Smoke Signals 9
MARCH 15, 2012
University of Oregon storo
socks artwork for sale
The University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History's
museum store, Past and Presents, is seeking a limited number of artists
interested in selling their original artwork on consignment in the store.
Pacific Northwest Tribal members interested in the opportunity should
submit five images of their work for consideration to traceyuoregon.
edu. The university's Museum of Natural and Cultural History protects
significant collections, enhances knowledge and encourages stewardship
of human and natural history through research, preservation and educa
tion. Past and Presents offers a comprehensive selection of regional books
and gifts that reflect the museum's exhibits, collections and research,
as well as the inspiration of the Pacific Northwest landscape. For more
information, contact Tracey Bell at 541-346-1574.
Entrepreneurship program
seeks business mentors
MERIT, in conjunction with Chemeketa Community College and the
Grand Ronde Education Department, is seeking experienced business
professionals and owners to mentor aspiring entrepreneurs enrolled in
the business start-up program called Indianpreneurship now being offered
in Grand Ronde.
Volunteer business mentors will sit one-on-one with the budding en
trepreneurs and provide valuable advice, insight and support from their
own business experience.
Business mentors are a proven factor to entrepreneurial success. They
will not only be helping the individual entrepreneur achieve business
success, but also will be contributing to the economic development of the
community. If you would like to participate, contact Mona Edwards at
medwar44chemeketa.edu. MERIT welcomes mentors from any back
ground or industry. H
Loss of Tribal cultural practices being ignored
Another cost for Tribes that is extremely
difficult to put a dollar value on is the cost
to traditional cultural practices. There's a
cost to the culture when people aren't able
to fish where their ancestors all fished, or
able to gather crawdads, or things like
that. It is something extremely difficult to
put a dollar value on. How much is culture
worth? It (the Brattle Group report) does
ill
not even attempt to answer that question.
Tribal Ceded Lands Manager Michael Karnosh
HARBOR continued
from front page
involved in the Portland Harbor
Superfund site cleanup discussion
since 1999, when discussion of a
Superfund site for the area began.
On March 30, a draft feasibility
study is due from many of the po
tentially responsible parties that
make up another coalition called
The Lower Willamette Group,
which has agreed to propose how
the cleanup should proceed and
divide varying degrees of responsi
bility among more than 100 poten
tially responsible parties.
The proposal will go to the EPA
first, then to public meetings held
by the EPA and, finally, the EPA
will decide to accept, amend or
reject the proposal on the way to
a final decision, called The Record
of Decision, which is expected ap
proximately a year after the feasi
bility study. Actual cleanup is not
likely to begin before 2015. -
Another white paper presented
to the EPA in January, written
by the Massachusetts-based con
sulting firm The Brattle Group,
was funded by three potentially
responsible parties, two of whom
also funded the "Risk Management"
white paper.
The Brattle Group paper, "Eco
nomic Impacts of Remediating the
Portland Harbor Superfund Site,"
focuses on a "narrow" slice of po
tential cleanup solutions. It says
that the cost of the cleanup project
should be evaluated strictly on the
number of cancer deaths expected
from people eating fish caught in
the harbor. The economic analysis
ignores potential deaths from any
thing but cancer, environmental
questions, lost Native cultural
uses of the river and virtually any
other data.
Trying to eliminate the biggest
part of the cleanup, the paper said,
"... EPA has acknowledged that
remediation of the Portland Har
bor would produce few ecosystem
benefits."
Not true, said Chip Humphrey,
EPA project manager for the Port
land Harbor Superfund site.
"It's been projected that up to 7
percent of river areas are toxic to
the bottom of the food chain (the
benthic community) that lives in
the sediment," Humphrey said.
"There are other risks for eco
logical receptors, and for the most
part, human health remediation is
less than for ecological receptors
(including the benthic community
and fish further up the food chain).
Considering human health alone
drives you to a lower number when
looking at the cleanup."
"From the Tribe's perspective," said
Karnosh, "one of the problems with
cost-benefit analysis, there are a lot
of values on the benefit side for an
environmental cleanup, but it is tough
to quantify them in terms of dollars.
"There are numerous costs associ
ated with health care (in addition
to people dying of cancer). If you're
sick, your family has to take time
off work. They're foregoing things
to help take care of you.
"It's one thing to say one cancer
death is worth X dollars (the Brat
tle Group paper puts the figure at
$8 million), but first of all, putting a
dollar value on a human life, that's
something the Tribe has taken ex
ception to in the past.
"Another cost for Tribes that is ex
tremely difficult to put a dollar value
on is the cost to traditional cultural
practices. There's a cost to the cul
ture when people aren't able to fish
where their ancestors all fished, or
able to gather crawdads, or things
like that. It is something extremely
difficult to put a dollar value on.
How much is culture worth? It (the
Brattle Group report) does not even
attempt to answer that question."
One group, comprised of six private
companies and two public agencies
considered to be most responsible for
pollution in the Willamette River,
has developed a $500,000 campaign
that it says is only trying to perform
outreach and education. Four of the
group's members are responsible for
funding both of the white papers
cited above.
John Donovan, vice president of
the Metropolitan Group, with an
office in Portland, is spokesman for
this group calling itself the Port
land Harbor Partnership.
'The impetus was to raise aware
ness and ask for public input on the
river," said Donovan. 'It is meant to
be complementary to the EPA effort.
We're intentionally not taking a
position. Our intention is always to
just provide information that is use
ful, but isn't considered advocacy."
The EPA's Humphrey supports
that view. "So far," he said, "they
haven't made separate arguments
to us. What's sometimes confus
ing to us is their efforts have been
largely educational."
Donovan says the group respects
Tribal governments and is seeking
their input, but contact with the
Grand Ronde Tribe has been re
cent. They dropped surveys at the
Tribe's Portland satellite office on
Barbur Boulevard, and in an infor
mal discussion with Tribal Public
Affairs Director Siobhan Taylor
the group invited the Grand Ronde
Tribe to present Tribal cultural
events at the harbor.
"This is our ceded homelands,"
said Taylor. "We should be involved
in any campaign." She said she has
had that single informal contact
with the group, and the decision
about participating is currently
with Tribal Council.
Since last August, the Portland
Harbor Partnership, which in
cludes the Port of Portland, Or
egon Department of State Lands,
Calbag, Vigor, Schnitzer Steel
Schnitzer Investments, Evraz (for
merly Oregon Steel), NW Natural
and Gunderson, has hosted a few
outdoor and dozens of indoor ses
sions with neighborhood and other
interest groups, Donovan said.
The effort came as a big surprise
to one Tribal member who attended
one of the events.
Whereas the outreach from the
EPA and state Department of
Environmental Quality are simple
affairs with PowerPoint presenta
tions, but not even a cup of coffee
within reach, the Portland Harbor
Partnership affair had "greeters,
free drinks. It was catered, profes
sionally videotaped with two cam
eras, surrounded by professionally
made backdrops with the message:
'Tell us your Willamette story.' "
"The Portland Harbor was not
mentioned," the Tribal member,
who asked not to be identified, re
calls. "There was no discussion of
the risk presented by the harbor's
contamination. One academic said
that the way to reduce the risk of
ingesting toxins was to cut the fat
off and don't eat the skin. But, of
course, that doesn't work for fish
poisoned with mercury."
And it does not indicate a commit
ment to cleaning up the pollution.
The EPA has nine criteria for
evaluating the cleanup and no
single issue paper will have undue
influence, Humphrey said.
"We'll be soliciting public input,
but we're looking for content, in
formation that helps us change
our minds, consider things that we
haven't considered," he said. "The
papers are just one of the factors."
And the influence of the compa
nies involved also will be filtered
through the local and regional
political calculus. Members of the
Oregon congressional delegation
have taken a tugboat tour of the
harbor and questioned the EPA on
many aspects of the cleanup.
"This one seems to have a lot
more political interest than most,"
said Humphrey. The effect of poli
tics on the process, however, is not
yet clear, he said.
Karnosh has seen political figures
supportive of Tribal and environ
mental positions, and he has seen
them supportive of business inter
ests as well.
"Especially," Karnosh says, "in
light of the economic situation.
(They say,) 'Don't be too hard on
these folks because they're provid
ing jobs to the community.' There's
definitely politics going on."
But, Karnosh added, the Tribe
will continue working to ensure
that the natural resources within
its ceded lands that were injured
are restored.