The Lummi Nation has written a formal letter urging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reject the permit to build the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point.

“The impacts on the Nation’s treaty rights associated with this project cannot be mitigated,” wrote Lummi Chair Tim Ballew II.

From EarthFix:

Corps spokeswoman Patricia Graesser responded to a request for comment by saying her agency is still reviewing the letter and was not ready to make a decision regarding the Lummi’s request to halt the permitting process. She said the Corps will provide SSA Marine and Pacific International Terminals, the applicants, with a chance to review and respond. “We’d be looking for additional data from them, information that perhaps we didn’t have to this point,” Graesser said.

This latest letter is the strongest statement from the Lummi regarding the Gateway project to date, and carries more weight than previous statements of opposition from the Lummi and other tribes because it calls on the federal government, directly, to uphold its treaty obligations and deny permits for the Gateway Pacfic Terminal, independent of the environmental study of the project, which could take at least another year.

“There is history of the Army Corps of Engineers denying a permit application based on impacts to usual and accustomed fishing areas,” Graesser added. “It is possible that we would halt that process.”

Lummi’s letter follows the release last month of a Vessel Traffic and Risk Assessment Study stating: “The analysis predicts that GPT would increase the Lummi fishing disruption by 76 percent in the Cherry Point subarea and 19 percent in the (adjacent) Saddlebag subarea, compared to baseline vessel traffic in 2019.”

From Crosscut:

Although it is obvious that adding nearly 500 of the world’s largest bulk carriers into the waters of Cherry Point would have an impact on fishing, the vessel study is the first to put hard numbers on the table. Other studies will deal with GPT’s potential impact on Lummi cultural traditions and on the health of the marine stock and the economic impacts of the terminal.

Read the Lummi Nation’s letter to the Army Corps.