ROCK AND
A HARD PLACE
The coal push, he said, represents the continued encroachment of the federal government
and “white man’s money” on Native American tribes. “It’s turning
brother against brother,” he said.
Many of the current and former
residents of Celilo belong to the
Yakama Nation. Like the Lummi,
the tribe put its opposition to the
exports on paper. In a November
letter to the Army Corps of Engineers and a state official, Yakama
chairman Harry Smiskin referenced a “long history of Treaty violations from energy development
in the region that permanently
and irreparably have harmed my
People.” The new energy projects,
he said, would add “direct adverse
impacts” to the tribe’s treaty
rights to fish, hunt and gather
food, and do more damage to the
already fragile environment, culture and health of his nation.
Dr. Frank James, of the University of Washington School of
Public Health, underscored the
“dis