From: Tony DeFalco

Sent: Mon Feb 28 10:39:50 2011

To: ToxicsRuleMaking

Subject: Fish consumption rates

Importance: Normal

Hello,

I am writing as an Oregonian who supports the proposed new fish consumption rates of 175 grams per day. I am an affected party as I eat Columbia River fish and as one who recreates in the Columbia River basin. Continued degradation of the river system and it's plant and animal species from mercury contamination is unacceptable. Most importantly, the continued harm and risk posed to the original inhabitants of this place, Columbia River Indians and the tribes that have carefully managed and relied on healthy fish populations in the river for millenia, is simply wrong and must be righted.

This issue is about justice denied for centuries for peoples who did not pollute the river but quickly suffered the legacy of white European settlers who decimated fish populations, pollluted the river with toxic waste from industrial operations and filled the river with polluted sediment from dam construction, road construction, poorly sited agricultural operations. Tribal people carefully managed fish populations and relied upon those populations for health and well-being. Despite promises by European settlers that they would be able to continue to fish, the settlers' and their next generations' practices quickly wiped out the runs and led to the current pollution of the river and the fish.

Thankfully, tribes have continued to press for the restoration of the river and its wildlife during that entire history while European settlers and their progeny continued on an unsustainable path. The tribes' and a few more thoughtful and sustainabile European settlers and their descendants realized that a more sustainable path of a healthy river was possible and ultimately, the only potential to ensure the health and well-being of the entire region. Those efforts have begun to bear fruit with fish returning to the Umatilla system, for example, the efforts of hard work by many. Enacting this rule to increase the fish consumption rate continues us all on this path to recovery for all and justice for tribal people in the basin.

We are finding the ways to manage our natural resources without poisoning our own bodies, food supply and rivers. Please have the courage to continue on the journey.

Sincerely,

Tony DeFalco

4419 NE Sumner Street

Portland, OR 97218