Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England

Vera Francis

180 people stay close to the village. As a way to honor this color and the union of the tribal spirit to the Great Spirit when someone dies, red ochre dust is put on the body and on all the special belongings of the deceased. Family and friends place the red ochre on their faces. Vera Francis (b. 1958) Vera Francis of Sipayik is a storyteller, public speaker, educator, and activist dedicated to protecting and reclaiming Passamaquoddy homelands, including ancestral territories in New Brunswick. In particular, she has been active in the fight against liquid natural gas (lng) development at the Pleasant Point Reservation, an issue she recounts in the following piece, which she wrote in 2007 for an indigenousChicano , web-based art project called Radio Healer. Francis has also written poetry and published essays in magazines like Cultural Survival Quarterly. She has three grandchildren: Dakota, Skylar, and Michael. Technology Meets Ecology: Passamaquoddy Bay the heartland Liquefied natural gas—lng—is being pursued today as a “transitory” or “bridge to the future” form of energy. Because of the questionable negative public and private dynamics of lng proponents such as Quoddy Bay llc, an Oklahoma-based energy company vying for access to Passamaquoddy Bay, and the political backing given to such companies, language has come into question . . . and, in fact, doesn’t mean anything anymore. When it is said that lng is an effort to “displace oil and coal” and that lng is considered “cleaner,” what is being lost in the public discourse is, what exactly do “displace,” “transition,” “cleaner,” and “bridge to the future” mean? Vera Francis 181 Lost in these forms of language are tougher questions: U.S. clean energy policy helps the economy and protects wildlife, environment, refuge areas; but where do Native people’s lands along political borders and public safety fall within these priorities? How does importing gas reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil? What about the cumulative effect that industrial overload (more than 100 ships per year are being proposed for Passamaquoddy Bay) has on complex, dynamic, and healthy ecosystems? There is clearly ample evidence that even with all the planning in the world a lng carrier can break free from its mooring (see Elba Island).⁴ Technology alone cannot guarantee against human error. As many fishers of Passamaquoddy Bay know firsthand, things happen much too fast with a four-knot current. What about those armed escorts for lng tankers by the U.S. Coast Guard, not to mention the dense fog effect—when spoken in typical Down East dialect, it goes something like this—socked in are yah? While a regional approach to the lng terminal-siting process may soon be par for the course for considering cumulative impacts of the industry, current efforts to protect Passamaquoddy Bay and coastal lifeways from lng, a hazardous and volatile cargo, are being sorely misrepresented. Before taking sides, explore what is really on the other side of the energy bridge—before making up your mind, fully appreciate the multidimensional character of this growing debate; be willing to learn the irrefutable facts. In other words, the Passamaquoddy tribal community processes (however marred that they were) are not what ushered in the potential siting for lng at Split Rock, Maine (a traditional and ceremonial gathering place). Poorly formulated environmental policy did that. I do think that until the populations most affected and left vulnerable by present-day attempts at nonrenewable energy development take control of the energy cycle and consumption—take control of the divisive efforts used to promote lng—the perception that lng is the Passamaquoddy Tribe’s internal business, or that it is for its dissenters to quell, is faulty. Many around Passamaquoddy Bay have clearly rejected the notion of lng using basic logic—it’s simply irrational to operate hazardous facilities near any population , however remote its location. But that hasn’t stopped lng proponents from swindling coastal people’s precious time and resources. What’s out-and-out missing from this debate, however, is a solution to 182 passamaquoddy help communities gain control over these fly-by-night outfits that operate more on predatory instinct and less on integrity, social responsibility, ethics , or even basic qualifications. Instead, entities like Quoddy Bay llc are the ones actually allowed to control the local and national agendas—when, where, and how lng will be proposed—even though they literally have no personal stake in the communities...