Rye Development’s pumped storage project would destroy sacred sites | Opinion
Recently, the Olympian ran an op-ed by Erik Steimle of Rye Development about the benefits of pumped storage facilities in our state.
We disagree with the premise of the article. It omits the issues of tribal sovereignty that these projects raise locally.
The federal government recently granted a license that will allow a private company to destroy a site sacred to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and other tribal nations. This is a case of bad history repeating itself. It should not go forward.
What’s at issue? A company based in Europe, with an office in Boston, wants to take land where the Yakama have lived, gathered and held ceremonies since time immemorial. That company, Rye Development, wants to use the land to build a “stored energy facility,” which would store excess power from wind and solar sources until it’s needed.
On July 23, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe and the states of Oregon and Washington — the so-called “Six Sovereigns” — will meet to discuss their plans to restore the Columbia River watershed.
Projects like this one, proposed on treaty-reserved Yakama lands, will be front and center. The “Six Sovereigns” framework seeks to right historic wrongs.
A century ago, governments and utilities built dams across most major watersheds in the Pacific Northwest. They did not consult with local tribes, nor did they consider the impacts these dams might have, including the catastrophic decline in salmon runs. Now that our region is transitioning to clean energy sources, we should not make similar mistakes of failing to consult tribes and failing to consider cultural, religious and environmental harms.
The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation call the site proposed for this project “Pushpum.” The whole area, near Goldendale above the John Day Dam on the Columbia River, is known by the Yakama as “mother of all roots.” The pumped-storage development would destroy a large swath of this sacred land, including archeological, ceremonial, petroglyph, monumental and ancestral sites.
The Yakama people have opposed the Goldendale development from the beginning.
Despite clear cultural and environmental harms posed by the project, the federal government moved forward. In February, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a license to destroy the sacred site.
Contentious “consultations” preceded FERC’s recent granting of the license. Washington’s State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) stood strong in a virtual room of federal and private interests, asking, “How do we mitigate the destruction of a sacred site?”
Who else will stand up to honor and uphold treaty rights — putting actions behind website statements? We are calling on Gov. Bob Ferguson to stand up and join his SHPO. As Attorney General, Ferguson supported and pushed for policies that required free, informed and prior consent from tribal governments. Last October, he signed Executive Order 25-20 to strengthen relationships between Washington and tribal governments. Now, this year, Ferguson must do everything in his power to stop Rye Development from destroying Pushpum.
Energy projects that harm tribes are not “green” and Washington has a chance to stop repeating the mistakes of the past when it comes to Tribal resources. Will the state make the right decision?
Alyssa Macy is a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Oregon and CEO of Washington Conservation Action. Lauren Goldberg is the executive director of the nonprofit Columbia Riverkeeper.