Local native American tribe opposes Bellingham port clean-up plan

Local native American tribe opposes Bellingham port clean-up plan A day before Port of Bellingham officials plan to formally sign an agreement to clean up mercury contamination in Bellingham Bay, representatives of the native American Lummi Nation have come out in opposition of the plan.
   The Lummi Indian Reservation, with a population just under 7,000, borders on the bay where the Washington Department of Ecology plans to remove contaminated sediment from a 37-acre wastewater treatment lagoon originally built by Georgia-Pacific Corp. The Lummi said they plan to express concerns over the plan, especially a component calling for the redevelopment of the wastewater lagoon into a 450-slip marina, to federal agencies that must permit the project.
   The Department of Ecology approved the clean-up and development plans on Monday, and port officials are planning to sign the papers in a ceremony on Thursday.
   The plans call for contaminated sediment in the wastewater lagoon and other areas in the bay to be dredged and disposed of as landfill. In addition to removing the toxic metal from the lagoon, the dredging will also increase water depths at the port's marine terminal.
   Port consultants found that mercury contaminated sediment in the waterway's inner portions has been partially 'trapped' by natural sediment over the years. The port plan calls for the addition of further clean material to cap and seal the contaminants in situ.
   The Lummi, some of whose diet consists of a great deal of marine life from the bay, are opposed to leaving any contaminated soil in the bay for fear of poisoning the local marine life and consequently tribe members.
   'The Lummi Nation is not convinced that the proposed cleanup will protect the public health and safety of tribal members due to the substantially greater amounts of fish consumed by tribal members relative to the non-Indian population in Washington state and the resulting associated risks posed by the contaminated sediments,' Lummi Natural Resources Commission Chairman Elden Hillaire said in a statement to the Bellingham Herald.
   A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study of the port's sediment capping portion of the plan mirrored an early port study that found potential mercury levels in fish should not pose a health hazard to the tribe.
   Also running counter to the port's vision, the tribe supports restoring the proposed marina area to a tidal flat to support tribal fishing. The Lummi also fear disruptions to tribe fishing from pleasure boat traffic at the proposed marina.
   The tribe expressed identical concerns during the public comment phase of the plan development. Port officials expressed confidence to the Herald that an understanding could be reached with the tribe, who have recently hired a facilitator to help move along the two-year-old talks with the port.
   'It's really important for us to work through this issue with the tribe,' Port Environmental Director Mike Stoner told the paper. 'We want a clean site too.'