Tribe Trucks Totem Pole 4,800 Miles in Fossil Fuels Protest

PORTLAND (AP) €” A Pacific Northwest tribe has begun a 4,800-mile road trip with a 22-foot-tall totem pole in tow.

The Lummi Nation embarked on its fourth "totem journey" since 2012 to galvanize opposition to coal and crude oil projects it says could imperil native lands.

The tribe took a similar totem trip last year to raise awareness about a massive coal export terminal being proposed in their ancestral homeland in northwest Washington state.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit for the Cherry Point project earlier this year over concerns it would impact the Lummi Nation's treaty-protected fishing rights.

This year, the focus is on the Millennium coal export terminal proposed for Longview, Washington along the Columbia River.

It would be the largest such terminal in the U.S.