By PUYALLUP TRIBAL NEWS STAFF
“I make my commitment to all of you, as the mayor of this city, that I am committed to working with you on every issue that comes before us. I am entirely grateful for your sacrifice. I am entirely grateful that we are here tonight because of you and your ancestors and the sacrifices they made.”
Earlier this month, Puyallup Tribal councilmembers, elders, and members called on Mayor Victoria Woodards and the City Council to truly renew our partnership through consultation, as they raised the Puyallup Tribe’s flag at City Hall and commemorated the City’s adoption of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Chairman Bill Sterud has repeatedly called on the City of Tacoma to halt construction of the Tacoma LNG plant and act on government-to-government consultation as required by the 1854 Medicine Creek Treaty. He called on the City again to honor the treaty and Puyallup Tribe by respecting the consultation process, as the draft supplemental environmental impact statement was released on the City’s first-ever Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
“This project has been constructed without required permits or government-to-government consultation,” Sterud said. “The Tribe remains deeply concerned around the true safety and environmental hazards this plant brings to our Tribal members, homelands, and people of Tacoma.”
Tribal Councilmember Annette Bryan spoke on the state’s role and their trust responsibility, as described by Gov. Jay Inslee at this year’s Centennial Accord. “Gov. Inslee did state that this is a responsibility that has been delegated, and the permitting delegation here is with the City of Tacoma.”
“I humbly invite you to discuss the Puget Sound Liquefied Natural Gas project with our Council. And, as was stated by a port commissioner that we both know and respect, in this relationship, we don’t want it to be remembered by how it started, but how we finished it,” Bryan said.
