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In the Tideflats of Tacoma, Washington, beyond the masts of sailboats anchored in the Puyallup Tribe’s marina, pipelines emerge from the earth and snake their way inland. Their destination — an 8 million-gallon liquefied methane gas tank — was once considered by politicians to be the logical answer to the climate crisis. Now, it’s the center of a local controversy with international implications.
Puget Sound Energy owns the tank. It is part of a new era of climate solutions. The Environmental Protection Agency was established in 2012. gaveTOTE Maritime was granted a waiver to change its operations to methane, also known as natural gas. This was to encourage it to reduce its diesel emissions. PSE was established two years later. SignedTOTE signed a contract to supply its ships gas. The 14-story waterfront tank was constructed against the will of the Puyallup.
“The salmon are sick in the water because of facilities like (PSE’s) that continue to pollute us and dump these toxic chemicals on top of us, day in and day out,” Puyallup member Dakota Case told High Country NewsJanuary
Dakota Case standing in front of the Puyallup Indian Reserve methane gas terminal.
The subsequent fight against the tank shows the importance of Indigenous sovereignty at the intersections of climate change and human rights. On Nov. 19, 2021, the state’s Pollution Control Hearings Board affirmed the issuance of the final permits necessary, which require PSE to monitor sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compound emissions. EarthJustice, the Puyallup tribe and a coalition representing environmental groups appealed the decision. They argued that the facility and associated operations would prevent decarbonization at a critical time in the world’s history. They were joined in their opposition by immigration advocates who fear that the facility will put detainees in danger at the Northwest ICE Processing Center. Also, Canadian pensioners who oppose the use of their retirement funds to pay for the tank. Like the tank, the opposition is both uncommon and common, normal, but not. It could be a glimpse at the future, considering the type of climate solutions that are likely to be offered in the future by settler colonial institutions.
SINCE TIME, the Tideflats have been the Puyallup’s home. The tribe traveled by canoe to find food and medicine, and came to the water to fish. Shellfish were abundant at low tide before colonization and industrialization. “When the tide was out, the table was set,” said Puyallup Councilwoman Annette Bryan. “So you can imagine all of the tidelands without any industry as just very, very beautiful.”
In the mid-1800s Gov. In the mid-1800s, Gov. Case said that with the treaty, Stevens made a two-part, largely unspoken, promise: “One, that these treaties shall remain intact as long as the trees grow and the rivers run, and two: You’ll sign these treaties or you’ll walk knee-deep in the blood of your people.” In the 20th century, the tribe won a series of legal and legislative victories, first and foremost against the state of Washington regarding fishing rights, culminating in the Land Claims Settlement Act of 1988, which required the signatories, including the city of Tacoma, to consult with it on projects impacting tribal members’ way of life, especially their right to fish.
The Puyallup Reservation, which includes the entire Port of Tacoma, is heavily developed.
The Tideflats can be vulnerable to sea-level rise tsunamisResidents are also in the 80-90th per centile in terms of air pollution risk. The area has also been affected by toxic releases from industrial facilities, wastewater treatment storage and disposal, diesel emissions, and wastewater discharges. “It’s my belief that we cannot afford one more facility, especially another fossil fuel facility, that adds to the impacts that are already there,” Bryan said.
In a letter that it sent to Victoria Woodards, Tacoma Mayor, in April 2019, the Tacoma Human Rights Commission stated its agreement. This was after the city issued a final environmental impact statement. It warned that “the operation of the (methane) facility would potentially expose the South Sound community to grave environmental risks,” adding that the city had omitted the tribe “from more integral involvement” in the environmental impact scoping and drafting process. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee Withdrew his supportFor the project.
Annette Bryan, Tribal Councilmember on tribal land across water from the terminal. The terminal is at the edge of Puyallup Reservation.
According to the governor’s press official, however, in a response emailed to High Country NewsInslee has no authority over the permitting process, which is in the hands the city. The Tacoma City Council is meanwhile. Passed a series of ordinance amendments last November that limited new petroleum infrastructure but still allowed for PSE’s tank. Bryan believes that the federal government failed its trust responsibility. Although it may delegate regulatory authority to local jurisdictions but not its trust responsibility, Bryan believes it did not uphold it. And the government’s responsibility, and the lack of it, can have very real consequences. “If it’s going to impact our inherent way of life, our salmon — anything to do with us — you have to consult with us,” Case said. “We have to give you permission.”
PSE claims that its facility, which would be supplied by pipeline with gas extracted by hydraulic fracturing from Alberta and British Columbia, qualifies as a climate solution because, instead of diesel, it would supply methane gas for cargo ships and construction trucks, as well as gas for PSE’s pipeline network to local customers during periods of high demand. “In the maritime industry, there are currently no other options that can offer the same environmental benefits, so (liquefied methane gas) is the best alternative we have today,” PSE said in an emailed statement to High Country News.
Tacoma’s supplemental environmental impact statement similarly claimed that the project would offset diesel emissions from ships, resulting in a net greenhouse gas benefit. And the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency declined to conduct a Health Impact Assessment, stating that emissions of toxic air pollution would be “acceptable under all applicable requirements.” According to Peter Erickson, an internationally recognized climate expert based in Seattle, the city’s review was fundamentally flawed and misleading. Erickson testified before a Pollution Control Hearings Board in March 2021. He said that project-associated methane emission are inconsistent with national, state and global commitments for reducing emissions. They would increase gas consumption and prevent decarbonization.
A ship departs Port of Tahoma Washington. Here, a liquified-methane gas storage container can also be seen. In the distance, you can see the Puyallup Reservation beyond and Tahoma Mount Rainier.
The Puyallup aren’t the only people affected by the region’s continued commitment to extractive energy. Immigrants living in the Northwest ICE processing Center, an immigrant detention center owned by GEO Group, are also at high risk. The center was built adjacent to an EPA Superfund site that is now a metals recycling facility. The facility was home to lithium-ion batteries in 2018. The ignitionMaru Mora Villelpando, an immigrant advocate from La Resistencia, said that the car wreckage was being burned and that the fumes were so strong that it could be smelt by detainees. “Everybody is saying, ‘This is gonna be terrible if something happens. Tacoma is in danger,’ ” Villalpando said. “Just think about the people that are detained right here.” The GEO Group did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Maru Mora Villalpando pictured in front the ICE detention facility where she works with incarcerated persons.
Ivan Sanchez, who is being held at the facility, must use an inhaler because of the poor quality air. He said air filtration isn’t properly maintained and the bad air comes and goes. The drinking water is often brown and doesn’t taste right, he added, and bottled water costs detainees $2 a bottle. La Resistencia and Tacoma Human Rights Commission joined the fight because conditions are already very bad. In the same 2019 letter to the mayor, the commission found that the tank would “potentially subject (Puyallup) Tribal members and (NWICEPC) detainees, in particular, to a disparate environmental impact in violation of their human rights.”
The Macquarie Group owns PSE. a global financial services group, and a consortium of pension funds: the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and PGGM Vermogensbeheer B.V. of the Netherlands. The funds either declined to comment or didn’t respond to questions regarding the project’s potential human rights violations. Two pensioners are public servants from Canada and the Netherlands. At least two of them are unhappy about the way their funds have been used.
At low tide, mudflats can be seen near the Port of Tacoma’s methane gas terminal.
James Rowe, an environmental professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, stated that these pension funds are a huge amount of capital which could be used to accelerate or slow down decarbonization. Rowe, who has a BCI pension, said that it upsets him that his retirement funds are funding the methane facility. This is because he teaches students about climate action as well as respecting Indigenous sovereignty. Mary Lynn Young, a professor from the University of British Columbia, recently Co-authored a bookconcern about Indigenous representations in the media, was also concerned to learn that her pension fund was being invested into the project. She said HCN She is currently moving her funds to a non-fossil-based investment option offered by BCI.
There is no immediate or clear solution, except that the city forces PSE to shut down the gas tank. Instead, the project leaves Tacoma as a near perfect symbol of the climate crisis: A city in America waving a climate emergency declaration in one hand and a huge tank of methane gas the other.
Rico Moore is an independent journalist based out of Port Townsend, Washington. Follow him on twitter @ricocolorado.
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