In the News

Indian Country News by Nika Bartoo-Smith:

https://ictnews.org/news/ceremony-to-heal-the-willamette-river

During an Indigenous-led Water Ceremony at Cathedral Park on September 8, hundreds gathered on the shores of the Willamette River as Indigenous community members from across Turtle Island and beyond offered song, dance and prayer to help heal the water

Underscore Native News by Nika Bartoo-Smith and Photos by Jarrette Werk: https://www.underscore.news/land/ceremony-to-heal-the-willamette-river/

Oregon Live: “In Indigenous and Native American cultures, water holds great significance and represents life and good health. The degrading water quality in the Willamette and around the world is something these groups are advocating to change.”

Oregon Live: “The coalition is working to clean up Willamette River Superfund sites. The event featured ceremonial singing, drumming, dancing and prayer from Native American, Mayan, Mexica-Azteca and Purépecha cultural groups.”

“Others share Williams and Sallinger’s concern. “We have no interest in supporting Portland Botanical Gardens’ idea,” says Cassie Cohen of the Portland Harbor Community Coalition. “We’d like to see the site accessible to the public and to tribes for recreational, cultural and ceremonial purposes and habitat restoration.’”

Portland Tribune: “In 2017, cleanup of the long-polluted Portland Harbor won’t commence for at least three more years. Lori Cohen, deputy director for Superfund projects at the EPA’s regional office, says the early 2017 target could be delayed further if there are continuing disputes among the various parties.”

Willamette Week: “The state suggests burying Willamette Cove’s toxic soil along the beach, but local residents who have championed turning the former dry dock into parkland say the state’s plan is insufficient. The agency votes to haul contaminated soil away from the North Portland beachfront property, rather than capping it.”

Willamette Weekly: “Environmental community groups asked federal regulators to crack down on the city of Portland and the state of Oregon for dragging their feet on the cleanup of the city’s waterfront. We request the EPA initiate formal enforcement action,” signed by the Audubon Society of Portland, Willamette Riverkeeper, Portland Harbor Community Advisory Group, and Portland Harbor Community Coalition.”

Metro: “Metro Council heard from staff members about the community engagement plan for Willamette Cove, which aims to give decision-making power to people who have been historically excluded, such as communities of color, immigrants, people with disabilities and other systematically oppressed communities.”

Metro: “The DEQ-mandated plans for cleanup require all soil that’s contaminated above “hot-spot levels” for human health at the site be removed, as well as all soil with metals higher than hot-spot levels for plants and animals. Under that plan, the remaining contaminated soil above screening levels for human health would then be consolidated on-site in a large containment area with an engineered cap.”

Grist: “Highlights the importance of the Willamette River Initiative in helping foster intersectional collaboration in the management and clean up of the river and the significant role played by indigenous communities and tribes in stewarding the river. “

The Skanner News: “Details the contents of a bill proposed by US Representative Earl Blumehauer to reinstate the Superfund Tax which is supported by PHCC and some of our partners and allies.”

GreenWire: “Explores a range of realities and challenges of community advocacy in Superfund sites during the Trump administration.”

Inside Climate News: “ED Cassie Cohen comments on a document called Explanation of Significant Difference and how it created challenges in community participation in the Portland Harbor Superfund.”

Metro: “Public announcement by regional governing body METRO that details their decision to make Willamette Cove eligible for the parks bond fund that can potentially make the vision of a full clean up of the site a reality.”

Willamette Week: “Alvey Seeyouma, a Native American leader in the Hopi-Tewa tribe who does land conservation work, expressed disappointment Metro was contemplating following a recommendation by Oregon DEQ that would leave 23,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil buried at Willamette Cove.”

Willamette Week: “Advocates, such as Portland Audubon, the Yakama Nation, and the Portland Harbor Community Coalition, say it leaves toxic waste in a floodplain and the soil would liquefy in the event of an earthquake.”

DJC Oregon: “MAWE is partnering with the Portland Harbor Community Coalition and the Healthy Communities Coalition to support other CBA efforts in the harbor cleanup and the Broadway Corridor.”

Oregon Live: “Crafted with input from tribes and impacted communities, the plan would have put Portland on track toward river restoration, albeit more slowly and with less commitment to getting the job done than concerned communities would have liked.”

Portland Business Journal: “The City Council will take up the plan, which calls for an initial $6 million contribution by Portland in July, on Wednesday.”

Street Roots: “Region's most vulnerable have long suffered consequences of pollution in the Willamette River, and they, too, will be most implicated in Superfund clean-up.”

OPB: “‘The main question of the day I think was: How is this going to be different from business as usual?’ said Sarah Greenfield, the in-water project coordinator for Portland Harbor with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.”

Oregon Humanities: “Alcock grew up fishing, like many people of her generation in Portland’s African American community. She learned from her father. She got a cane pole at age eight and baited her first worm not long after. That’s when, she says, the “first little bit of callousness” came into her life. She knew how to cast by ten and has fished ever since.”

Portland Tribune: “In the long-term, impacted communities must have access to riverside land for community-based environmental education, training, recreation and food production, as well as integrated affordable housing in upland areas.”

Portland Observer: “Lumber mills, shipyards and chemical manufacturing along the river helped transform Portland into one of the Northwest’s most productive industrial centers. Today, however, nearly a century’s worth of toxic dumping and other environmentally destructive practices has transformed the Lower Willamette into a veritable wasteland of noxious contaminates and unhealthy wildlife.”

The Portland Observer: “Sometimes contractors come in with their own people, and the local people don’t get any jobs,” says Alcock. “They don’t care about investing in the local community.” The coalition sees the potential cleanup jobs as most valuable to young people in our historically disadvantaged communities who would gain from learning lifelong skills and receiving invaluable job training.”

The Portland Observer: “The sampling plan that’s emerged is problematic. We are definitely concerned that these four polluters were able to significantly weaken what we’d expect- ed to see in the sampling plan,” said Bob Sallinger.”

Univision Portland: “Activistas latinas quieren crear conciencia de los peligros que se esconden en el Río Willamette y ser parte del proceso de la limpieza.”

Street Roots: “ Yakama Nation’s tribal council flew to D.C. to meet with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. There, the council explained to McCarthy why the plan, as it currently stands, would violate Yakama Nation’s 1855 treaty with the federal government, and urged her to implement a more rigorous plan that would keep their traditional foods free of hazardous chemicals.”

Street Roots: “‘“Companies that collectively make billions of dollars a year have dumped their waste in the river at the expense of human beings,” said Rahsaan Muhammad, a PHCC organizer. “Bayer CropScience, Chevron, Gunderson, Exxon, BP, Shell, Schnitzer Steel, Toyota, the U.S. Navy, should pay their fair share. They are not paying their fair share.’”

Street Roots: “‘An Oregonian report from 1906 called the river a “common sewer for the entire valley,” and after a state official reported typhoid germs in the river that year, the Oregonian suggested that readers should “cultivate the gentle art of keeping their mouths closed while in the water.’”

Portland Mercury: “‘Despite a legal and ethical mandate, the City of Portland has failed to conduct meaningful public engagement with underrepresented groups,’ the letter read. Without directly engaging those most impacted, it is unlikely that these groups will benefit from cleanup/redevelopment.’”

Koin 6: “The Willamette River from the Broadway Bridge to Sauvie Island is lined with toxic waste from years of marine and industrial activities.”