EVERETT – The Tulalip Tribes have agreed not to block construction of a new pier in Everett to handle Boeing Co. jet parts.
Tribal Chairman Stan Jones said in a statement Thursday night that the tribes will provide a letter of support for the pier to the Army Corps of Engineers. The corps was withholding a key permit for the project until tribal officials indicated they would back it.
“This agreement maintains the tribes’ treaty and fishing rights around the pier, while at the same time allows the port to meet its needs,” Jones said.
The announcement ends two years of negotiations that angered some participants as an important deadline neared and the tribes upped their request, asking for permanent transfer of sales taxes from businesses on the reservation’s Quil Ceda Village in exchange for the pier agreement.
The request came after the Legislature refused to approve a bill allowing the sales tax transfer.
The statement issued by the Tulalips, prepared by Seattle public relations firm Strategies 360, didn’t indicate whether the tax was part of the deal. It said the two parties were still completing the details.
Port of Everett director John Mohr didn’t return phone calls Friday to his office, his cell phone or his home. The tribes’ statement directed all questions to Ron Dotzauer at the public relations firm, who told The Herald that the parties involved had agreed to let the Tulalips handle the announcement.
In a prepared statement from Dotzauer, Mohr was quoted as saying, “I, too, congratulate and thank the tribes for the leadership they have shown in our community and appreciate the lengths to which they have gone to support the economic growth of this region.”
Earlier, a frustrated Mohr talked about how the “Tulalips asked for additional consideration that goes beyond anything the port has control over.”
Port commissioner Phil Bannan said he felt “abused by being held hostage over an issue we have no control over. They benefit and we benefit by Boeing’s ability to build airplanes.”
Bannan was traveling Thursday night, but commissioner Jim Shaffer called the agreement “marvelous.”
“One way or another, we’re going to get the pier built and produce airplanes,” he said. “That’s what this area needs.”
Shaffer said he wasn’t familiar with the details of the agreement and that the sales tax issue “was turned over to the governor.”
In the prepared statement issued by the tribes, the governor thanked tribal officials for their leadership, adding, “Collaborative efforts such as this are critical to the economic growth of the state and to protecting fundamental treaty rights.”
Dan Becker, manager of Everett’s Boeing plant, also praised the Tulalips in the prepared statement, saying they helped “to secure economic prosperity for this community for years to come.”
The agreement allows the port to quickly seek bids for construction of the pier, initially estimated to cost $15.5 million. The state agreed to pay for the pier as part of a deal with Boeing to build the new 787 Dreamliner in Everett. Many parts for the new plane, as well as for other models, will be built overseas and shipped to the Everett plant.
Reaching agreement this week was essential so the port could select a builder and get the work done from November to February, when underwater work won’t harm young salmon.
Without the agreement, the work would have been delayed a year, Mohr said earlier.
He has also said the project now will likely cost an additional $5 million for a variety of reasons, including the rising cost of steel, a $600,000 deal to reduce train noise made with Mukilteo residents so they wouldn’t hold things up in court, and expenses for the tribal deal.
The Tulalips, Swinomish and Suquamish tribes all claim the area as part of their usual and accustomed fishing grounds.
Mohr has said the port promised to pay for improvements to their marinas, fund an experiment for increasing shellfish and salmon production, and also to keep tribal fishermen informed about the arrival of barges with jet parts so they could continue to fish in the area.
Herald writer Mike Benbow: 425-339-3459 or benbow@heraldnet.com.
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