Hoh Indian Tribe Safe Homelands Act

Floor Speech

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I rise today in support of the introduction of the Hoh Indian Tribe Safe Homelands Act, introduced by Senator Murray and myself on Friday, February 13, 2009. This piece of legislation is needed so that the Hoh tribe can move their village out of harm's way.

The Hoh tribe occupies a 1-square-mile reservation on the banks of the Hoh River where it meets the Pacific Ocean in Washington State. Due to repeated storms, heavy rain, and the movement of the Hoh River, the tribe's village is threatened with flooding every winter. Ninety percent of the reservation now sits in a flood plain, and 100 percent of the land they reside on sits within a tsunami zone.

Many of the buildings located on the existing reservation are permanently sandbagged due to the threat of flooding, and several houses have been lost to the river over the last 10 years. The tribe's wastewater treatment plant has also been threatened by flooding on multiple occasions.

This legislation will allow the tribe to move out of danger by transferring a 26 acre piece of Federal land to the tribe. This parcel of land is needed to connect the existing reservation with land the tribe has obtained on their own. Once the old village is collected with the land the tribe already owns they can move their entire village out of harm's way.

Transferring ownership of a piece of Federal land should never be taken
lightly, and this case is no exception. However, the Hoh tribe is in a desperate situation. By transferring this small piece of land to the tribe and taking it into trust we can help the tribe remove themselves from a dangerous situation.

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