NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Pacific Northwest tribal fishing bill clears U.S. House
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Pacific
Northwest tribes fighting
to get the U.S. government
to fully compensate them
for the loss of dozens of
homes and traditional fish-
ing encampments to flood-
ing caused by hydroelectric
dams rejoiced on Tuesday
after federal legislation to
address their cause cleared a
first hurdle.
A key bill that cleared
the U.S. House on Mon-
day would provide $11 mil-
lion for improvements at
alternative fishing sites cre-
ated by the U.S. govern-
ment after several massive
dams built on the Columbia
River caused flooding that
destroyed tribal fishing sites
beginning in the 1930s.
Over the years, the gov-
ernment has created 31
so-called “in lieu” fish-
ing sites to compensate the
tribes, but demand is high
and several hundred tribal
members now live year-
round at camps that were
intended to be seasonal, said
Charles Hudson, director of
government affairs with the
Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission.
Conditions at some of
the larger sites are unsani-
tary, with sewer problems,
crowding and unsafe drink-
ing water, he said.
AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka,File
This Oct. 20, 2014, file photo, shows one of the 31 replacement fishing sites given to Native Americans by the federal gov-
ernment to replace the many tribal sites flooded by hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River in Underwood, Wash. Federal
legislation to assess 31 tribal fishing sites in Oregon and Washington and make critical improvements to sewer and water
systems has passed the U.S. House after three years of delays.
fishing places’ is a term of
law and culture and people
want to live close to where
their right to fish is — and
for many of the people liv-
ing in these areas, they are
living as close as they pos-
sibly can.”
The bill also calls on
the U.S. Bureau of Indian
Affairs to assess all 31 sites
dedicated to enabling the
The commission has
identified 18 sites that need
particular attention in both
Oregon and Washington,
including a site called Lone
Pine near The Dalles, and
another called Cooks on the
Washington side of the river.
“There are often mul-
tiple generations living on
the sites,” he said. “The
term ‘usual and accustomed
THURSDAY
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FRIDAY
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SUNDAY
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nice
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PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
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78° 51°
74° 47°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
71° 43°
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OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
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LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
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Kennewick Walla Walla
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64/41
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Astoria
57/44
Pullman
Yakima 69/40
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Portland
Hermiston
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The Dalles 71/43
Salem
Corvallis
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La Grande
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PRECIPITATION
John Day
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Bend
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Ontario
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Caldwell
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Albany
67/36
0.00"
0.29"
0.88"
3.88"
4.05"
3.99"
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
74/40
WSW 8-16
WSW 8-16
Klamath Falls
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:44 a.m.
8:02 p.m.
4:46 a.m.
4:42 p.m.
New
First
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Last
May 4
May 11
May 18
May 26
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 95° in Zapata, Texas Low 11° in Ryegate, Mont.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
headed by Oregon alone fiz-
zled in 2014.
Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Eu-
gene, who chairs the Senate
Transportation Committee,
chuckled when he heard the
$35 million figure.
“We’ll let them study
it,” he told Oregon Public
Broadcasting, according to
a story published Tuesday.
“If they want to talk,
we’ll talk. But we won’t put
the time and money into it.
It’s their turn.”
The money will be used
to open and operate an Inter-
state 5 bridge project office
and help fund design work.
Oregon’s Department of
Transportation will have a
staff member join the new
office and work with Wash-
ington to start the process
of reviewing what work
might still be relevant from
the defunct Columbia River
Crossing project.
The money, however, is a
fraction of what it would to
plan and build a bridge.
The 100-year-old span
needs seismic upgrades and
isn’t made for current traffic
demands, leading to horri-
ble traffic jams for interstate
commuters who work in
Portland and live in south-
west Washington’s bedroom
communities.
The too-small span also
crimps freight commerce
between the two states,
Brown said.
North Dakota, Washington state officials
at odds over restrictions on oil trains
Associated Press
Thu.
WSW 7-14
WSW 7-14
SUN AND MOON
63/28
PORTLAND (AP) —
The transportation budget
recently passed by Wash-
ington state lawmakers
includes $35 million for
renewed efforts to replace
the Interstate 5 bridge con-
necting Washington and
Oregon, and Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown said she is ready
to work with Washington to
replace the aging span.
Lawmakers in Oregon,
however, remain wary of
engaging with their Wash-
ington counterparts because
of mistrust that built up
when Washington killed a
$3 billion bridge project in
2013 that had secured fed-
eral funding.
Another plan spear-
WINDS (in mph)
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61/28
0.00"
1.68"
1.15"
7.76"
5.42"
5.11"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 56/29
68/37
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
65/39
71/41
60°
27°
67°
42°
89° (1931) 27° (2019)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
64/42
Aberdeen
59/36
65/44
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
64/46
was prompted by an inves-
tigation by The Oregonian
newspaper that described
the U.S. government’s fail-
ure to meet its promises.
“Thanks to this bill,
tribal communities will
see much-needed, tangi-
ble improvements that will
improve their quality of life
and fortify their connection
to the Columbia,” Blume-
Washington state budget includes
money for new interstate bridge
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
Nez Perce, Umatilla, Con-
federated Tribes of the
Warm Springs and Yakama
to carry out their federally
protected right to fish the
river.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer,
an Oregon Democrat, intro-
duced the House bill after
visiting Lone Pine in 2016
and seeing the conditions
there first-hand. His visit
nauer said in a statement.
“We must ensure the life-
blood of their heritage is
protected and respected.”
The bill now heads to the
U.S. Senate, where similar
legislation is pending.
A study undertaken by
the Army Corps of Engi-
neers
determined
that
around the massive Bon-
neville Dam alone, tribal
members had lost more than
80 homes that have not been
replaced, Hudson said. The
construction of major dams
in John Day, Oregon, and
The Dalles also caused sig-
nificant losses, although
those have not been quanti-
fied, he said.
An inter-tribal group is
working to document how
much housing was lost and
come up with a proposal
for adequate mitigation
more than 70 years later, he
added. Affordable housing
close to fishing grounds is a
critical need, Hudson said.
“There is a lot of histor-
ical mining of documents
that has gone on, but a lot
more is needed,” he said.
“Quantification is a
tricky one, because is a one-
for-one replacement the
right thing 70 years hence?
Is there a survivor of that
who was directly impacted
by the loss of his or her
home? Are there descen-
dants who continue to be
impacted?”
BISMARCK, N.D. —
North Dakota officials are
pressuring the state of Wash-
ington to back off from leg-
islation requiring oil shipped
by rail to have more of its
volatile gases removed, urg-
ing the governor to veto the
bill and threatening a law-
suit over worries it could
hamper the energy industry
of the nation’s No. 2 crude
producer.
The bill awaiting Gov.
Jay
Inslee’s
signature
requires a lower vapor pres-
sure limit for crude shipped
by rail than either North
Dakota requirements or
industry standards. Viola-
tions could result in fines of
up to $2,500 per day per rail
car.
That “would result in a
de facto ban of crude-by-rail
traffic from North Dakota
to refineries throughout the
Pacific Northwest,” North
Dakota’s three members of
Congress said in a letter sent
Friday imploring Inslee to
veto the bill.
Inslee, who has made
climate change a focus of
his 2020 Democratic presi-
dential campaign, was still
reviewing the bill Tues-
day, spokeswoman Tara Lee
said. She didn’t comment
on whether pressure from
North Dakota’s congressio-
nal delegation or the threat
of a lawsuit by the state
might influence his decision.
North Dakota’s Industrial
Commission, which regu-
lates the oil and gas indus-
try, was to meet in a closed
session Tuesday afternoon
to discuss a possible law-
suit. The group is com-
prised of the governor, attor-
ney general and agriculture
commissioner.
State Mineral Resources
Director Lynn Helms, who
traveled to Washington in
February to testify against
the bill, has said previously
that North Dakota will sue if
the bill becomes law.
The volatility of oil trains
drew public attention fol-
lowing several explosive
derailments, including one
in 2013 in Quebec that killed
47 people. Washington’s bill
is aimed at boosting safety
for schools and homes near
passing oil trains, accord-
ing to Democratic Senate
Majority Leader Andy Bil-
lig, the sponsor.
“These large shipments
of extremely flammable fuel
run through the heart of our
state, starting with my com-
munity in Spokane,” he said
in March.
The bill sets a vapor
pressure limit of less than 9
pounds per square inch for
oil unloaded from trains,
lower than North Dakota’s
limit of 13.7 psi and what
is considered the national
standard for stable crude
of 14.7. North Dakota’s
limit, implemented in 2015,
builds in 1 psi as a margin
of error.
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