Lummi Leader Explains the Stakes for Coal Export Struggle: “If We Lose, You’re Lost.”

By Dan Serres, Conservation Director, Columbia Riverkeeper

As Conservation Director for Columbia Riverkeeper, I was honored to be invited to participate in the

Celebrating and Protecting Our Waters event in Seattle, led by Lummi Nation tribal leaders who have called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to respect their treaty rights and reject the Gateway Pacific coal export terminal at Cherry Point proposed by SSA Marine. There, leaders from tribes all over the Pacific Northwest shared knowledge and experiences about the impacts of proposed coal and oil facilities on their sacred lands, and offered a common call for solidarity and resistance to dangerous, dirty fossil fuel development on Lummi sacred lands.

I was moved by the keynoted address given by Jay Julius, Councilman of the Lummi Nation, who described the importance of Cherry Point and the Salish Sea to the Lummi people. The Lummi have informed that Army Corps of Engineers that the proposed Gateway Pacific coal terminal, capable of handling 48 million tons of coal per year, would have more than a “de minimus” impact on their Treaty rights. Julius explained, “We stand on the Treaty and demand protection of our sacred sites.” He challenged us to answer for ourselves the question, what is sacred to us? And Julius offered this closing thought, “Our resistance is your resistance. If we lose, you are lost.”

Julius’ keynote address detailed how decades of treaty violations have undermined the cultural and natural resources of the Lummi Nation, and how the proposed coal export terminal at Cherry Point is an unacceptable continuation of treaty violations. He was followed by Paul Lumley, Chair of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, who explained how coal and oil trains bound for Washington ports would threaten hundreds of miles of the Columbia River, from the Tri-Cities to Vancouver and beyond. Taken together, the Julius, Lumley, and other speakers painted a stark picture of the importance of halting oil and coal terminal proposals in the Pacific Northwest. As Julius put it, “They Corps says they have a process…and we repeat, we have a treaty.”

A June event in Portland will highlight the injustice of proposed coal export facilities on sacred Lummi lands. On June 27th, members of Lummi Nation will attend the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly in

Portland, and the public is welcome to attend. The event is focused on climate injustice and its impacts on First Nations, particularly in the Pacific Northwest with Lummi Nation in the lead. Organizers of the event are asking faith, environmental, racial and social justice organizations to gather at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland on Saturday, June 27th at 4:45 PM. The event is intended to send a very strong statement that supports the struggle of the Lummi, other Pacific Northwest tribes, and First Nations against fossil fuel and other extraction industries.

For more information, visit http://www.commit2respond.org/lummi.