SSA Marine/PIT consultant Craig Cole was featured on March 29, 2014 on KGMI radio in a 2 hour Gateway Pacific Terminal interview with KGMI radio show host, Dick Donahue: Craig Cole said: The Gateway Pacific Terminal project [at Cherry Point] is being proposed by SSA Marine, which is now a Seattle based company but which started in Bellingham in 1949. So it started here, moved its headquarters over a period of time to Seattle, and is now one the largest shipping terminal operators in the world. . . In listening to Craig Cole talk about SSAs history having been founded in Bellingham in 1949, its important to compare that with the history of the Lummi Nation and Cherry Point, some of which I have listed below. The Lummi and their ancestors have inhabited Cherry Point, or Xwe Chi eXen, for over 3,000 years. Cherry Point, or Xwe Chi eXen is sacred to the Lummi. There is a 3,500-year-old village site at Cherry Point. The Hereditary Chief of the Lummi Nation, tsilixw (Bill James), describes Cherry Point as the “home of the Ancient Ones.” It was the first site in Washington State to be listed on the Washington Heritage Register. There was a special insert entitled, The Search for Integrity In the Conflict Over Cherry Point As a Coal Export Terminal, by Lummi tribal member Jewell Praying Wolf James, published in the August 2013 issue of Whatcom Watch. Some information from that insert is quoted/referenced below. In 1855, the Point Elliott Treaty defines agreement between U.S. and Pacific Northwest Tribes. Around the time of the signing of the Point Elliott Treaty, the Chief of the Lummi, Chow-it-soot, reminded his people that Cherry Point was one of their most important and ancient village sites. Chief Chow-it-soot was adamant that this site was--and must remain--the northwest corner of the reservation. He reminded his people that it had been unlawfully taken from the Lummi and that the Lummi must get it back. Since that time, all of the Lummi Chiefs have directed Lummi leadership to get Cherry Point back into Lummi ownership and ensure its protection. Then in 1872, U.S. President Grant shrank the Lummi reservation land by Executive Order. This Executive Order contravened federal law for only Congress can change the boundaries of an established treaty Indian reservation. Link to the 2 hour Craig Cole interview on Gateway Pacific Terminal on KGMI radio hosted by Dick Donahue is: savewhatcom.org/cgblog/44/Update-on-Gateway-Pacific-Terminal.html
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 23:19:40 +0000
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