[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 167 (Thursday, December 16, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF THE QUILEUTE TRIBE TSUNAMI PROTECTION ACT

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                          HON. NORMAN D. DICKS

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 16, 2010

  Mr. DICKS. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the Quileute Tribe 
Tsunami Protection Act. This legislation will provide land to the 
Quileute Tribe to enable the re-location of many facilities outside the 
tsunami zone. Many of you may know that the Quileute Tribe is featured 
in the Twilight series of movies.
  For people like the Quileutes living along the Pacific coast of the 
Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, a tsunami is a very real threat 
they face every day. The Quileute day care facility, the elder center, 
Tribal offices and Tribal members' homes are directly in the path of 
the tsunami that one day will surely come. Getting the Tribe out of 
danger is of great concern to all of us, and I am very pleased to 
introduce legislation to help the Tribe move their people and 
infrastructure out of the danger zone.
  The Olympic National Park completely surrounds the one-mile-square 
Quileute Reservation, most of which is threatened either by tsunami or 
the Quillayute River flood zone. The only way to get the Tribe out of 
the danger zone is for the Park to transfer higher, safer lands to the 
Tribe. For many years there has been a dispute between the Park and the 
Tribe about the northern boundary of the Reservation, and this 
legislation resolves that dispute to the benefit of the Park, the Tribe 
and the general public. In addition to protecting the Tribe from 
tsunami threat, this legislation will permanently preserve public 
access to some of the most beautiful beaches on the Washington State 
coast, and will permanently protect as wilderness thousands of acres 
currently in the Olympic National Park.
  I want to thank the Quileute Tribe, National Park Service Director 
Jon Jarvis and Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin for 
their hard work over many years to resolve this dispute. There must be 
Congressional approval for this settlement, so I ask my colleagues to 
consider the present danger to the Tribe and to support this bill.

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