Environmental Justice Case Study

The Lummis’ direct authority and tie to the federal government allows them to assert their sovereignty and establish a leadership position amongst non-tribal communities, like with Bellingham commercial fishermen and environmental nonprofits (Grossman 2014). Other transboundary, inter-tribal governance organizations have allowed indigenous groups to reinforce self-governance and self-determination, and resist development that would violate their treaty rights (Campling et al. 2012, Norman 2012). An environmental justice framework, which combines social justice with environmentalism, could reveal the practices that allow for unequal protection and give others a voice. This framework would help expose how this conflict constitutes a case of environmental

injustice and to what consequence (Dickinson 2012). I would like to know how to use the environmental justice storytelling framework in the decision-making process, to narrate these experiences in a productive way to policy-makers and stakeholders. These politically relevant stories would expand across various national and cultural borders to unite communities with similar environmental and social values (Rosier 2008).
I would also examine this issue through other lens, such as tribal risk assessment (Burger et al. 2010), critical race theory (Dickinson 2012), and social movement theory (Robinson et al. 2007). Critical race theory would expose how cultural practices have marginalized indigenous groups and damaged their local environment, and I would incorporate local voices’ own personal narratives on race and racism (Dickinson 2012). Social movement theory would answer how social movement organizations mobilize members and how they use frames to encourage collective action. By studying existing social and political structures and cultural processes, I would hope to understand participation in these collaborative movements to halt fossil fuel transportation and development along the Pacific Northwest coast, particularly in and around Bellingham, WA (Robinson et al. 2007).
Another key framework to consider using is the advocacy coalition framework (ACF) (Figure 3), which will highlight the key actors and organizations that are working together to resist the GPT and other fossil fuel export terminals. The advocacy coalition framework, developed by Paul Sabatier in the 1980s, is a useful way to comprehend a coalition’s role in the policy process and how individuals with similar belief systems work together to achieve a common goal. Since the framework was developed, ACF has been used in over 80 coalition-driven advocacy movements. This, coupled with an environmental justice framework, could help me view this issue from a policy perspective and understand how coalitions work together across different areas to achieve a common goal (Veerhusen 2014). This is an attractive framework to use because of the fact that Lummis are collaborating with many diverse organizations and are working within laws and policies to achieve their goal. Therefore, the ACF provides a “realistic combination of interest-and knowledge based approaches to policy change” (Lertzman et al. 1996:115). If focusing on this framework for further study, a more in-depth literature review would be required.
For my specific case study, I would interview Lummi commercial fishermen and other key players in this debate, and they would provide key narratives under the environmental justice storytelling framework.

I would also closely examine the laws and treaties that govern the Lummi Nation, the plan for the coal export facility, international trade laws of fossil fuels, and an analysis of fishing treaty rights and how they may be used as an advocacy tactic to win the case. I would avoid common flaws in environmental justice case studies, such as inaccurate and incomplete data sources, inconsistent variable selection, and uncertainty about whether the closeness to hazards would provide a dependable approximation of risk (Holfield 2001). I would also be aware that environmental justice is sometimes a simple explanation for the complex struggles within the communities, as they are intertwined with politics of tribal sovereignty and identities developed in a political-geographic context of colonialism (Ishiyama 2003, Hosmer 2012). It is also important to note that fisheries access rights are tough to track and to impose and are often politically challenged (Campling et al 2012). In addition, I would address transboundary issues, such as the governance of the Coast Salish Aboriginal Council, which could unite the First Nations of Canada and the indigenous groups of the US to manage for environmental implications of the fossil fuel export terminals (Norman

2012).
Although a controversial topic, indigenous resistance to fossil fuel export terminals is vastly understudied in the academic world.

As a new and developing issue, there were absolutely no academic articles covering the proposed fossil fuel developments along the Pacific Northwest coast, and I received all of my data regarding this particular case through secondary sources. Therefore, this study would ideally assist other research in environmental justice and indigenous resistance, not only along the Northwest coast, but also around the world. An environmental justice framework would raise awareness and provide valuable research as indigenous resistance to fossil fuel export terminals becomes more visible on the global stage. Ultimately, I hope that this study would shift the “burden of proof to hold perpetrators accountable for egregious acts” (Dickinson 2012:62) by highlighting the cultural, ecological, and social effects the Lummi Nation will feel if Gateway Pacific Terminal builds the coal terminal. The stories told by fishermen can increase the mobilization potential of other communities fighting fossil fuel terminals in the Pacific Northwest. In my study, I would address key questions posed by other researchers, such as how environmental justice activists can use storytelling to enact change (Houston 2013), what environmental justice is in the setting of tribal sovereignty, and how to adequately narrate a community’s desire for access to tribal fishing grounds when

faced against a history of exploitation and colonialism in a globalized political economy (Ishiyama 2003). Ultimately, this study would not only narrate the Lummi Nation’s stories of environmental justice, provide a policy analysis into advocacy coalition building, and an insight into Washington’s tribal fishing rights, but it would also encourage a divestment away from fossil fuels and a commitment to equitable energy solutions that neither invoke treaty rights nor harm the marine environment.