a dollar figure to the bill, nor has any money been allocated.
Pushed by delegations
An amendment from Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., also passed unanimously. He asked that the federal comptroller assess whether the proposed work at the fishing sites was effective.
The Oregon and Washington congressional delegations introduced a bill last year that called for cleanup money, but it died. They reintroduced the bill in both houses of Congress, where it needed to go through the committees in both before it could be voted on by the full chambers.
It stalled for much of 2017, but it passed the full Senate Wednesday. Oregon Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici, both Democrats, filed the same bill in the House. It has not moved since being introduced in March.
“Today, the Senate made a strong statement that the current conditions at Columbia River fishing sites are unacceptable, unjust, and must be fixed,” said U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat. “I’ve personally seen the shocking conditions at Lone Pine. We owe better to the Northwest’s tribal communities, and the very least we can do is ensure basic sanitation and safety. I’m going to keep pushing until this bill is at the president’s desk and signed into law.”
Bipartisan momentum was quashed, however, on the drive to create a new village for those who historically fished the Columbia River. That would do even more than the site upgrades to help members of the Warm Springs, Yakama, Umatilla and Nez Perce tribes.
“This is a positive step on our long road to properly honor our obligations to the Columbia River Treaty Tribes,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who co-sponsored the bill. “It’s so important that we continue to make progress to provide safe, sanitary housing and infrastructure at these fishing access sites, so tribal members can exercise their protected rights.”
Request denied
The Office of Management and Budget has decided not to grant a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers request for almost $1.6 million to finish planning a village for tribal members near The Dalles, Ore. Those people or their ancestors were displaced when the federal government erected a series of Columbia River dams that flooded their villages.
Members of the four tribes lived along the river for centuries and lost their homes as well as their center of social and economic life when the Army Corps built three dams: Bonneville, then the Dalles and finally John Day.
In the 80 years since, tribal members instead moved onto the fishing sites, which were built to accommodate no more than 20 people apiece to camp temporarily during fishing season.
The subsequent decision to withhold the money “is an outrageous, unjust decision by the Trump White House,” Merkley said in an October report by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Former Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy allocated about $3 million in fiscal year 2017 to start planning a village at The Dalles Dam. But only half the money was immediately available under a continuing resolution that set budget priorities.
