By Simone Anter, Staff Attorney & Hanford Program Manager
As the Goldendale Pumped Storage Development (development) proceeds full steam ahead through the federal licensing process, the opposition mounts. In fact, it’s getting very loud.
Elected officials, federal agencies, government advisors, climate and environmental groups, and the public continue to raise their voices in support of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation (Yakama Nation), Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (Warm Springs) and the Nez Perce Tribe who have detailed the destruction of cultural and religious resources that would occur, should this development break ground.
Check out the timeline of opposition and see the solidarity grow over the summer!
- May 15, 2024: 1,247 Riverkeeper members sign a petition calling on FERC to deny the final license for the development.
- May 19, 2024: Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) adopts Resolution #2024-21, the second ATNI resolution calling on FERC to deny permits for the development and consult with impacted tribes.
- July 12, 2024: The Environmental Justice Council (EJC), housed in the Washington Governor’s office, advises the Governor and state natural resource agencies on environmental justice, adopts a policy affirming the rights of Tribes and upholding free, prior, and informed consent. EJC also issues a statement 1 standing with Yakama Nation in their opposition, strongly stating that:
Washington State and the Federal Government run the risk of repeating history by permitting the Goldendale development at the expense of harming Tribal Nations’ sacred lands and waters. The impacts to Celilo Falls, Bradford Island, and Bateman Island at the hands of both the State and Federal Governments are nearby examples of a pattern of harm toward Traditional Cultural Properties and traditional foods.
- July 24, 2024: Tó Nizhóní Ání, a non-profit located on the Black Mesa Plateau in Northeast Arizona on the Navajo Nation and organized to protect the water source of the Black Mesa from Industry use and Waste, hosts a webinar in solidarity with the Yakama Nation. The webinar featured Adrian Herder, Media Organizer for Tó Nizhóní Ání, Elaine Harvey of Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Delores Wilson-Aguirre of Save the Confluence, and Simone Anter from Columbia Riverkeeper who discussed the need to protect sacred sites and tribal resources in the face of false solutions.
- August 2, 2024: The Mayor of Hood River submits a letter to the FERC docket, voicing opposition to the development. “In an effort to support my neighbors, I wish to use my position to support theirs. I hope that we can find a way to enhance this valuable renewable resource without destroying theirs. I urge you to deny the final license for this disastrous development,” writes Mayor Paul Blackburn.
- August 6, 2024: The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), a federal agency charged with promoting the preservation, enhancement, and sustainable use of historic resources and advising the President and Congress on preservation policy, blasts FERC and the consultation process surrounding the development. The ACHP wrote
“It seems reasonable to suggest that FERC’s licensing of projects like Goldendale essentially operates to continue and extend the type of imposition on Tribal lifeways acknowledged by the DOI2 for the construction of the dams, when such undertakings impact important properties of religious and cultural significance to Tribes associated with the lifeways of the Tribes.”
The ACHP may be the first agency to link Goldendale’s destruction of cultural resources to the pattern of destruction left by the dams, something that Tribes have continued to say throughout the licensing process.
Despite the lack of comprehensive consultation and the trivialization of cultural resource destruction through inadequate proposed mitigation, FERC staff continue to recommend that the FERC Commissioners approve the final license for the development. A position that looks more and more out of touch as public pressure mounts.
Join the growing opposition to this disastrous development: Take Action today!
1 The letter was submitted into the FERC docket on July 17, 2024 by the Yakama Nation with a transmittal cover letter.
2 Referring to the recent report developed by the Department of Interior, “Historic and Ongoing Impacts of Federal Dams on the Columbia River Basin Tribes,” issued June 14, 2024.