Unbeknownst to Alaskans, the Port of Seattle appears to have been taking a stand on the Pebble Project, a mining proposal in Southwest Alaska that was killed by the Biden Administration on Monday.
“The Port of Seattle celebrates the Biden administration, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and the rest of the Washington Congressional delegation, for their sustained efforts to preserve the Bristol Bay watershed, which has resulted in today’s historic accomplishment,” said Port of Seattle Commissioner Fred Felleman, who was also recently appointed to the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. The board is an advisory panel to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“Since 2017 the Port has stood with the fishing industry to oppose mining and other development proposals that threaten this watershed which is essential to sustaining the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs and our fishing families,” the Port of Seattle wrote, acknowledging that Alaska’s commercial salmon fishing industry largely belongs to Seattle.
“Commercial fishing is a critical part of the cultural and economic fabric of our port, city, and region. Today’s decision provides significant safeguards for the future of this incredible ecosystem and the sustainable fisheries is supports. We are counting on our federal leaders to remain forever vigilant in standing against anything that would jeopardize today’s long-awaited achievement,” the port said.
The Port of Seattle, run by elected commissioners such as Felleman oversees the seaport and airport in Seattle, including one of the largest container terminals on the West Coast. The Port of Seattle has lease-paying tenants and also funds its operations on the backs of property owners in Seattle, who pay about $78 a year per King County homeowner for the port operations.
The Port of Seattle is not an apolitical organization. The vast majority of its employees are registered Democrats, according to Zippia, an online recruiting company. Zippia shows that, as with political affiliations, the overwhelming number of political donations from employees of the Port of Seattle went to Democrat candidates.
I understand China has financial interests in the running of a bunch of our ports besides Seattle. Can we talk about that? As much as 34% of our ports are funded by foreign interests.
Why should white leftist in Seattle give a damn about the lives and livelihoods of natives?
Want to see naked bigotry in action? Watch a white (mostly, occasionally not) liberal in action.
Masked, connect the dots. A significant number of the franchises on public resources (salmon) given by our state to an elite few (limited entry permit holders) include those owned by Washington state residents. That’s right, Washington residents have preferential rights over the average Alaskan. Thank Hammond, Tillion (fishermen) and other politicians for creating this abomination.
Tough noogies here Wayne. I would venture that almost none of today’s permit holders were given their permits.
I thought I was the one that deserved the credit for kicking out forigner Northern Dynasty out of Alaska.
The same Washington State Democrat Congressional delegation that strongarms NOAA, NPFMC & the NMFS to backoff on any attempts to reign in the out-of-control Alaska bycatch caused by the Seattle based trawl fleet! They preach conservation as long as it doesn’t interfere with their corporate constituents’ profits, and their big, kickback political campaign checks.
YEP! Her political handlers handle Murkowski, Sullivan and Peltola too.
Since when, do we give a rat’s patootie about WHAT Seattle thinks?? This is our business, not another state’s.
It’s appalling that this makes news, and again, it’s no one’s business but Alaska’s!
Do we intervene in other state’s issues like others do us??? No!
I’m sorry, but what each state does, I don’t care what, that is their issue, period. Pebble Mine is here. Not the Port Of Seattle!
Don’t be naive; most Alaska politicians, especially the Democrats, run down to Seattle with their hands out.
Like you did when you sought and got a state job to get insurance for your ailing child? You wrote about that here not so long ago. Your hand was out to the government there.
C’mon Art.
History: during territorial days we were basically run out of Seattle. They have made an industry of meddling in our affairs.
Repeal the Jones act. The only way to break this deadlock. Have none of you noticed that any citizen of Seattle is an Alaskan expert?
There is only one industry that kills salmon…commercial fishing!
Goldy – you are sooo wrong. Indiscriminate sportfishing on salmon nurseries, habitat destruction, industrial pollution, dams, urban sprawl, invasive species, corrupt politicians and massive Seattle based, corporate factory trawlers dragging football field sized nets through the salmon & crab grounds ALL kill salmon. Well managed commercial fishing has been going on in Alaska for decades and during that time we have had robust fisheries. It is in the commercial fisherman’s interest to keep the stocks healthy in order to protect his livelihood. We used to manage our fisheries based on science. Now we manage them based on corrupt politics!
It couldn’t have been done without Lisa Murkowski and her parents, both with strong ties to Seattle and WA state. Senator Maria Cantwell of WA knows this. The Murkowskis have been working against Alaska’s interests for 43 years. The Murkowski dynasty is shameless.
The naval installations kills fish with unknown toxic releases and installations which are unregulated war prep activities. Nobody knows what they have done and what it invites. We have words for that in English: “We are having our way with you.” Peltola not withstanding.
We should put our nose into their business and stop any project they try to do. Let the port suffer. They come up here and take our fish we should have a stiff out of state tax on then.
The environmental group out of Everett, Wa. successfully shut down our salmon fishing here in Juneau by a well funded lawsuit. They think they own us, and to an extent, they do. Meanwhile, human waste from hundreds of unserviced homeless camps flow into Seattle’s Elliot Bay. Go figure.
They had nothing to do with it Jimbo. A lack of king salmon returning to SE rivers is what caused king salmon fishing to be restricted. You can still fish the other salmon species to your hearts content.
As usual, Bill, you are wrong. The lawsuit to shut down SE Alaska salmon trollers was brought to the court by a Seattle ” non-profit conservation” group. Their preposterous lawsuit claims that some Puget Sound King salmon might be incidentally harvested by SE commercial trollers and therefore the fishery poses a danger to the resident population of Orca whales in Puget Sound which are apparently starving to death. Apparently, habitat destruction, pollution, sightseeing harassment of the whales and the presence of one of the US Navy’s largest shipyards & a large nuclear submarine base in Puget Sound were not worthy of this groups lawsuit. Instead, they targeted a relatively small & very clean fishery in Alaska. They would have been better served if they had the cajones to go after the Washington based factory trawler fleet which kills more King salmon as bycatch than the small boat trollers do.
The fishery hasn’t been shut down FfF. You never can tell about what a judge will rule but the big kahona is the July 1 king salmon fishery on the outer coasts. That fishery was curtailed significantly when it was discovered that many of those kings were destined for the Columbia River system that had some in arms about removing dams.
Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a shipping port available, that just loaded and unloaded cargo? Just ONE! Not controlled by the dems/lefties/lefty unions/chinese, etc.
I know truth and reality are anathema to republicans these days but lets be real here, the port of seattle has so little affect on the decision to deny the Pebble Mine the only reason to write an article about it is because someone just hates the port of seattle and wants to make a stink about it.
The port of seattle is a government entity that is run by commission of people elected by the voters of King County. Because of that they tend to be a little left of center (like King County) but they are mostly normal business people and folks who have worked for the government.
They have a lot of power over what happens at the port, but outside of that? Theyre pretty unimportant.
Immediately after the purchase of Russian interests by America, the state closest to Alaska was influential in selecting the early US Commissioners and it was usually someone well known in the maritime northwest and Pacific routes. Many still have very strong ties to Seattle and why not. Seattle is actually are friendly to their markets. Government was located at Unalaska for awhile and Unga, Alaska with a Pacific Sea Captain who resided there with his wife Tatiana. They are buried there. The Captain was from Nova Scotia, had served in the rented navy in the Civil War and sailed Pacific routes and lived through a horrendous sinking and stayed in Alaska and had many children. He left Alaska just once after that and returned immediately.
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