Oregon: Nestle Water Battle Continues

Tribal members speak out at City Council meeting

April 18^th 2016 (Cascade Locks, Oregon)

Monday April 11^th a meeting took place at the Cascade Locks Town Hall and members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs of Oregon arrived on short notice in traditional longhouse dress to fiercely defend the waters of our home, the Columbia River.

The Cascade Locks city council voted against a resolution [6-1] that would have prevented Nestle International Waters from having rights to Oxbow Springs, the headwaters of Herman Creek. The Cascade Locks city council officially endorsed Nestle to open a water bottling facility in the Locks.

B.C. judge issues $3.4M fine to Teck mining for polluting the Columbia River

Teck’s smelter in Trail, BC.

Company admits the toxic discharges were unacceptable

CBC News, March 01, 2016

A judge in Rossland, B.C., has issued a $3.4-million fine to B.C. mining giant Teck for polluting the Columbia River.

The company admitted to discharging elevated levels of toxins such as ammonia and cadmium from its zinc and lead smelter in Trail, B.C., over about 16 months ending last February.

As salmon vanish in the dry Pacific Northwest, so does Native heritage

The carcass of a Chinook salmon, an apparent victim of high water temperature, is shown on the bank of the Clackamas River in Oregon. Oregon wildlife officials are restricting fishing on most of the state’s rivers in an unprecedented effort to aid fish populations dying off from high water temperatures as the state suffers ongoing drought conditions. (Reuters/Rick Swart/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife)

By Darryl Fears, Washington Post, July 30, 2015

As a drought tightens its grip on the Pacific Northwest, burning away mountain snow and warming rivers, state officials and Native American tribes are becoming increasingly worried that one of the region’s most precious resources — wild salmon — might disappear.

Native Americans, who for centuries have relied on salmon for food and ceremonial rituals, say the area’s five species of salmon have been declining for years, but the current threat is worse than anything they have seen.

Teck smelter spills chemical solution into Columbia River

Teck smelter in Trail, BC.

Up to 25,000 L of sodium hydroxide solution flowed into sewer leading to the river near Trail, B.C.

CBC News, Feb 01, 2014

A mining and smelting company spilled a large volume of chemical solution into a domestic sewer line near Trail, B.C., on Tuesday.

Columbia River tribes join protests against Tar Sands ‘mega-load’ shipments

Indian Country today, September 09, 2013

One of the massive shipments of parts to the Alberta Tar Sands passing through Nez Perce territory in Washington state.

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission has joined the growing chorus of official Native opposition to the transportation of mega-loads bearing equipment bound for the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, through Nez Perce and other tribal territories.