Fawn Sharp, president of the Quinault Indian Nation, spoke to the Hoquiam City Council on Monday about the tribe’s opposition to two crude-by-rail terminal projects proposed by Westway Terminal Co. LLC and Renewable Energy Group, Inc., formerly Imperium Terminal Services, slated for construction in the city.

All levels of government “have a duty and obligation to consider the impacts on Quinault citizens and other citizens of Grays Harbor,” Sharp said. “And those impacts can’t be mitigated.”

The Quinaults want the city and state Department of Ecology choose the no-action alternative in the projects’ Final Environmental Impact Statements and deny requests for the shoreline development permit applications. Sharp spent much of her speech providing the council members information about how various laws allow them — even compel them — to take a stand against the projects.

The State Environmental Policy Act authorizes governments to set conditions or simply deny proposed actions if there are environmental impacts that can’t be mitigated, she noted.

And courts are holding government officials liable for making decisions without considering the public impacts. The Public Trust Doctrine, for example, “provides a basis and also provides defense for denying permits,” she said.

Sharp explained that treaty law should also prove effective in quashing the project. Only the DEIS documents “marginalize” the weight of the treaty in spite of harm that such oil projects would cause to the tribe’s fishing area.

Grays Harbor falls within the Quinault’s federally reserved treaty fishing and gathering area, and federal courts will uphold such treaty rights unless there is congressional authorization to do otherwise, she said.