Commentary
Page 8
Street Roots • Dec 8-14, 2017
Street Roots • Dec 8-14, 2017
Nestlé crunched
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"The Pori Commission's job is io create jobs and get business to move here. And if yon
can't get that 50-job one th a t'll give the city 2 m illio n backs, then yon go on to the
next one. It doesn't make sense if yon have lim ited resonrces to hire a bunch of attor
neys and fight something that is never gonna pay o ff."
— ¡PAUL K O CH
Recent victories highlight the critical
role Native American rights have
played in protecting the natural
resources o f the Pacific Northwest
P O R T O F C A S C A D E LO C K S
BY STEPHEN QUIRKE
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
fter a 9-year battle with locals, Nestle Waters
North America has officially pulled up stakes and
left the state of'Oregon.
Following an Oct. 27 letter from Governor Kate
Brown to Fish and Wildlife director Kurt Melcher,
Nestlé cleared out its Cascade Locks store-front and
issued a terse statement thanking the city for its
support.
“We are grateful to the residents, elected officials,
neighborhood business owners and leaders who
welcomed us to Cascade Locks, and who have
supported our interest in bringing good paying jobs to
the community,” the statement read. As of press time,
Nestlé Waters North America did not respond to
inquiries.
“They’ve closed their offices here, they’ve come in
and said thank you for your support, and that’s it,” said
city administrator Gordon Zimmerman.
During the 9 years of attempting to get into Cascade
Locks, Nestlé began making similar attempts in two
other Gorge cities in Washington state: Waitsburg and
Goldendale, Both proposals were quickly put to rest
after generating intense local opposition.
And the defeat of Nestlé isn’t the only thing
environmental groups are celebrating.
On Election Day, Nov. 7, in Vancouver, under-dog
candidate Don Orange pulled off a landslide victory
over his well-funded opponent Kris Greene, winning a
seat on the next Vancouver Port Commission. Winning
the election will allow Orange to fulfill a campaign
promise to cancel the Tesoro-Savage oil terminal - a
project first proposed in 2013 that’s also languished
from intense opposition and objections from treaty
tribes. The opposing port candidate, Kris Greene,
became the subject of public controversy after
accepting large cash injections from the oil companies
hoping to do business at the port.
Exactly one week after that election, Cowlitz County
also denied two shoreline permits for the proposed
Millennium Bulk Terminals coal export terminal -
effectively ending the last proposal for coal exports in
the Pacific Northwest.
Six massive proposals for coal exports were spread
across the region five years ago,, and would have
collectively shipped 150 million tons of coal to Asia
every year. To put that amount into perspective, total
coal production in the U.S. was 728 million tons in
2016.
Not long before, Millennium had lost another permit
after the Washington State Department of Ecology
announced it would create unavoidable damage to air
quality as well as tribal and cultural resources. In a
press release from the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, Chairman
William Iyall said:
“We thank the Department of Ecology for protecting
the people of Washington State. The Millennium Bulk
Terminals coal export facility has posed a great threat
to our people, our food resources including salmon,
and to our communities.”
He added, “We ask Cowlitz County and local
businesses to come together with us to develop ethical,
environmentally sensitive business opportunities that
Commentary
A
Oxbow Springs in Cascade Locks. Nestlé has officially packed up and abandoned its effort to bottle the spring’s water, fo r now.
will create jobs and economic stability long after
Millennium has moved on.”
As of press time, a spokesperson for Millennium at
Gallatan Public Affairs did not respond to a request for
comment.
Like the battle against coal, the entry of treaty tribes
in the fight against Nestlé has also marked a decisive
turning point, raising questions about whether
government planners are respecting tribal neighbors
and their economic priorities.
Despite the influence they’ve carried, many
government officials have not publicly acknowledged
the significance of treaty and water rights regarding
Nestlé’s plans in the Gorge.
“It’s really exciting for me as a native individual in
Warm Springs to see this water exchange being
disrupted,” said Carina Miller, a tribal councilor at
Warm Springs. “I do appreciate the governor
intervening, but I don’t appreciate her not
acknowledging our treaty rights, and our sovereignty in
this whole ordeal.”
According to available records, tribal governments
were only informed about the Nestlé proposal in 2015,
after grassroots activists in Cascade Locks began to
contact them. Since that time at least three tribal
governments submitted letters of opposition to the
project - including the Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs, whose territory includes Cascade Locks.
In Goldendale, one public meeting with objections
from the Yakama Nation was enough to scrap the
project As reported in the Goldendale Sentinel, one
Yakama attorney, Keegan Bordeaux, testified:
“Fish cannot survive in the Columbia River without
sufficient water quality, quantity and temperature,
making every cold water source, including those
around Goldendale, vital to the future health of the
Columbia River fish. Any threat to these water
resources is an attack on the health of our fisheries
and the Yakama Nation’s treaty-reserved rights to
participate in those fisheries.”
These facts were not lost on local officials.
“There’s no way that we would’ve ever gotten off
first base had we not included the tribe from the get
go,” said city administrator Larry Bellamy.
But in Cascade Locks, consultation was bungled so
badly the two spokesmen for the town, thé mayor and
city administrator, have two different stories about
what happened.
“The tribes have never said that they wanted, or
didn’t want, the Nestlé proposal, said City
administrator Gordon Zimmerman said
A letter from JoDe Goudy, dated June 6, 2016, states
otherwise. It reads:
"... the Yakama Nation calls on the Cascade Locks
City Council to drop its harmful effort to bring Nestlé
into the Columbia River Basin. Such efforts undermine
our culture and threaten our treaty-reserved rights.”
“We tried to talk to the Yakamas,” Mayor Tom
Cramblett said. “I’m a common sense guy. It was very
common sense to me that this project was going to be
a beneficial one to th e m .... I think I could have
convinced JoDe Goudy.”
Cramblett began making his case to the Yakamas by
sending a letter back to Chair Goudy, which reads “I’m
sorry that Facebook and special interest groups can
put out information that is not factual and misleading
that could seriously harm the economic stability of our
community.” The Yakama Nation did not approve his
subsequent request for a meeting.
“I think they’re delirious,” said Klairice Westley of
Wanapum Fishing People Against Nestlé, who held a fast
to protest the City Council. “It’s pretty clear the (Warm
Springs) tribe opposed it. I mean, we had tribal council
members come to City Hall meetings and say no - the
tribe opposes this. If he thinks, after reading that letter,
he can go to JoDe Goudy and the Yakama Tribe and
convince them otherwise, then they are really
delusional.”
Westley said city officials like Cramblett have
consistently dodged the issue of treaty rights at Oxbow
Springs in a way that marginalizes native people.
“1855 treaty says that if you got something going on
there that involves anything that they use for their
sustainability, you need to make them aware of it,”
Cramblett said. “So yeah. Hey, people screw up all the
time. We didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Once we found that we weren’t in compliance,
according to them with the 1855 Treaty - because we
were doing something that had to do with fish. Once we
did that, we immediately got with them and did the best
we could to keep them informed and keep them part of
the whole thing. We understand that’s important.”
Despite this, Cramblett continued to strike a
combative tone, calling opponents of Nestlé “outsiders,”
calling out some by name, and saying he would have
pushed the project to completion if not for the governor
- over objections from Native Americans and their tribal
governments.
“They want me to have a responsibility to them, and
I’m fine with that, but I’ve got a responsibility to my
citizens, too.”
“Anything that I see that I think is viable, I’m moving
in that direction,” he said.
Of course, economic development does remain a real
need in Cascade Locks, although not every official is
the same things.”
fixated on Nestlé.
Deanna Busdieker, a city councilor in Cascade Locks,
Paul Koch, general manager at the Port of Cascade
agrees that the city must find ways to attract better
Locks, says the important thing now is to move on and
businesses - and try to do so in partnership with local
look for common ground with neighboring communities.
tribes. Busdieker agreed to speak with Street Roots with
“The Port Commission’s job is to create jobs and get
the clarification that she speaks as an individual, and not
business to move here. And if you can’t get that 50-job
as a representative for Cascade Locks City Council.
one that’ll give the city 2 million bucks, then you go on
“Time basically stopped when the mill closed,”
to the next one. It doesn’t make sense if you have
limited resources to hire a bunch of attorneys and fight
Busdieker said. “There are a lot of people who just want
something that is never gonna pay off.”
to be a company town again, to go back to the way things
When he first joined the port in 2013, Koch said
were ... but it’s not really how it works now.”
Cascade Locks quickly learned the hard way that going it
Busdieker was the single person on Cascade Locks
alone was a losing strategy.
.City Council who continually opposed the Nestlé plan.
“The first month I was here the commission handed
Busdieker says that the economic outlook in Cascade
me a letter they had received in November of 2012 from
Locks is already improving, but that change has not yet
the state that said ‘by the way, if you don’t fix the Bridge
led to new political leaders. She points to local
of the Gods by March or April (of 2013) we’re going to
businesses like the native-owned Brigham Fish Market
close it or severely weight-limit it. And then the next
and the Renewal Workshop as indications of what the
paragraph said ‘And by the way, we won’t be done with
town can do.
our analysis telling you what needs to be fixed until
“With Nestlé o u t... we can maybe start looking at
December.’
more appropriate businesses. I would like maybe hemp
Within a matter of months, Koch said the bridge was
production going here, and maybe we can get the natives
back at hill capacity - a feat that required Serious help
involved here. They’re working on growing it on the
from surrounding communities, and collaboration from
reservation, so that could be a partnership. But you’ve
local, state and federal officials.
gotta have a mayor and council that’s willing to look at
“But the result of that was that the community
these things.”
realized that being an island unto yourself and being mad
Busdieker says the way her city has handled
and upset because the National Scenic Area was created
communication with tribes has been a major
and you didn’t want it, or being mad about this, gets you
disappointment for her, and that political change is
nowhere.”
necessary to make it better.
Koch says the Port has been working for two years on
“I did make a lot of enemies. Retribution is a real
a joint project with the Confederated Tribes of Warm
thing in Cascade Locks. I used to be the paid tourism
Springs on an integrated hotel-resort that would focus on
administrator. I was a contractor. Within two weeks of
local recreational opportunities. And although the
just asking questions about Nestlé that council didn’t
project incorporates gaming, it appears to have
want to answer, I got pulled from the governor’s
incorporated the criticisms that shot down its former
conference on tourism. Then my contract went back out
casino project.
for bid. Which is why I’m practically homeless now.”
“This proposal has a much reduced size casino
“I’ve lived in the Gorge for 21 years... everywhere
attached to the hotel. So it wouldn’t be as dramatic. And
from The Dalles to Cascade Locks, and on both sides of
there’s also a commitment that a part of that would be
the river. The ecology side of my interdisciplinary
the sailing areas, the fishing areas, the biking, trail
degree was almost entirely focused on the Columbia
hiking, the nature areas, all of that would be absorbed
River w atershed.... We’ve just got to do everything we
into that one concept,” Koch said.
“The ultimate plan is to have sailing beaches on either can to protect those cold pools. After 2015 when we had
that horrible drought and all the fish kills on the
side of the peninsula that’s out there, and then some
Columbia ... you know those cold pools are so essential
other development, and then it would all be recreation
to the fish being able to migrate.”
oriented. And that’s about an $800 million development
On Nov. 28, Washington state’s Energy Facility Site
if they do it,” he said.
Evaluation
Council finally denied the Tesoro-Savage oil
Koch also says the Port is also looking for grant
terminal in Vancouver - affirming the majority brought
funding to remove rocks from the mouth of Herman
by Don Orange to the port of Vancouver, and ending a
Creek to allow more salmon to access its cold water - a
four-year battle. In a press release, Cowlitz Tribal
project they’ve been working on for two years in
collaboration with the Umatilla and Warm Springs tribes. Chairman asked the Governor to accept his agency’s
decision and acknowledge his tribe’s concerns about air
“We have no problem with the Indian tribes,” said
and water quality.
Koch. Adding that “they’re kind of perplexed as we are”
Across the region, such conflicts over development -
with the lack of funding for Herman Creek.
and clashing visions of development - have plagued
Since joining the port in 2013, Koch said only one
infrastructure projects that promised fast cash to poor
employee he started with is still there, with 20 people
towns while bringing them into conflict with their own
on staff today.
people and with treaty tribes, eating up time and money
“Our elected leaders have, well, since I’ve been here
on all sides.
starting in 2013, they’ve been very realistic and they
With years of hindsight, it may be a good time to ask -
know ... You better develop relationships and
how many of these conflicts would have happened if
partnerships and work together, and we have that
local governments had prioritized tribal relations, and
advantage of the National Scenic Area here, which is a
simply planned better projects?
natural region that we all should be working together on