Issue – Native Religions

History

In 1855, the Lummi people and many other Puget Sound-area tribes signed the Treaty of Point Elliott with the U.S. government. This treaty designated a reservation for the Lummi Nation and other reservations for the other tribes that signed.¹ The Chief of the Lummi Tribe at that time, Chow-it-soot, clearly expressed the importance of Cherry Point and the necessity of having its land included in the treaty rights. He also stated the importance of maintaining the Tribe’s right to fish. Due to the Chief’s success in arguing these points, the Treaty included Cherry Point in the Lummi Nation’s designated reservation.² Additionally, the Treaty of Point Elliott granted the Lummi Nation “the right of taking fish at usual and accustomed grounds and stations,” guaranteeing their right to fish off the shores of Cherry Point.³

With the altered borders of Lummi-held land, Lummi Island and the surrounding waters opened up for commercial fishing. Pictured here is the Lummi Bay Packing Company, a salmon cannery on Lummi Island. (Photo: Freshwater and Marine Image Bank, University of Washington).

In 1872, the Lummi Nation lost their legal rights over Cherry Point when President Grant signed an Executive Order to protect non-Native squatters and alter the boundaries of Lummi land.⁴ Cherry Point land was now out of Lummi hands, but they still had a treaty right to fish off its coast – a right that was being infringed upon by Washington State authorities. This conflict between non-Native fishers, state officials, and Native fishers peaked in the 1960s and 1970s in what has been dubbed the “Fish Wars.”⁵

The 1974 court case United States v. Washington 384, commonly known as the Boldt Decision, reinstated treaty fishing rights to fourteen plaintiff tribes in western Washington State, including the Lummi. The Lummi Nation regained their treaty rights to fish in the waters along Cherry Point. The Boldt Decision also ruled that the state could not overrule treaty rights and had to stop actively infringing upon them.⁶. This ruling restored Lummi Nation’s treaty rights to fish in their “usual and accustomed grounds,” and the Lummi Nation chose this for their primary defense against the GPT construction.⁷

Community Reaction to GPT Proposal

According to PIT, Cherry Point is a prime location for a terminal. The Project Information Document, published by PIT in 2011, claims that due to the natural deep-water characteristics of the bay, Cherry Point could easily accommodate large vessels for bulk transports. Additionally, Cherry Point was zoned as Heavy Impact Industrial, meaning that it would be able to support the functions of the GPT. Other factors, such as the close proximity to a highway and pre-existing rail lines, are also included in PIT’s claims as to the conveniences of using Cherry Point for the GPT. Additionally, PIT asserts that the GPT would benefit the local economy in Northern Washington. The Document states that the terminal would create about 1,230 temporary jobs in the regional economy during its construction, and 430 permanent jobs. But other sources like Jewell James claim that permanent jobs would only total 213. The Document also claims that millions of dollars would be collected in tax revenue and millions would be generated in the local economy.⁸

At the time of the GPT proposal, about fifteen coal trains passed through Bellingham every day. If the Gateway Pacific Terminal had been built, up to nine more would have passed through per day (Dave Brossard, CCSA).

Concerns about the Gateway Pacific Terminal existed among tribal and non-tribal communities alike. The Lummi Nation was concerned with the desecration of an ancient and sacred village site, damage to an ancient burial site, and the endangerment of the Lummi’s fishing economy and culture. This economy “generates $38 billion annually.”⁹ Members of the Lummi Nation were also concerned about the effects that increased coal shipments would have on the natural environment. Cliffort Cultee, Chairman for the Lummi Nation in 2013, states that:

We also fight to protect and preserve resources for the next seven generations. And I know coal is a step in the wrong direction. We have to stand united to oppose coal. There — we should be looking at clean energy… I’ve seen the Cape-size ships. They’re huge. They have big impacts on the environment. The coal dust. Not to say, you know, the big impact on the fishing, crabbing. Those areas out in the Cherry Point, Xwe’chi’eXen.
Cliffort Cultee, 2013¹⁰

Environmentalists and non-tribal members brought concerns about environmental disturbance and pollution to the table. Residents of Bellingham and other communities near Cherry Point were “concerned about increases in train and vessel traffic, coal dust, and climate change.”¹¹ At the time of the GPT proposal, about fifteen coal trains passed through Bellingham each day. If the GPT had been approved, up to nine more coal trains would pass through each day, resulting in one train passing through approximately every 41 minutes. Additionally, about 500 vessels would come in and out of the terminal every year.¹²

“One accident inside the Salish Sea and my way of life is gone,” says Lummi fisherman Jay Julius in a 2013 interview on the potential effects of the Gateway Pacific Terminal.¹³

The transportation and burning of these 54 million tons of coal per year would emit fossil fuels that pose threats to our climate. Also, over “60,000 pounds of coal dust per train” would have been “deposited along the rail line from Powder River and at least 500 tons of coal deposits every year” at Cherry Point.¹⁴ Thus, the GPT would have had detrimental effects on the local and global environment, upsetting both Lummi members and the general public.

Actions Taken by PIT and Lummi Nation

In 2011, PIT carried out actions at Cherry Point which violated the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). PIT bulldozed an area of wetlands and drilled 37 boreholes at Cherry Point. These boreholes were used by PIT to determine whether the soil would be able to support millions of tons of coal passing over it each year.¹⁵. Because Cherry Point is in the Washington State Register of Historic Places, the bulldozing and drilling was done illegally. SSA Marine and PIT failed to consult with the Lummi Nation about the “potential archeological impacts of that unauthorized land clearing and drilling,” which was required under Section 106 of NHPA.¹⁶ As a result, PIT had to pay a total of $4,400 in fines. Unfortunately for opponents of the GPT, this illegal construction resulted in the zoning of the land as “Heavy Industrial Impact” which proved the suitability of the land for the proposed GPT.¹⁷

In early 2013, the Army Corps of Engineers finalized the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) which outlined a plan for the “mitigation of adverse effects to site [undisclosed]”. The document was signed by the Corps, the Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation, and PIT. However, the Lummi Nation refused to sign the MOA. By doing so, they also refused to accept the $94,000 that was offered as mitigation, which increased legal tensions between the Nation and PIT.¹⁸

On July 30, 2013, the Lummi Indian Business Council (LIBC) sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers stating their opposition to the Gateway Pacific Terminal. This letter urged the Corps to immediately deny SSA Marine the permit to the GPT. In the LIBC’s letter, “the Lummi assert their quote: ‘unconditional and unequivocal’ opposition to the Gateway Pacific Terminal.” The letter states the Nation’s opposition and “reasoning behind their position, which centers on threats to treaty fishing rights and the tribe’s cultural and spiritual heritage at Cherry Point.”¹⁹

On January 5, 2015, the LIBC sent another letter to the Corps (LIBC, 2015).

This LIBC letter stated that “the proposed project will directly result in the substantial impairment of the treaty rights of the Lummi Nation throughout the Nation’s ‘usual and accustomed’ fishing areas.” The letter also stated that the “Lummi Nation has a sacred obligation to protect Xwe’chi’eXen based on the area’s cultural and spiritual significance.” In addition, the LIBC claimed that “the proposed project location is within an especially rich and fertile marine environment that serves as important habitat for a number of forage fish, finfish, and shellfish (including several threatened and/or endangered species) that are inextricably linked to the Lummi Schelangen (‘Way of Life’).”²⁰ The Lummi Nation primarily employed their treaty right to fish as their legal claim in the fight against the proposed GPT.

One area that was expected to affect the GPT proposal was an Environmental Impact Statement, which would have cataloged all potential impacts to the community and laid out alternatives for PIT to take to avoid disrupting this community. A draft was started in 2014, but it was never completed. Instead, PIT asked the ACE in 2016 to stop the EIS until they had made a decision about Lummi treaty fishing rights.²¹

As a result of the conflict that arose over the Gateway Pacific Terminal proposal, the Lummi Nation conducted symbolic actions to demonstrate the importance of Cherry Point to their people and the global harm of burning fossil fuels. On September 21, 2012, members of the Lummi Nation gathered on the shore of Cherry Point. Members of the tribe set fire to a large, mock million dollar check to symbolize that money could not buy off their land.²²

Lummi members with the burning symbolic check at Cherry Point (Photo: Stephan Michaels, Northwest Citizen).

Then on August 17, 2014, the Lummi Nation and other Indigenous tribes from the Pacific Northwest launched the Totem Pole Journey.²³ Jewell James, a Lummi member and Head Carver of the Nation, carved a 19-foot-tall totem pole that symbolized tribal unity. This was carried from site to site on this journey where tribal members congregated in different locations, uniting in a fight against Big Coal and Big Oil.²⁴ The Totem Pole Journey provided a platform for Indigenous people to stand up and speak out about issues affecting their tribes. James wrote that the Totem Pole Journey’s explicit goal was “To empower communities, networks and alliances, inform the general public, and bring a new level of understanding and engagement to successfully oppose the proposed shipment of fossil fuels across western Canada and the western United States.”²⁵

This Lummi Nation totem pole makes a stop outside Vancouver, British Columbia on August 21, 2015 (Photo: Paul K. Anderson **I emailed him about this photo).**

Sustained action and local support for the Lummi Nation’s cause kept their fight in the local media during the five years it took for the Army Corps of Engineers to decide the fate of the GPT proposal.