#FrackOffPSE

From Nick Manning, Climate & Health Program Organizer

On 4/30, Indigenous leaders and “kayaktivists” gathered on South Lake Union in front of the lakeside home of the Puget Sound Energy CEO.

Demonstrators held a vigil in solidarity with the Puyallup Water Warriors and all those gathered in opposition to PSE’s Liquefied Natural Gas facility on the Tacoma Tideflats (the permits for which are being disputed in court by WPSR and a coalition of organizations).

WPSR’s Climate & Health Program Organizer, Nick Manning was among the demonstrator:

“On one of the first warm days of the spring, I was excited to be invited to meet face-to-face with organizers at 350 Seattle and Sierra Club with whom I have worked for a year but never actually met. They told me they were going on a sunset walk around Lake Union and asked if I wanted to join because tonight was going to be particularly pretty.

It was one of those Seattle spring days that feels like the heart of summer. I was admittedly nervous and excited for a casual stroll with folks who I felt like I knew but whose faces I had never actually seen in person… who isn’t just a little nervous to finally be in the same physical space with someone you’ve only met from behind a screen and with whom you’ve formed a year-long digital friendship?

I went down to Eastlake and it was immediately apparent I had misunderstood the nature of this outing.

A small group had started to congregate by the water, and from the signs, drums, clothing I quickly decided to leave the beers I had brought in my car. This was not the time to rest, this was a time to be present and add my body to a grassroots rally.

I was looking out at a group of kayaks on Lake Union idling in front of a row of floating homes, easily identifiable as a group of Puyallup Tribal Members in traditional regalia. When we turned back to help hoist a giant banner it revealed the message "Respect the Puyallup, Keep LNG Facility Off".

What followed was a magical evening. As it turns out, the CEO of Puget Sound Energy lives right on Eastlake in a floating home (incidentally these are often valued at up to $5.7 million).

Organizers had found the CEO's address and hastily rallied members of the Puyallup tribe and activists up from Tacoma to peacefully demonstrate on kayaks outside their front door.

It was breathtaking.

As the sun slowly faded behind Queen Anne Hill, traditional flute music and singing could be heard like low fog over the surface of the water.

Everything else was silent.

When the light was low enough, the kayaks lit salmon-shaped paper lanterns and waved them around in the air, like tiny fish made of light swimming just above the surface. Neighbors came and sat on their decks in silent appreciation of the serenity.

No words were spoken, none had to be.

The flute music and low singing continued into the encroaching darkness until the lake felt like it had been engulfed in a shared dream. One that we only woke up from when the music stopped, and the kayaks carefully navigated out of the water.

What differentiates this demonstration from so many I have participated in is the silence, the wordlessness. No megaphones, no hot and heavy words to the crowd, nothing even calling Ms. Kipp out specifically.

Just a sign, and a beautiful moment of serenity. Which, if you think about it, almost says more than a speech could. PSE knows that the right thing to do is to honor the rights of the Puyallup people to the Tacoma Tideflats. PSE knows that their facility is likely to cause harm to public safety and our long-term climate goals. PSE knows how to do the right thing and to actually work in service of its community and planet. They just won’t do it… yet.

And while no words were spoken, the message was impossible to miss.”

- Nick Manning, WPSR

Want to take action?

Learn more about how PSE is fighting to preserve the status quo, PSE’s failed efforts to support families during the pandemic, their tobacco industry-style tactics in marketing to young people, and then act!

Send a message to PSE CEO Mary Kipp and demand that she halt the operationalization of the Tacoma LNG facility, consistent with the demands of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and the Tacoma Human Rights Commission.