In his letter of July 8 regarding Lummi opposition to the Gateway Pacific Terminal, Gordon Jonasson completely misses their point. Perhaps he has not read their many statements about the proposed project, which they have concluded will seriously impact their “usual and accustomed” fishing rights.

These rights were granted the Northwest Indian nations by the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott and upheld by the 1974 Boldt Decision, which was itself upheld by the United States Supreme Court.

Some of the “science and facts” he refers to are already in hand – including a vessel traffic and risk assessment study by Glosten Associates. In its hundreds of pages is a long section about the adverse impacts of the project on Lummi fishing activities. These impacts are extensive.

Based in part on this study, Lummi leaders have concluded that the project cannot be built without significantly impacting and degrading their fishing activities.  Thus they have invoked their rights under the 1855 treaty and requested that the Army Corps of Engineers deny permits to the project.

Project proposer SSA Marine claims that these impacts can be mitigated, but the Lummi leaders disagree. The Corps is scheduled to rule on this question soon.

If the Corps agrees with the Lummi position, as some expect, then there is simply no point in proceeding with the draft environmental impact statement. It’s game over. International treaties like the Point Elliott Treaty are the supreme law of the land.

Thus there would be no point in continuing to spend millions of dollars and thousands of hours of government-officials’ time on this ill-conceived project.

Better to move on and focus our efforts on building a sustainable future that does not depend on a nineteenth-century energy source.

Michael Riordan

Orcas Island