Letter from Vashon Island: Glacier Mining Protest and Civil Disobedience
January 8, 2009 at 1:46 am 5 comments
In “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849)” Henry David Thoreau argued that the individual, who grants the State its power in the first place, must follow the dictates of conscience in opposing unjust laws.
On Sunday, January 4, approximately five hundred residents of Vashon and Maury Islands rallied in opposition to the operation of the Glacier gravel mining project. The community turnout was extraordinary on several levels. These protesters, young and old, interrupted their lives and spent their precious time to come out into the cold to demonstrate their dismay with Glacier’s exploitation of the Island’s environment.
The turnout was a response to a last minute call via a network of email and telephone lists by the Backbone Campaign and Preserve Our Islands, among others. With the total population of Vashon-Maury Islands at approximately 11,000 residents, a turnout of 500 intrepid souls, roughly 5% of the Islands’ population is a dramatic showing of public opposition to the Glacier operation.
It is a rule of thumb that legislators gauge public support for or opposition to an issue by multiplying the number of actual letters received on a topic. In this case, the representative interest of rally participants who came out in person on a January afternoon is worthy of a much greater multiplier. On Monday 14 legislators sent a letter to Governor Gregoire asking her to suspend and possibly overturn the state lease issued by the Department of Natural Resources.
It was heartening to see King 5 news cover the rally with a significant and sympathetic item in the evening news. Further, King 5 noted pointedly that Glacier officials refused to comment on the ongoing opposition to the project. This writer has found that a “refusal to comment” frequently means that there is no reasonable response available.
“If you are a young person looking at the future of this planet and look at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience. . . . ” – Nobel Peace Prize Winner Al Gore
On Friday, January 2, a number of Vashon and Maury Islanders, young adults, mothers with babies, seniors, performed an act of thoughtful and peaceful civil disobedience by chaining themselves across the main entrance to the Glacier site, obliging Glacier employees to park their cars and walk down to their work place. These young protesters were warmly applauded during the Sunday rally . It is clear that these demonstrators, who risked incarceration and other adverse consequences by directly confronting Glacier employees, were strongly supported by their 500 community members.
Which brings me to this. On the heels of the revelations of outgoing Commissioner Doug Sutherland’s acceptance of a $50,000 contribution to his re-election campaign by Glacier interests, the December 31 issue of the Beachcomber ran an “analysis” of Governor Gregoire’s continuing connections to players in the Glacier lobbying team. As pointed out in the Beachcomber, Gregoire’s voice has been noticeably absent on the issues at hand other than communicating through intermediaries that she wants the permit to be procedurally valid. Between Sutherland and Gregoire, Washington’s laws against State officials engaging in acts that have the “appearance of impropriety” appear to have bearing.
The question that comes to mind is whether and when the non-responsiveness of elected officials to the will and welfare of the people justifies an escalation of civil disobedience to prevent a further insult to the people and natural resources of Puget Sound.
There is certainly evidence that Glacier’s permit to operate was a sweetheart deal, if based on nothing less than the fact that their barged equipment was in place a scant few hours after Sutherland issued the permit. The logistics of placing that barge require much more time. Reasonable minds cannot disagree that Glacier was tipped off in order to facilitate their obligation to finish construction prior to the mid-January construction deadline. Further, the permit to operate costs Glacier a mere $1500 per annum.
Further, the absence of Gregoire’s official presence in this controversy, along with the evidence of adverse political interests, has created a vacuum in the policy debate. For a Governor who created the Puget Sound Partnership with the mission to protect and restore the natural resources of Puget Sound, her absence from this debate is unconscionable.
This writer believes that thoughtful and peaceful civil disobedience is justified when the decisional processes of the government stops making rational sense or is completely absent in a public policy debate pertaining to the welfare of the people. Further, where the application of government power is contrary to the best interests of the electorate and flies in the face of independent science, civil disobedience is the last available recourse.
“The Maury Island Blockaders” have invited others who care about this issue to join them.
“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”- Mohandus Ghandi.
Chip Lamason
“Civil disobedience is the inherent right of a citizen to be civil, implies discipline, thought, care, attention and sacrifice”. – Mohandus Ghandi.
Entry filed under: • Community, Letters From Vashon. Tags: Backbone Campaign, Glacier Mining, Letter from Vashon Island, Preserve Our Islands.
1. Fielding E. Lamason | January 12, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I think that the final recourse is not civil disobedience, but the vote.
2. Joyanne Sloan | January 14, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Since the blockaders were not arrested by the police who observed the event, was the protest inappropriate? . . . Because it was deemed lawful? (No whistle no foul?)
Where legislators are up for election every two, four or more years, but the damage to the Puget Sound eco-system would be accomplished within the next couple of weeks, is the vote the effective tool to express community opposition to the construction?
And is the vote an effective response where the State Lands Commissioner accepted, apparently in violation of State ethics law, a $50,000 campaign contribution from the mining company this year? And where the Governor of Washington has close ties with the family that owns the mining company?
In other words, where State law bars “the appearance of impropriety”, yet the Goivernor and Lands Commissioner have established inappropriate ties to the mining company, how do citizens address an imminent and irreversible threat to the eco-system?
Your thoughts?
Chip
3. Joyanne Sloan | January 14, 2009 at 7:47 pm
I concur. Your points concerning immediacy are well made. However, isn’t it possible to bring legal action to impeach the governor and or stop the project?
I broached the idea of civil disobedience at my men’s luncheon today and stirred up a good dialogue on the subject. One observation was what are the consequences and would the perpetrator be willing to face the negative consequence. As you can see the subject created a lot of discussion even among the conservative members of our group, although one member asked if you couldn’t seek an injunction to thwart the exploiters.
4. Joyanne Sloan | January 14, 2009 at 7:57 pm
The Preserve Our Islands group filed with Federal Court a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the construction. The judge denied a request for a TRO, called for a full hearing on the issue, scheduled for January 9. Because the hearing was set only five days before Glacier was required to halt work to protect the herring spawning season in the affected eel beds, Preserve Our Islands withdrew its action rather than waste a judge’s time.
An interesting update, a scientist has found an ecologically crucial fish, the sand lance or “candlefish”, spawning on a beach near the construction site. Federal officials ordered construction to stop for 5 days earlier in January, then allowed construction to proceed. The Candlefish occurs in 1/10th of Puget Sound, although new spawning areas are being discovered. Its role in the ecosystem is as an important food for seabirds, including the protected marbeled murrelet, seals, and a number of fish including the threatened chinook salmon, which is in turn a key fish for the endangered orca.
5. swaneagle | January 21, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Along with an inspiring group of mostly young people, i was part of the road blockade. I feel it was a sacrifice to lock down from 5:45 am to 10:30 am even tho we were not arrested. Personally, i prayed for the relief of arrest due to the pain of being locked down so long in steel tubes. Once work started, we decided our point had been made. It is important to bring attention to what we face out here on Vashon.
THIS IS A WORLD CLASS ISSUE OF DESTRUCTION FOR PROFIT THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED AS SUCH. THE PROPOSED MINE MAY BECOME THE LARGEST SAND AND GRAVEL EXTRACTION OPERATION ON EARTH.
For many years i have been working on the human rights of traditional Dine (Navajo) and Hopi impacted by the largest coal strip mine in the US. Over 16,000 people have been forcibly relocated with over half of relocatees already dying. The land is dead, barren and useless. The Dine people have not benefited from this fiasco, only corrupt officials and Peabody have profited.
Many other similar issues have been part of my work. I am willing to do all i can to stop this insane destruction. It is undisputed that our future is grim and our children will be left with a hideous situation. How can we ignore this and keep ourselves safe when they will be left with a nightmare beyond our comprehension?
Voting works for those content to live in a rapidly eroding illusion. Oh, many voted for Obama, but he supports the death penalty and as well as “clean” coal and nuclear power. If one is marginalized and voiceless in this country, no visible representation is permitted.
The Native American voices who have vested interest in the health of the Chinook salmon have not been included. Too many are ignorant of the first peoples who still have heart and spirit invested into these lands taken. Such missing perspectives must be included if we hope for any kind of real solution.
Finally, i wish to say that i am willing to do all in my power to stop Glacier’s insane destruction. Devoted to deep nonviolence, i have exercised that several times already including on the water with courageous youth and other true hearted activists. Some of us face felony charges if we kayak into the work perimeter again. How easy it is to become a felon in these times of well protected corporations.
We must hear our hearts and act accordingly. All over the earth people are losing their lives, land, community in the name of resource extraction greed. This cannot go on. We have much more freedom to resist on Vashon than the people of the Congo, in Chiapas, Mexico and certainly those remaining resisters at Big Mountain/Black Mesa in Arizona.
Nothing less that soul force courage will do justice to the highly endangered future our children are being handed. We must do our very best to do so much better than that. It is our sacred duty.