A PRIMER: LUMMI ISLAND AND THE LUMMI NATION
TOPIC: THE LUMMI ISLAND FERRY
PRIORITY: URGENT
CONTACTS

ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES:
This simple web page is asking for a simple favor - Please make it possible for us get to work, get our children to school and everyone back home again to live as families, secure in our community. Let visitors come and patronize our businesses, so we can support some basic services on the island.

We can no longer live under the Lummi Nation's threats, nor can we pay their ever escalating demands.

Worse, all negotiations are secret. Those who will pay have had no say, and won't.

Our Congressional Delegation - Cantwell, Murray and Larsen - has steadfastly maintained that this is a local matter for resolution between the Lummi Nation and Whatcom County. Yet this contravenes federal policy for intervention in historic disputes with tribes, preferring federally mediated comprehensive settlements in order to avoid prolonged litigation, withering costs, delays in planning and investment and deteriorating social relations. All this is unfortunately happening now. Ask our representatives to explain why they won't help.

Now we are asking you. We beg you, please take a minute to read this. We think you'll easily see that the issues are not local, but federal, and deserve your attention and action. The potential precedents are far reaching.

BACKGROUND:
The Lummi Nation has undertaken an exercise in sovereignty with portentous implications for the federal government and states across the nation. The Tribe's current, ongoing threats of obstructing the Lummi Island Ferry suggests that their sovereignty may exceed...

  1. The authority of the U.S. government (in 1922) to grant rights-of-way across Indian Lands,
  2. The authority of the Department of the Army to approve ferry landings in navigable waters,
  3. Federal Navigational Servitude over riparian lands underlying navigable waters,
  4. The intent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in approving and funding the original landing,
  5. The authority of the State of Washington in approving the landing and affirming the right-of-way,
  6. The authority of Congress to license and enroll a U.S. vessel to carry the trade,
  7. The authority of Congress under the U.S. constitution's Commerce Clause to regulate trade, especially with Indian Tribes.

This despite their prior agreements...

  1. To the intent of the right-of-way established by the Department of the Interior in 1922, now contested,
  2. Underscored by a 1928 petition asking the DOI to require Whatcom County to keep the ferry at it's present location because it would not interfere with fishing, now contradicted,
  3. In a 1982 consent decree before Federal Judge Barbara Rothstein, establishing significant property reconveyances to the tribe and establishing ferry landing terms, since rejected,
  4. In a 1982 Intergovernmental Agreement stipulating the Tribe would not interfere with the operation of the ferry, now ignored, and
  5. Under the terms of a lease requiring the approval of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which approval they never sought, also rejected.

The Point Elliot Treaty - the basis of the Tribe's sovereignty initiative - specifically allows that roads may be built through the reservation for the public's convenience. But the road to Lummi Island has become far less than convenient. The Tribe's sovereign aims are beginning to contradict their rights and responsibilities as U.S. citizens.

IN ESSENCE:
To the promise that we would have fair and equitable arrangements for the ferry, the County contributed considerable lands to the Tribe that now support important tribal functions. Due to the Tribe's concerns, we sacrificed our best alternative ferry landings to this cause. In return, the Lummi Nation now sees no benefit to reciprocal public accommodation and holds lummi islanders hostage, under threat of blockade, for millions of dollars to continue crossing roughly 5,000 square feet of tidelands - where a ferry has operated for a century, on a right-of-way federally approved in 1922. Meanwhile, the Tribe expects federal grant support for a marina development at the same site.

Agreements are not honored. Leasing only perpetuates the dispute. The right-of-way must be reaffirmed to assure fair and reasonable passage to the Lummi Island Community.

Only two agencies have the power to affirm the right-of-way - Congress and the Tribe. The Tribe has contested the right-of-way, threatening an end of operations for more than a year - and not for the first time. Some banks will now not loan on Lummi Island due to the uncertainty. Every element of the community is at risk. By maintaining this is purely a local matter, our congressional representatives have abandoned their small island constituency to the demands of the Lummi Nation. Worse, they ignore important precedents with national significance.

Please help us by reaffirming U.S. jurisdiction over navigable waters and the validity of our right-of-way. Then we can all work together to solve the many legitimate problems and make necessary improvements, but in an open public process without threats or fear of reprisal. A simple resolution costs nothing, but might save millions.

Meanwhile, it's simple: No Ferry? No more Grants! Please help us Save the Lummi Island Ferry. Save our Lummi Island Community.

OUR GOAL - a prayer:
Whereas, the U.S. Department of the Interior approved a road through the Lummi Nation for the purpose of passage by ferry to Lummi Island, and
Whereas, a ferry has served the public at this location for nearly a century, there being no feasible alternative, and
Whereas, Whatcom County variously purchased and traded significant lands, and obtained multiple federal and state authorizations for the ferry, and
Whereas, the Lummi Nation now obstructs the navigable capacity of the passage across a small section of tidelands, and
Whereas, Whatcom County, as a precaution, entered into leases with the Lummi Nation including terms stipulated by federal consent decree, and
Whereas, the Lummi Nation unilaterally rejects all such arrangements, threatens a blockade and demands arbitrary, increased payment for passage.
Now Therefore, in the interests of public safety and necessity, to preserve social and economic relations, and to promote certainty for planning and investment, we do hereby respectfully request that the right-of-way for the Lummi Island Ferry be reaffirmed, attested, perfected and properly memorialized.

FRIENDS OF THE ISLAND:

A reaffirmed right-of-way is the only deal that will last!

A useful email/fax service is available from faxaway.com. An account can be set up quite inexpensively and configured to send a document from your computer to multiple fax numbers. Instructions for this are available here. This is an inexpensive way to assure representatives receive succinct printed materials on this issue. How can they help if they are unaware of the problem?

More info:

Lummi Island Ferry Forum

Protecting Lummi Island Community

Northwest Citizen - scroll for issue box

Or google (+news) "Lummi Island Ferry"

Our heartfelt thanks to all who help!

20110426 - Tip Johnson,
tip AT skookum DOT us