PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) - A Portland utility company and an Oregon tribe painted contrasting pictures about the events leading up to the construction of a ceremonial fishing platform beneath Willamette Falls during a federal trial over the ownership of the property.

Portland General Electric (PGE) sued the state in 2022 in an effort to condemn five acres of land on the rocky shores of Willamette Falls surrounding its hydroelectric facility. The state granted the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde a waterway registration in 2018, which allowed the tribe to construct a ceremonial fishing platform on the west bank of the shore - an action the power company says is not only unsafe, but also outside the authority of the state.

On Friday, the power company brought its president and CEO, Maria Pope, to the stand to tell the court about her memory of discussing a potential fishing platform with Grand Ronde.

During a summer meeting in 2018, months into Pope's tenure as CEO, she and others from the PGE met with Grand Ronde's longtime Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle Kennedy and other tribe members.

"It was to get to know Grand Ronde better as well as to build a relationship," Pope said on Friday. 

The testimony conflicts with the characterization Kennedy posited during her testimony on Thursday, in which the tribal chairwoman said the meeting was explicitly called to discuss the placement of a fishing platform at the falls. Grand Ronde had originally been in talks with the power company about leasing the land for a platform, which at that time was thought to be clearly owned by PGE.

Kennedy told the court on Thursday that the meeting with Pope had ended abruptly after the CEO explained that the power company had received pushback from other tribes in the region.

"It felt like we were a bother, we were in the way," Kennedy said. 

Pope on Friday maintained that the meeting was simply to acquaint herself with Kennedy and to "see and hear the interests of the Grand Ronde." She denied remembering if she had told Grand Ronde during the meeting that a potential lease couldn't proceed over the objections from the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

Pope also stated that the power company didn't want to "serve as referee," as the power company's defense attorney phrased it, between a conflict among the tribes.

"I think I was very specific that that is something we don't have expertise in," Pope said. Still, she maintained that the power company was interested in providing equal access to the tribes, so long as the disputes were worked out among themselves. 

Kennedy remembered the meeting differently, and said it was one where the other tribes objections held great weight to the company. 

Those objections, as Kennedy recalls they were described to her, concerned the placement of the platform, the impact to fishing at the falls and assertions that the platform was not culturally traditional. The last point struck Kennedy as disrespectful.

"We're a sovereign nation. We determine how we build a platform, we are stewards of the area," Kennedy said. Plus, Grand Ronde has always maintained that other tribes have an open invitation to join them at the falls to fish. 

Still, the tribal conflict has played a large role in the trial. U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon, a Barack Obama appointee, asked Kennedy on Thursday about why the other tribes objected.

"That's a question we've been trying to answer for a long time," Kennedy said.  

Four other tribes - the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians - released a joint statement in support of the power company ahead of the trial.

Grand Ronde has used the power company's business relationship with Warm Springs - the two jointly own a dam in eastern Oregon - as evidence that PGE is acting in bad faith in efforts to lodge an affirmative defense against the condemnation action. 

Pope denied the business relationship played any role in the lawsuit, saying it "didn't have any bearing" and that the primary motive is to ensure the company stays in compliance with its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license. Part of staying in compliance is controlling the area surrounding the facility, which includes the fishing platform site, and maintaining safety.

With the power company's consistent assertion of safety concerns along the shores as a motive to control the land, Grand Ronde pointed to an incident that occurred shortly after it began construction of the fishing platform in 2018. 

After talks about leasing the land from PGE stalled, ownership survey results came back showing that the state owned the land in contention. The Oregon Department of State Lands granted it a permit to construct the platform, and construction began in October 2018, despite the power company's appeal.

Then, four days into construction, Grand Ronde said its crew was placed in danger when PGE staff opened a gate from the top of the dam, releasing water to the base of the falls near the work site. 

"Seeing those trees come barreling out of the chute, it was very scary," Kennedy said. "I feared for the lives of our workers."

The gate - also called an Obermeyer weir - is a clearing mechanism that catches debris from the fish ladder at the dam. Video from the site that morning showed the contrast in water height and speed after it was opened. 

Another video showed two men in hard hats standing atop the plant, appearing to laugh and chat with each other while pointing down at the work site. PGE explained that it was a routine operation, and brought one of the workers in the video to testify that he didn't intentionally open the gate to interfere with the crew and that it released only a low level of water.

Grand Ronde described the event as "traumatic" and said it created dangerous conditions that significantly impacted the crew's ability to navigate the river and respond to any potential safety incidents. 

Willamette Falls, located between Oregon City and West Linn just south of Portland, is the second-largest waterfall in the country by volume and one of the state's most iconic natural landmarks. The trial was slated to conclude on Thursday, but ran long and closing arguments are now set for May 6.

Source: Courthouse News Service