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JUNE 1, 2022
9
Tribe seeks to intervene in PGE effort
to condemn Willamette Falls property
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
The Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde moved on Thursday, May 19,
to intervene as a defendant in Port-
land General Electric’s legal effort
against the Oregon Department of
State Lands to condemn a contested
five-acre strip at Willamette Falls
upon which the Tribe constructed
a temporary ceremonial fishing
platform in October 2018.
“Grand Ronde moves for inter-
vention in order to ensure its inter-
ests are not undermined through
improper condemnation or a set-
tlement of this action,” states the
motion authored by Assistant Trib-
al Attorney Kim D’Aquila. “This
action should be barred because it
was brought in bad faith, for im-
proper purposes, and is arbitrary
and capricious.
“Although Grand Ronde seeks to
intervene on the same side of this
proceeding at DSL, the Tribe’s sov-
ereign interests are different and
narrower … and therefore may not
be adequately represented. Grand
Ronde seeks to protect a narrow
interest not shared by the public
at large – namely, the Registration
and the Tribe’s cultural fishery,
as well as its property interests at
Willamette Falls.”
The Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde is fighting a move started in
early April by Portland General
Electric to condemn property in
and around the company’s Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission
boundary at Willamette Falls.
The company’s lawsuit, which
was filed in U.S. District Court
in Portland, seeks to use PGE's
condemnation authority under the
Federal Power Act to acquire the
Oregon Department of State Land's
Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez
Grand Ronde Tribal members and employees fish off the rocks at Willamette
Falls in Oregon City on Wednesday, May 25, for the first time this fishing
season. The initial attempts to erect the Tribe’s temporary ceremonial fishing
platform on state land and catch 15 ceremonial salmon were thwarted in
early May due to dangerous water conditions at the falls.
interest in the property.
PGE is seeking to condemn the
land “to safely and securely operate
our hydroelectric project consistent
with our FERC license obligations.”
PGE has operated a hydroelectric
facility at the falls for more than
100 years.
“Ownership and control of the
property, including the inherent
right through ownership to control
persons seeking to access the prop-
erty, are required for PGE to meet
its obligations of the FERC license,”
the lawsuit says.
The Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission is an independent
agency that regulates the interstate
transmission of natural gas, oil and
electricity, as well as hydropower
projects like the one at Willamette
Falls.
The condemnation move brings
back the contentious events that
occurred four years ago when the
WIC
IN GRAND RONDE
Friday June 3 10:00 – 2:00
at Grand Ronde Head Start Preschool
Welcoming pregnant & postpartum people
Infants & toddlers
Children up to age 5
Please bring:
Oregon Health Plan card (if you have one)
A form of ID (driver’s license, tribal ID, birth certificate, vaccination record, WIC ID, etc.)
Proof you reside in Oregon (a piece of mail with your name and address on it)
Paystubs for the last 30 days (if you have them)
Tribe sought a temporary ceremo-
nial fishing platform at Willamette
Falls and competing claims by PGE
and the Oregon Division of State
Lands were made concerning own-
ership of the property.
In April 2016, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife granted
the Grand Ronde Tribe a permit
to catch 15 salmon annually at
Willamette Falls for ceremonial
purposes.
In May 2018, PGE allowed the
Tribe access to the falls from the
West Linn side of the river for cer-
emonies and to scout out possible
fishing platform locations, but re-
voked that access on Sept. 21 after
the state granted the Tribe a permit
to erect a fishing platform on the
contested property.
The Tribe was then forced to ferry
materials to construct the platform
across the Willamette River from
the Oregon City side. The platform
was completed on Oct. 23, 2018.
PGE then filed an appeal with
the state Land Use Board regard-
ing the Tribe’s fishing platform
site because the city of West Linn
did not regulate the structure, but
the Land Use Board dismissed the
appeal in April 2019.
On July 28, 2021, PGE’s Board
of Directors approved a resolution
that the company would pursue
acquiring all of the state’s rights,
title and interest in the contested
property.
According to the lawsuit, PGE
offered the Department of State
Lands $150,000 for the state’s
claimed right to the property in
January, but the offer was not
accepted.
Previously, Grand Ronde Tribal
Attorney Rob Greene said that an
extensive study was conducted by
a Department of State Lands con-
sultant who found that the area on
which the Tribe installed platform
footings belonged to the state of
Oregon.
Although the Tribe’s ceremonial
fishing was interrupted by the
COVID-19 pandemic, the original
plans were to install the platform
annually at the start of the fishing
season in May and remove it at the
end of the season in late July.
Dave Robertson, a PGE public
affairs vice president, said in a
statement posted on the company’s
website that PGE tried the admin-
istrative law process and judicially
assisted mediation to resolve the
dispute and that a recent inconclu-
sive ruling from an administrative
law judge “made clear the long road
ahead to final resolution.”
That ruling, issued on April 1 by
Office of Administrative Hearings
Senior Administrative Law Judge
Joe Allen, stated that PGE, the
Division of State Lands and Grand
Ronde Tribe all demonstrated dis-
putes to genuine issues of material
fact relevant to resolution of all
the issues in the contested case, so
therefore all requests for summary
determination were denied.
“That’s why we are moving for-
ward with condemnation as the
best legal tool available to expedi-
ently resolve issues essential to our
operations,” Robertson said.
In the motion to intervene, the
Grand Ronde Tribe contends that
PGE’s action is a substantial over-
reach and is using the Federal
Power Act “as a lever to invalidate
Grand Ronde’s state-issued regis-
tration to operate a fishing platform
on state lands at the base of Willa-
mette Falls.”
“PGE’s lawsuit is a massive over-
reach based on false and misguided
concerns,” Tribal Council Chair-
woman Cheryle A. Kennedy said.
“If PGE succeeds, not only will it
threaten the Tribe’s ceremonial
fishery, it will transfer ownership
of Oregon’s iconic Willamette Falls
from the state of Oregon, and all
of Oregon’s citizens, to a private,
for-profit corporation.
“Their attack on the Tribe’s cer-
emonial fishery comes despite the
fact that CTGR never crosses into
PGE’s property when fishing and
harvesting at Willamette Falls and
PGE’s past approval of our safety
plan. There are more appropriate
channels to resolve these issues.”
Kennedy said that PGE Chief Ex-
ecutive Officer Maria Pope told her
that the company’s initial support
of the Tribe’s efforts to build a cer-
emonial fishing platform at Willa-
mette Falls ended because of claims
raised by other Oregon Tribes that
have a business relationship with
the company.
Kennedy has said that the Grand
Ronde Tribe has supremacy as
gatekeepers of the falls over oth-
er Oregon Tribes because the
Clowewalla band of Tumwaters
were year-round residents at the
fishery.
The Tribe’s motion to intervene
includes statements from Kennedy
and General Manager David Ful-
lerton and adds that the Oregon
Department of State Lands does
not oppose the motion while PGE
objects.
It ultimately is asking for a judg-
ment dismissing PGE’s eminent
domain request and awarding of
legal costs for the Tribe.