High Roberts Slideshow
The Crag Law Center Values & Environmental Justice
The Crag Law Center believes that there are identifiable systemic causes of injustice and imbalance of power - corporate greed, corrupt government, mass media, underfunded education systems, and the list goes on. These universal problems affect different groups in different ways. The progressive movement must therefore build relationships across issues in order to mobilize a strong collective movement. This movement is based on broader principles that apply to all of us and keep us working together. The Crag Law Center sees the need to build relationships across racial and economic lines as direly important and recognizes that we as a civilization must begin to see how we all suffer from the same root causes of inequity. Only then will we be able to collectively change a system that has broken down for the majority of Americans.
The Environmental Justice Initiative is the Crag Law Center's response to the largely homogeneous environmental movement in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Traditionally the people and groups advancing environmental goals have been white and middle to upper-middle class. Traditional environmental groups in this state have been successful in organizing certain segments of the population, but they have ignored others to their own detriment. The Crag Law Center believes that the environmental movement can strengthen itself by connecting with a larger progressive movement - and that movement must include historically disadvantaged communities.
The Crag Law Center seeks to build relationships across issues, to seek out leaders in the community, and to help empower these communities to advocate for themselves. The crag Law Center recognizes and encourages the community members to be at the forefront of the campaign, while the crag Law Center will remain in the background providing assistance as needed. The Crag Law Center has traditionally aided communities by:
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(a) Providing legal advice and representation;
(b) Helping clients prepare and disseminate press releases and work with the media;
(c) Helping clients craft and obtain grants for specific projects; and
(d) Helping clients design and implement coordinated campaign plans; and more.
The Crag Law Center's Environmental Justice Initiative
The EJ Initiative Plan consists of a 3-part process: (i) Outreach; (ii) Planning & Advocacy; and (iii) Action.
Outreach
• Building Relationships: The Crag Law Center is actively making connections with the EJ community and with individuals and organizations working on EJ issues. The Crag Law Center is using this process to seek leadership from the target groups, to find ways to provide professional legal services in the way that best serves the community's agenda for social change.
Planning & Advocacy
• Cooperative Strategic Planning: Within the coming year, The Crag Law Center seeks to convene with members of the Northwest EJ movement in a cohesive gathering to: a) build relationships between the groups working on these issues, b) identify the current work taking place, c) identify the gaps and issues that need attention, and d) identify the strategic role that the crag Law Center can play to push these organization's Environmental Justice agendas forward.
Action
• Individual engagements: As a result of relationship building and strategic planning, the Crag Law Center seeks to engage with at least two clients on specific issues impacting their communities. The Crag Law Center, in partnership with other groups, will look at the larger landscape to identify the best opportunities to secure lasting social change. The intent is to find a strategic opportunity to organize a community around a tangible issue that can help to build a movement and raise the visibility of Environmental Justice issues in the Pacific Northwest. At the same time, of course, the Crag Law Center will be working for the specific environmental benefits of the targeted and discrete victory.
Current Projects
The Crag Law Center is currently working with Multnomah County PACE-EH (Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence), a county sponsored community health advocacy organization. The Crag Law Center seeks to meet with individuals or organizations that work with or are part of a community impacted by environmental racism. We welcome input and suggestions.
The North Slope Borough of Alaska
The Crag Law Center was recently approached by the North Slope Borough and the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. These two committees, whose interests lie in preserving the Alaskan wildlife habitat and longstanding Eskimo traditions, asked Crag to defend the rights and lifestyle of the Inupiat people. As a commercial company tries to oppress the Inupiats, Crag believes that it is their duty to protect the Inupiats' liberties and way of life.
The Inupiat people have lived for thousands of years - since time immemorial - on the North Slope of Alaska. The Inupiat community is based on an egalitarian society that believes in self sufficiency. Each member of the Inupiat community speaks Iñupiaq, but their regional variation is distinguishable by their accents. An import aspect of everyday life for the Inupiat people is the qargi, a gathering place for families. Every individual settlement has one. In a qargi, men and women socialize through games, stories and dance.
The Inupiat have relied on subsistence hunting to sustain their communities and carry on their traditions and culture, and they continue those traditions today. The bowhead whale or "ice whale" is the most important subsistence resource for the Inupiat. "The Eskimo have been called "the people of the ice whale" because without the bowhead [they] would not exist" (http://www.mms.gov/alaska/native/rexford/rexford.htm). They respect the whale as if it were a member of their community, calling it their "brother." They have such admiration for the whale since without its presence the Inupiats would cease to subsist. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission has taken into account the safety of the future existence of the Bowhead species. Each year the AEWC places a limit on the number of whales the Inupiat people may hunt. Due to these precautions the population of the Bowhead is slowly increasing.
The whaling season is a busy one for the entire community. Each member contributes to the whaling process of hunting, hauling in a whale, cooking it, and distributing it. Similarly each member benefits from it. Not only is the whale hunt a source of food, but it also is a means of bringing together the community, through teamwork, leadership, acceptance of a niche in the community, as well as a right of passage.
At the beginning of the whaling season, after the first hunt, the captain of the hunt supplies the entire community with his catch, and for a few days everyone celebrates, plays games, dances and eats. The entire community is dependant upon the whaling captain to supply food for the entire community. At the end of the whaling season the longstanding traditions of the whaling festival and Nalukatak take place. Every hunting boat that caught a whale is dragged off shore and turned on its side to protect those celebrating from the wind, as well as provide temporary shelter.
After a period of relaxation the nalukatak, a blanket toss, occurs. During this blanket toss, 30 to 40 Inupiat used a blanket to toss the members of the hunting crews into the air. Those being tossed throw out candy. They are propelled into the air, until they lose their footing, and don't land upright. When one goes down, another quickly rises to take their place. Following the nalukatak is a dance that would last well into the night. The purpose of the Whaling festival and nalukatak is to conciliate the sprits of the deceased whales, as well as pray for success in future hunting seasons.
Crag stands to protect the Inupiat whaling traditions and their community, the North Slope Boroughs, which are now threatened by the Beaufort Sea Outer Continental Shelf Lease Exploration plan set to take place 2007-2009. The plan, put in place by Shell Offshore Inc., is a blueprint for the exploration of the North Slope in hopes of finding oil. Oil drilling in the North Slope would have detrimental effects on the Inupiat community. Putting aside the risk of an irreparable oil spill, many fatalities may result from this plan.
Since Shell intends to drill directly in the migration path of the Bowhead and other species of whales, the noise from the excavation would scare the mammals and force them to alter their path by no less then 30 miles. This increase in distance from the shore would put Inupiat hunters in more danger as they attempt to pursue an essential source of their diet. It would force them to travel further, in more hazardous waters, in their tiny six-man boats. This change would also increase the chances that their catch would spoil prior to its harvesting. Since the Inupiat can only hunt an allotted number of whales a year, any spoilage decreases the amount of food for the community.
The oil exploration also places the whales at a greater risk, since although hunters would have a more difficult time reaching them, the whales would likely miss feeding opportunities that they would find closer to the shore. It would also cause the whales to expend more energy as they traveled many more miles to avoid the unrest caused by the drilling. Many young calves and calving mothers would be placed in jeopardy as they attempted their annual migration.
The exploration would also have an impact on other marine mammals. Prior to industrial activity in the Central Beaufort there was a larger presence of seals in the North Slope, however, due to the effects of the industrial activity, their presence is dwindling. The activity deflects the seals, who find a place there they can go without disturbance. Drilling for oil would likely decrease the amount of seals in the North Slope even more. The industrial activity in the North Slope has also displaced the caribou herds, who at one point passed right by the Inupiat villages along the coast. Now since they divert their patter to avoid activity the Inupiats are forced to go far off to the west so that they may obtain this part of their diet. However, if Shell drills for oil in the west the Inupiat communities would have no possible way of reaching the caribou, and would lose a source of food that they have relied on for decades.
Now the North Slope Borough, the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, and Crag Law Center look to take on the Minerals Management Service, the company marketing Shell, in stopping any oil exploration in the North Slope. On July 20, 2007 the judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing Shell from taking any action in the North Slope until a further decision by the courts has been made, a small victory for Crag and the Inupiat people.
Motion for Stay 5.22.07 -- Inupiat Urgent Motion for Stay (PDF)
Reply to Opposition's Response on Stay Motion 6.16.07 -- Response to Opposition (PDF)
Map of Bowhead Migration -- Figure A: Bowhead Whale Areas (PDF)
Map of Bowhead Migration -- Figure B: Bowhead Whale Areas 2 (PDF)
Declaration of Gordon Brower 5.15.07 -- Final Declaration of Gordon Brower (PDF)
Anchorage Daily News 8.19.07 -- Shell's Rocky Return (PDF)
MSNBC News 7.20.07 -- Court Blocks Shell drilling in Arctic Waters (PDF)
Anchorage Daily News 7.20.07 -- Federal Court halts Shell Drilling Plans in Arctic (PDF)
Bloomberg News 7.20.07 -- Shell's Alaska Drilling Project Halted by Court (PDF)
Reuters News 7.20.07 -- Update 2-Shell Orderes to Suspend Arctic Offshore Drilling (PDF)
Protecting Civil Rights and Fighting for Environmental Justice before EPA
In 2003, the Rosemere Neighborhood Association (RNA) in Vancouver, Washington decided to take action to protect its community and to obtain equal treatment from the City of Vancouver. For years, RNA believed that the City had been discriminating against poor communities by failing to provide adequate municipal services such as basic sewer service and storm water management. While more affluent neighborhoods have been provided with updated sewer connections, Rosemere and other neighborhoods were still left to deal with failing septic systems in a densely populated urban setting. RNA filed a complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act alleging that the City had received EPA funding and had discriminated against Environmental Justice communities by failing to provide equal access to municipal services.
After RNA filed its Title VI complaint, the City of Vancouver began an unprecedented "investigation" into the internal operations of RNA. Within a few years' time, the City Council revoked RNA's status as an officially recognized neighborhood association. Despite a long track record of excellent community service and strong relations with the City, RNA suddenly found itself responding to inquiries into its internal recordkeeping and its protocols for holding public meetings. RNA believed that they City was retaliating against it for filing the civil rights complaint with EPA.
After the City disenfranchised RNA, RNA filed another civil rights complaint with EPA alleging that the City had improperly retaliated against RNA for defending its civil rights. Despite EPA's professed commitment to civil rights and environmental justice, EPA simply ignored the complaint of retaliation and did not respond to RNA or step in an effort to resolve the dispute. RNA filed the complaint of retaliation in December of 2003 and then waited for almost a year and half before finally filing suit in federal court in an effort to get EPA to respond to the situation.
After RNA filed suit, EPA finally agreed to accept the complaint of retaliation for investigation and then moved to dismiss the federal lawsuit because it was "moot." The federal court in Tacoma, Washington agreed and dismissed the case. RNA then began working with EPA to resolve the outstanding complaint of retaliation.
EPA was supposed to issue preliminary findings within 180 days of accepting the complaint. RNA worked with EPA for more than a year and half, and EPA still had not issued a decision, nor had EPA followed up on many of the witnesses and other factual information that RNA provided. After waiting as long as possible, RNA grudgingly filed yet another law suit asking the federal court to step in once again.
Predictably, EPA again complied with its regulations only after RNA filed suit. This time, EPA issued its investigation several weeks after RNA filed suit, and EPA again asked the court to dismiss the case moot. In its report, EPA determined that RNA had made out a prima facie case of retaliation by the City but then determined that RNA had not properly responded to all of the City's inquiries and therefore refused to take any action against the City. In the court filings, EPA also admitted that its case manager was improperly biased against RNA.
EPA has again moved to dismiss this case as moot and also refuses to respond to RNA's questions regarding the biased case manager. Crag Staff Attorney Chris Winter is representing RNA in its federal law suit, asking the court to step in and prevent EPA from again showing such blatant disregard for the Title VI civil rights protections afforded to Environmental Justice communities.
This case is symptomatic of a larger problem - EPA under-staffs, under-funds, and under-appreciates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. EPA regularly fails to respond to civil rights complaints in a timely manner and has only upheld one complaint in more than a dozen years. In addition, EPA has recently taken action to dismantle the Office of Civil Rights in Region 10 (the Pacific Northwest). RNA and the Crag Law Center have set out to reform the Title VI process and to hold EPA accountable for ignoring Environmental Justice communities and the civil rights laws designed to protect them.
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