ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
JOINT FEDERAL-STATE COMMISSION
ON
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS AFFECTING
ALASKA NATIVES
4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 100
Anchorage,
Alaska 99503
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Witness List | PDF
Version
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Well, then we'll move on to Joel Blatchford.
(Pause.)
MR. BLATCHFORD: My name is Joel Blatchford, and I'm -- I just wanted to say something about pollution in my subsistence food. And it's got to be cleaned up, because, you know, like wha -- you know, Endicott Island, right? I helped build that island; I helped work on it; I helped the oil men drill that -- drill all them holes. I watched them dump all the muds -- 'cause I had to make the muds for 'em and test the muds for 'em, and they really put a lot of minerals into our water. It sits on the bottoms, and even oil goes in there. And I watch it -- one time, I reported Sohio -- when it used to be called Sohio -- I said:
"Look at this. You got diesel going right into
the ocean right here from this pipeline."
And he says:
"Joel, don't say nothing. The -- I don't have
no time for this. Just cover that lid and shut up; and I'm going to work
with the EPA, and we're going to show 'em this other stuff."
So, I did. And also I was one of the men that injected acid into the ground for that. And that really got to me. I said -- I didn't know it was acid at the time; and I sat there, and I said:
"Hey, you know, my skin is coming off my hands.
Why is this?"
And he said:
"Here, I'll get you some rubber gloves."
And he got me rubber gloves; gave me a face mask; and I sat in that injection skid, and I just kept on injecting. And then, all of a sudden, I said:
"No, I quit. I quit working for you oil companies.
You' re dirty. This is wrong."
And I told 'em, I said:
"One day, nature's going to come back on us, and
we'll have an earthquake up here, and it's going to pop that hole just like
a zit on your face; and it's going to come out, and it's going to ruin our
land."
So I quit. I don't work for them people any more, and I won't have nothing to do with oil companies. And out here, where they have all these oil rigs, they dump that mud in the ground, and all that minerals is going in the bottom.
Everybody thinks it's going to distribute itself. It's not. The tide's just going to move it around a little bit and cover up all them bottom fish; and I have proof of -- my fish that I have caught, some of them have had tumors growing from their mouths.
I -- and the belugas that my dad and I -- my dad's Percy Blatchford. Him and I go whale hunting over -- all the time over there. Komokuks (ph.), (indiscernible), they're always over there with me, and hunting, too, and one time we found five of them in one year that we cut 'em open, and yellow ooze is pr -- see that piece of paper that's right there in front of you. That orangish yellow is coming out of the whole back. The fat is supposed to clear. We reported it to Fish and Game. Fish and Game says:
"Oh, that's from the whales mating -- when they
bump into each other."
But when they mate, they don't mate that bad to where it makes them ooze yellow out of their skin and fat. And the boobiks (ph.) looked bad on their skin. It's just -- I said:
"Well, let's cut out this piece. Maybe it's just
in that one section."
We cut it out, and then, no, it's all over the whole body. And I'm tired of -- I'm getting scared to eat my own Native food any more. I used to really like it a lot; but now it's getting scary to eat Native food any more. And a lot of Natives - - other Natives here have seen things even in seals, and it's getting sick out there in the oceans. And the water is part of our life. That's what feeds us; and it's going to stop subsistence real soon. It's not going to take very many years.
MR. GARBER: Mr. Chairman?
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Yeah.
MR. GARBER: Joel, this is a committee on governance.
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Yes, (indiscernible).
MR. GARBER: I'm wondering if -- do you think there's a role for village governments to play in approving developments that are nearby them? I mean, how could they impact the type of issue you're concerned about?
MR. BLATCHFORD: Well, I really don't understand that question.
MR. GARBER: Well, what you're opposed to is development that might impact the environment that sustains your subsistence resources. Since we're concerned here with governance, would the ability of a village to have some power or control over development near them, would that help you in your concerns?
MR. BLATCHFORD: You mean -- well --
MR. GARBER: The village could regulate development --
MR. BLATCHFORD: Yeah, reg -- if they could regu --
MR. GARBER: -- in and around their activity.
MR. BLATCHFORD: -- if -- they should put somebody on there to watch these people, because -- and regulate 'em, right, because their muds are dangerous. They are. I've made em -- plenty of their muds for 'em. They make acid muds all the time, and then they just dump 'em back out there in the ocean again. It's bad.
MR. GARBER: So, you haven't seen villages be able to have much impact --
MR. BLATCHFORD: No, 'cause --
MR. GARBER: -- in that area up to now?
MR. BLATCHFORD: -- every time -- when I worked up there up north, I watch how they do it; and they have a guard at each -- it's like, instead of fences any more, they have guards that sit at each one of these roads that -- and people can't come in. And then they say:
"If you don't work here, if you don't have that
badge, you can't come in.''
Even EPA. They'll stop an EPA man. They won't let him come in.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Is it possible for people to speak up, because some of the elders can't hear. (Indiscernible.)
MR. GARBER: Well, if -- speaking as loud as I am right
here, they can’t hear in the second row, we're -- we just have a problem
that may not be able to get fixed.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Indiscernible.)
MR. GARBER: They're not mikes; they're mikes for recording, not amplification.
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: We still have seats up front, and
the first row is practically empty. There’s one, two, three, four sears in
the second row, and -- if people way back there -- and I realize that some
of you may be a little shy, but we won't bite you if you come up front, and
we can hear.
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Joel, Bart is waiting for you to come to the point in your testimony as to the problem and then to the governance of who governs the sanitary issues such as that; but, however, do you have much more to testify on, or what the solutions to some are, as Bart asked?
MR. BLATCHFORD: Well, they should allow some of the Native council -- or whoever -- you know, somebody of importance in our communities to go and watch these people, 'cause they'll hide it. Them people hide this stuff. They -- and they get away with it. It's always hid.
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Is any -- do you have any comment or question to (indiscernible)?
MS. ANAGIK: I just wanted to comment that with regard to those statutes like CIRCLA (ph.) and the Super Fund, a lot of those statutes that deal with hazardous waste, it's been my experience that when village corporations or tribes want to at least exercise the right of consultation for an observer-type of status, that it's been the position of a lot of these oil companies, because it's not explicitly included in the statute, especially as it pertains to Indian tribes or Native villages, that these villages don't have a standing. And that is an issue that I have come across in my prior work as an attorney, so there's some real fundamental issues here, you know, that villages should be made aware of, especially with those statutes that pertain to like the Super Fund or to CIRCLA (ph.). I just said that I've reviewed this, and it was my recommendation at the time that they -- the villages seek a more fundamental status with regard to tribal status, so that they could have these same rights of consultation as the Indian tribes in the Lower 48. I just wanted to bring that up.
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Any other comment? Father Elliott?
COMMISSIONER ELLIOTT: No.
(Pause.)
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: Go on to the next one.
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Yeah. I'll just see if Bart -- Bart, do you have any more comments?
MR. BLATCHFORD: No, I don' t.
COMMISSIONER PAGANO: Well, we appreciate your comments and testimony, and we thank you.
MR. BLATCHFORD: I just wanted to say it, 'cause that's going to ruin a part of our life. All right, thanks.
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