Thanks to Anne for the photo from Don Armeni Boat Ramp, where canoe paddlers are launching a trip across Elliott Bay to participate later this morning in a rally to show concern about environmental risks from increased oil/coal-carrying train/ship traffic in our region.
(Added 12:57 pm: Tweet with photo of Blue Heron Canoe‘s arrival:)

Blue Heron Canoe Family have landed at the #salishsearally @IdleNoMore4 @billmckibben @backboneprog pic.twitter.com/oDfZuo7vFz

— 350 Seattle (@350_Seattle) August 11, 2014

(back to earlier report) We received this announcement about that rally late last night:

(Today) at 11 am a ‘Protect Our Salish Sea’ rally will begin with a traditional Northwest Coastal canoe landing and kayak flotilla at the beach below the Olympic Sculpture Park, which is a traditional sacred gathering place of the Coast Salish Nations. The rally will include speakers such as Freddy Lane and Laverne Lane of the Lummi Nation, a traditional welcoming and protocol by Ken Workman of the Duwamish Tribe, Mike Evans of the Snohomish Tribe leading a traditional canoe ‘Paddle to Seattle,’ activists Carlo Voli of 350 Seattle, and Bill Moyer of Backbone Campaign. This is a family-friendly event that will include an inter-tribal jam session, a Water Blessing ceremony, and will be immediately followed by a procession to the tracks for a symbolic blockade of the BNSF Railroad at Alaskan and Broad Street in Seattle.

The Salish Sea has sustained all of life in the area for millennia. Natives and non-natives are unified to protect it from plans to despoil it to create a fossil fuel corridor to Asia. We stand together in opposition to the coal terminals being proposed for Longview and on the Great Lummi Nation’s sacred burial ground. We are unified in opposition to the huge increase in coal trains and oil trains filled with explosive Bakken oil or dirty tar sands bitumen, and pipelines in BC that will increase the risk from catastrophic tanker spills passing through Washington State. “These are unacceptable and unfathomable risks to our health, land, water, and all of life in the Salish Sea, and only increases our resolve to protect this sacred place for each other, and future generations,” says Sweetwater Nannauck, organizer of Idle No More Washington.

This rally reflects an unprecedented unity that exists in our communities along with growing momentum for future unified action. It is organized by Idle No More Washington, Backbone Campaign, Protect the Sacred, and 350 Seattle.

Two weeks ago, part of an oil-carrying train derailed in Interbay, and though nothing spilled, it spotlighted ongoing concerns about an increase in risk from oil/coal-carrying trains coming through the area.