And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
"hansenhouse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> supplies:
Seattle Times: Skokomish Tribe sues for $5.8 billion
Skokomish Tribe sues for $5.8 billion
by Luis Cabrera
The Associated Press
The Skokomish Tribe is seeking $5.8 billion from the federal government
and city of Tacoma, alleging damages dating back to the 1920s from a
hydroelectric project.
"The tribe seeks to hold Tacoma and the United States accountable for 75
years of ruthless economic and human damage to the Skokomish," tribal
Chairman Denny Hurtado said yesterday.
The tribe said the money should be paid to compensate for economic and
cultural impacts of the Cushman Project since 1924, when all the water was
diverted from the North Fork of the Skokomish River through two power plants
and into Hood Canal.
The tribe claimed that while Tacoma was licensed by the Federal Power
Commission to flood 8.8 acres of land in 1924, the construction of the
plants and two dams was never approved.
The Skokomish contended that Tacoma also never revealed its project would
eliminate the tribe's major source of salmon, the Skokomish North Fork.
"These fish were the backbone of the Tribe's economy and integral to the
Tribe's culture and religion," said a lawsuit delivered yesterday to U.S.
District Court in Seattle.
Harold Malkin, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said yesterday it
was too soon to comment on the suit, because it probably had not been
assigned within the office.
Tacoma city spokesman Dan Voelpel referred calls to the city's public
utility, Tacoma Power, which also was named as a defendant, along with
members of the city's Public Utilities Board.
"We have broken no laws," said Steve Klein, Tacoma Power superintendent.
"We've been in compliance with an operating license for 70 years, and the
claim against us is without merit."
He said if the tribe is unhappy about the project, "it needs to take those
issues up with the U.S. government. It's the entity it signed a treaty with
and the entity that issued the license."
The tribe is asking that the lawsuit, which names 23 tribal members as
plaintiffs, be certified as a class action. The lawsuit follows a $5.7
billion claim the Skokomish filed against the federal government in 1998
over the Cushman Project. If the government takes no action on such claims
within six months, a suit may be filed.
In July, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission offered Tacoma a 40-year
license to continue operation of the power plants and two dams in the
project.
The license would require Tacoma to increase the minimum North Fork
Skokomish River flow from 30 cubic feet per second to 240 cubic feet per
second, provide fish passage around dams and build new fish hatchery
facilities, among other things.
The tribe has said the license fails to address several environmental
concerns.
The city has appealed the licensing conditions, saying they would make
the project too expensive to operate. The license flap and lawsuit could put
Tacoma Power in an ironic double bind, Klein said.
"Potentially you face a nearly $6 billion lawsuit for operating a project .
. . and on top of that, the federal government takes the project from you by
essentially issuing a license that bankrupts it," he said.
The Skokomish claim that Tacoma has made some $1.6 billion in net revenue
from the hydroelectric project since 1926.
"This allowed the city to have residential electric rates among the
lowest in the nation, to sell vast amounts of power to industrial customers
at below cost . . . and to contribute millions of dollars to the city's
treasury," the tribe said in a release.
During the same period, the lawsuit claims, the Skokomish suffered $5.8
billion in damages from loss of salmon, loss of shellfish and hunting
grounds, cultural, religious and archeological sites.
The Cushman Project "caused generations of human suffering, eroded cultural
identity, self-reliance and self-respect," the lawsuit said.
Copyright © 1999 The Seattle Times Company
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
<><<<<<>>>>><><<<<>
Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
<><<<<<>>>>><><<<<>
