Robert Watters: Crow Tribe to see big benefits from coal port

Thursday, December 17, 2015  

The Crow Tribe has partnered with Cloud Peak Energy to develop a mine on the reservation in Montana. Both are also a part of the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal in Washington. Photo from Big Metal Coal

Robert Watters, an executive at the firm behind the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal, calls the coal port project an economic development benefit for the Crow Tribe of Montana despite opposition from the Lummi Nation in Washington:

Members of the Lummi Nation fish in the waters near the proposed terminal and were very vocal during the scoping process that their treaty rights to those fishing grounds should be a factor under consideration. But they’re not the only tribal entity with an economic stake in the process. Gateway Pacific Terminal is literally the difference between prosperity and poverty for the Crow people of Montana, who have an ownership interest in the project and are depending on the terminal for shipping their coal to markets throughout the Pacific Rim.

Now in year four of the Gateway review and nearing a conclusion, the Lummi Nation has made a curious demand of the Army Corps. The tribe is now urging the Corps to forgo the detailed analysis and make a decision without any public participation.

While painless for the Lummis, an inexplicable rush to judgment by the Corps could have a catastrophic effect on the Crow Tribe and their stake in the terminal, which would be the most cost-effective and efficient route for reaching markets in Asia. Zinke’s amendment, added to the House-passed North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015 (H.R. 8), simply encourages the Army Corps to conduct a full environmental review and publish those findings so as not to abrogate any treaty rights — something the Lummi Nation once supported as well.

Get the Story:
Robert Watters: Washington coal port would help Crow tribe’s economy (The Great Falls Tribune 12/17)

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