Dairy Farmers Settle With Lummi Nation Pt 2
I'm Bob Larson. An historic agreement has been reached between the Lummi Nation and seven Whatcom County dairy farmers after nearly a year and a half of negotiations.
Talks were sped up in the Fall when the negotiating teams were pared to down to smaller groups ...
RICH APPEL ... "And when we got it to that 4-on-4 meeting and started meeting 2-to-3 times a week for probably about a month-and-a-half there, we got to a point where we reached a settlement where we would provide some relief in the form of cash to the shell fishers that were not able to harvest their shellfish for the last couple of years and we would also form a partnership called the Portage Bay Partnership. That partnership would address all the issues effecting water quality in the Nooksack Basin, not just dairy."
Dairy farmer Rich Appel says part of the agreement was for the farmer group to pay $450,000 of the estimated $1.2-million in damages ...
RICH APPEL ... "The agreement doesn't say that the farms are to blame, but there is a water quality problem and there are a number of reasons that is so. We've never said that dairy has no impact on water quality, but we don't think the recent closure in Portage Bay was due to the dairy farmers, but I think we need to get the water cleaned up."
Appel says this is just the first of several steps focused on addressing water contamination, but it also is the beginning of a more positive, constructive and beneficial working relationship between farmers and the Tribe.
More on this agreement tomorrow.
