The Walla Walla Tribe has filed a petition in state court to stop megaload shipments in Oregon.

Chief Carl Sampson said the tribe wasn't consulted before the Oregon Department of Transportation approved a permit for the three megaloads. He said the shipments will disturb the tribe's way of life and its treaty-ceded territory.

"And now here we are in the middle of winter, with no formal notification, no tribal consultation, no information to our tribal members at our monthly council meetings, let alone our elected officials of the board of trustees or general council, that not one, but three, monster megaloads are coming onto our ceded boundary lands,” Sampson said in a press release.

Omega Morgan is holding the shipments at the Port of Umatilla. They are carrying equipment bound for the tar sands oil development area in Alberta, Canada.

The Walla Walla Tribe is part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Get the Story:
Tribes’ court action could halt megaload (The Argus Observer 2/11)

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