The sound of resistance was the only thing that was able to pierce through the morning fog at the Port of Tacoma on Monday.
It was the sound of chants and prayers of members of the Puyallup Tribe, who called for a halt to the construction of a Liquified Natural Gas Plant being built by Puget Sound Energy.
“This is a dinosaur waiting to die,” said Puyallup Tribe Councilmember James Rideout. “Alternative energy – that’s the way of the future.”
Rideout and other members protested outside of the construction of the LNG plant on 11th and East Alexander Way. They believe fossil fuels are not clean energy and fear what impact the plant could have on the environment and the livelihood of the Puyallup Tribe.
“It does affect everything in our entirety, our tribe and our entire people,” Rideout said. “Located right behind us is one of our fish estuaries, right here on the Hylebos waterway."
Two protestors not affiliated with the Puyallup Tribe, Steve Way and Carlo Voli, chained themselves to a crane on the construction site of Puget Sound Energy in protest.
“They’re risking their lives to do that, and we very much want to appreciate them. It’s good medicine for everyone, every single one of us, that people care about our lands and our waters just like we do,” said Sylvia Miller, a Puyallup Tribe councilmember.
"We came in buy kayak at about 6:30 this morning. We walked through the yard and climbed up," said Way. “I care about climate change and want to have a future for my grandchildren. I've been to port commission meetings and city council meetings and marches, and they're still building this, and this is what I can do, so we're up here."
After negotiating with police, the protestors came down and were arrested. They will likely be charged with trespassing.
"While we respect everyone’s right to express their opinions, safety is our priority," said Grant Ringel, a PSE spokesman. "Breaking into a heavy construction site and crawling on heavy equipment is extremely dangerous to both the trespassers and first responders."
