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Internet Tribal Gaming Group Tests the Waters

Duane Chapman, Lac du Flambeau, TIGA Interim Chairman

Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

A new tribal Internet gaming consortium is steadily taking shape as part of growing movement of such efforts that are sure to capture the attention of federal regulators and, probably, the courts.

The effort, called the Tribal Internet Gaming Alliance (TIGA), is pursuing what organizers say is the most conservative approach of a recent batch of tribal online gaming pioneers that include the Inter Tribal Gaming Association (ITOGA), founded by several already successful California, Michigan and Oklahoma gaming tribes, and Great Luck LLC, championed by the Alturas Indian Rancheria Tribe of northern California.

“We have immediate, short-term, and long-term goals,” says Jeffrey Nelson, a lawyer with the Indian affairs firm Kanji & Katzen who has played a major role in organizing the TIGA endeavor over the past year. “Immediate: A networked virtual currency play platform where tribes will not have to share their player databases, yet can benefit from shared costs and attract online players into their casinos. Short-term: Development of class II real-money games (poker, slot-like bingo and traditional bingo) where TIGA will take bets from the collective gaming eligible Indian lands of our member tribes. Long-term: Better ability to lobby and compete in statewide, national and international online gaming markets.”

Rather than making an immediate large cash profit, TIGA organizers want to establish a coalition of tribes pursuing the likeminded-interest of shaping federal Internet gaming policy. With signals coming frequently from legislators in Congress indicating they want to tinker in this field, TIGA organizers think the right approach is to have a foot in the water, while not rocking the boat.

Small tribes that have not been able to establish major gaming enterprises to date may be especially interested in joining TIGA, Nelson says, for the relatively safe leverage it provides in getting involved in this field without much legal risk at zero cost to join.

As opposed to ITOGA and Great Luck, TIGA does not plan or even want to take wagers from places that are not in its reservation-based network, which currently includes two tribes, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe and the Bad River Band Chippewa Tribe. Six council representatives from the two tribes have elected Duane Chapman from Lac du Flambeau as the TIGA Interim Chairman—an interim title because the group does not yet have the three tribes necessary in TIGA’s treaty to make its business committee formally operational.

“Geofencing technology is robust enough to allow TIGA to take real-money bets only from the collective gaming eligible Indian lands of its member tribes,” Nelson says, noting that geofencing refers to different types of technology where platform operators can verify the physical location of the customer, whether that person is sitting at a desktop or on a mobile device; some examples are GPS, cell phone signal triangulation and ISP identification. “With that comes the ability to fence certain areas where you either will not take bets, or conversely where you will only take bets,” he adds. “So TIGA can have a database of gaming eligible Indian lands of its collective member tribes, and [it can] take bets only from customers who are physically present within those areas.”

TIGA also has some international ideas brewing. Letters of support for the alliance have already come in from the Isle of Man and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada, which means that tribes in TIGA could have avenues of performing gaming within these nations in the future.

Some tribal Internet gaming entrepreneurs and even tribal leaders have questioned why TIGA is choosing a long-term approach to taking part in an online gaming field that is ripe for development right now.

Nelson responds that TIGA is operating under the current parameters of federal law, while also preparing to help shape and compete in any new legislative initiatives.

“If there are any legal challenges, I would expect to win them,” Nelson says. “We are offering a way for tribes to get involved and get ahead of the competition without jeopardizing anybody’s gaming license or future ability to get a gaming license in other jurisdictions.”

Nelson says that it was important to tribal organizers that tribes in TIGA also be able to participate in other Internet gaming activities, and they may belong to groups like ITOGA and Great Luck as well.

Like TIGA, ITOGA and Great Luck organizers believe they are operating within the parameters of the law, yet they are admittedly taking more chances than TIGA.

Lee Helper, an organizer with Great Luck, explains that the class II games his venture offers are available to “anyone anywhere” and “do not have to be on Indian lands.” Great Luck organizers think they are legally sound in offering this service because their online gaming servers are located on sovereign Indian lands, and the games they offer are all web browser accessed and electronically enabled.

ITOGA, meanwhile, has built itself up based largely on the four tribal safe harbor provisions of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGA). Like Great Luck, ITOGA depends on Internet servers based on Indian reservations, and for a while it intended to it go farther by accepting wagers as loan transactions through tribal-owned payday lending operations. But as scrutiny of the tribal payday lending field has increased, ITOGA decided to shelve that plan, according to a November article in the Washington Post.

Rob Rosette, a lawyer for ITOGA, has made the case that since the federal government has not explicitly said that tribes cannot operate class II gaming over the Internet—and the UIGA provides a path for doing so—it is worth being aggressive here.

Still, some Congress members appear unhappy with the early Internet gaming efforts of both tribes and commercial entities. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) recently introduced bipartisan legislation that would reestablish the 2006-11 federal interpretation of the 1961 Wire Act. Under that interpretation, licensed online gambling in states including New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware would become illegal. Joe Valandra, CEO of Great Luck, said in a press release that tribal jurisdiction over class II games could be “severely compromised” as well if the bill were passed.

In light of such hurdles, Nelson says TIGA members are happily taking the safe road, yet he notes that it has taken longer than he expected to get three tribes to sign on as founding treaty members.

“Tribes are being careful and doing their due diligence,” Nelson says. “[I]n Indian country, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

Early numbers show devastating toll of mudslide

Sofia Jaramillo / The HeraldAva Yeckley and Darby Morgan, both of Arlington, put up a sign Tuesday reading “We heart Oso” on Highway 530. — Sofia Jaramillo / The Herald
Ava Yeckley and Darby Morgan, both of Arlington, put up a sign Tuesday reading “We heart Oso” on Highway 530.

By Jerry Cornfield and Amy Nile, The Herald

OLYMPIA – The deadly March 22 Oso mudslide and subsequent flooding have caused at least $32.1 million in damage to public infrastructure, according to preliminary assessments by state and federal authorities.

Gov. Jay Inslee cited that figure Tuesday in a letter sent to President Barack Obama asking for federal assistance for local and tribal governments to help cover an array of costs incurred in clearing debris and repairing roads and waterways damaged by the disaster.

The slide not only wiped out the Steelhead Drive neighborhood, it has blocked the usual route into Darrington along Highway 530.

“The landslide and upstream flooding it caused brought down death and destruction on these tight-knit communities in Snohomish County,” Inslee said in a statement. “These are our friends and neighbors and we’re racing to help repair their roads and other public facilities in the Stillaguamish Valley. If the president acts on this request, we can help do the job even faster.”

Also late Tuesday, medical examiners said they had received the remains of 28 slide victims and have identified a total of 22. The names released today were: Brandy Ward, 58, Thom Satterlee, 65, Lon Slauson, 60 and Adam Farnes, 23.

The confirmations lowered the total of missing by two; 20 people still are presumed missing as a result of the slide.

On Monday, Inslee requested the president issue a Major Disaster Declaration to free up federal assistance for individuals, households and businesses affected by the disaster. This could include money for temporary housing and immediate needs, and unemployment insurance benefits.

In that letter, he pointed out 40 homes were destroyed and up to 30 families left in need of long- and short-term housing. It pegged the estimated damage to residences and structures at $10 million.

Inslee wants the president to make two public assistance programs available in Snohomish County, and to the Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish and Tulalip Indian Tribes.

The slide buried 6,000 feet of Highway 530. About 700 feet had been cleared by Tuesday.

Travis Phelps, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said it is too soon to know the highway’s condition.

“There is still a lot of Highway 530 under a lot of mud,” he said. “I am sure we are going to find portions that are damaged and portions that are OK. It is too soon to tell if it is completely demolished.”

The expanse of the Oso mudslide miniaturizes people and their machines.

The workers tasked with clearing the 1.2-square-mile debris field are comparing the devastation to 9/11.

“When you get down there, it looks like the World Trade Center,” said Ed Troyer, of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office. “Instead of steel workers, it’s loggers.”

Gerry Bozarth, a debris specialist for Spokane Emergency Management, said the tangle in Oso is as complex as that from the terrorist attacks in New York.

Bozarth said searchers may never find all of the victims. The questions families have may never be answered.

Crews continued to search for the missing Tuesday. Some 600 yellow-and-orange-clad workers donned their hard hats. They were looking through piles of hazardous material sometimes 80 feet deep.

Crews are scratching the surface of the debris field, targeting the places they believe people most likely are buried. There are splintered trees, tires, shredded roof tops, pipes, chunks of walls and people’s photos strewn in the muck.

Water that earlier flooded a portion of the site on the southwest corner is now mostly gone.

“People were thinking air pockets, but there were no air pockets,” Troyer said.

Search conditions have improved since the first few days when crews spent much of their time fighting the water.

“It created a hazardous material soup that was exhausting to crews,” Bellevue Fire Lt. Richard Burke said. “They were sinking to their chests in this muck.”

While pumps droned constantly, moving the water out, crews weren’t hauling dirt away.

The contaminated soil is shoveled, sorted for people’s belongings, then piled up. Right now, it is not being moved off site.

Workers and search dogs must go through a decontamination process before leaving to limit the risk of spreading diseases such as dysentery.

On Tuesday, a sour smell rose from the site. It seemed to be a combination of spilled septic tanks, fuel, household products and exhaust from heavy machinery

The operation is much more organized nearly a dozen days after the slide, officials said. Soldiers and others have stepped in, relieving some of the weary workers.

“We want to go home and look the citizens of Oso and say we did our best,” Burke said.

“The strength in this community and their commitment to one another is just unbelievable.”

Native americans And Business Leaders Pressure White House To Reject Keystone XL

Chief Tayac of the Piscataway tribe, from left, Naiche Tayac, and William of the Lakota Nation march near the White House in Washington during a rally calling on President Barack Obama to reject Keystone XL Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013.CREDIT: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta — Chief Tayac of the Piscataway tribe, from left, Naiche Tayac, and William of the Lakota Nation march near the White House in Washington during a rally calling on President Barack Obama to reject Keystone XL Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013.
CREDIT: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

By Katie Valentine, ThinkProgress

As President Obama’s decision on Keystone XL nears, opposition from Native American tribes — many of whom have long spoken out against the pipeline — is getting louder.

Last weekend, members of South Dakota’s Rosebud Sioux tribe set up a prayer camp near Mission, SD in protest of the Keystone XL pipeline. Tribe leaders say their plan is to send a message to the White House that Native Americans won’t back down on this pipeline, which they say would run through land guaranteed by an 1868 treaty for tribal use. The tribe members plan to keep the prayer camp up until President Obama denies the pipeline or until the pipeline is approved, in which case the camp will turn into a “blockade camp.”

“We’ve been talking about the XL Pipeline. Reading about it, discussing it, having meetings, and I think reality hit today,” Oglala Sioux President Bryan Brewer said at the camp’s opening ceremony Saturday. “This is the first day that we’re actually going to try to stop it.”

Tribe members have erected nine tipis, including one that will stay occupied 24 hours a day until the White House comes out with a decision on Keystone, and surrounded the camp with hay bales. The tribe is planning to enact three more prayer camps — also called spirit camps — near the proposed route of Keystone XL.

“You can feel the power here,” Brewer said. “This will be non-violent; we will take our coup stick and count coup. This Thursday the [Oglala Sioux] tribal council is going to declare war on the Keystone XL pipeline.”

Native Americans are ramping up their opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline after vowing in February to take a last stand against the pipeline, which they’ve called the “black snake.” Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, vice-chair of the House Native American Caucus, said on MSNBC this week that Native Americans’ opposition to the pipeline — especially recently — brings a spiritual dimension to the pipeline’s opposition, and will force people to pay attention to the issue if they hadn’t been before. The Rosebud tribe is also one of several to be planning a trip to D.C. at the end of April to protest the pipeline.

But Native Americans aren’t the only ones adding their voices to the call against Keystone XL. In a letter made public Tuesday, more than 200 business owners, venture capitalists and professors — inlcuding executives at Apple, Facebook, Google and Oracle — called on Secretary of State John Kerry to reject the pipeline as not in the country’s national interest. The letter called Keystone XL the “critical linchpin” for the development of Canadian tar sands and said it “undermines our international commitments.”

“The Obama Administration has expended great time and resources toward establishing America’s leadership on global challenges including the development of clean, low-carbon energy,” the letter reads. “By approving Keystone XL, the country would instead be locking itself into the development of high cost, high carbon fuels for the foreseeable future.”

Report: South Dakota American Indian casino revenue rose 14 percent in 2012

By CARSON WALKER Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota — South Dakota’s Native American-owned casinos had among the fastest revenue growth nationwide in 2012, according to a report that also found spending nationally at tribal casinos slowed that year.

Revenue at the 13 Indian gambling facilities operated by nine tribes in the state rose about 14 percent in 2012, to $124 million, said Casino City’s Indian Gaming Industry Report.

The increase is likely due largely to a state law change that took effect July 1, 2012, that gave Deadwood and Indian casinos the option of raising maximum bet limits from $100 to $1,000, said Larry Eliason, executive director of the South Dakota Gaming Commission.

However, not all tribal casinos increased bet limits that much and any small increase can result in a large percentage change, he said.

“Whenever you’re dealing with percentages, we’ve got a pretty low base number, so it doesn’t take a lot to make a high percentage,” Eliason said.

Weston Quinn, chief financial officer and acting CEO of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe, said the tribe’s casinos in Watertown, Sisseton and Hankinson, North Dakota, had a great year because of the mild winter. All three are in rural areas, so the nice weather allowed elderly clients to get out, he said.

The tribe opted not to increase bet limits because it would have had to add pit bosses and other staff to look closely for cheaters, Quinn said.

“You have to watch people more closely,” he said. “With larger bets, you may bring in clientele you may not necessarily want.”

The tribe has started the process of roughly doubling the size of the gambling floor at its Hankinson casino, Quinn said.

Casino City’s report found that spending by gamblers slowed at U.S. Indian casinos in 2012 and the revenue growth of 8 percent fell behind nontribal casinos for the first time in 18 years.

The 13 Indian gambling operations in South Dakota offered slot machines, electronic bingo machines, blackjack, poker, off-track betting and bingo in 2012. Revenue on the 2,629 slot machines rose about 7 percent from the year before, but revenue from the 64 table games fell by roughly the same amount, the report said.

Besides the bet limit change, the report noted the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe’s plans to renovate its Royal River Casino and Hotel in Flandreau and add more machines. The tribe also has proposed a casino resort in Sioux Falls.

Seth Pearman, attorney for the Santee Sioux, said in an email the tribe has also added other ways to draw people, including a pheasant hunting operation called “Rooster River.”

“Although the Royal River Casino has had substantial competition from out-of-state casinos, it has remained consistent in the past year,” Pearman wrote.

Southern Ute tribe leader dies

By The Associated Press

IGNACIO, Colo. (AP) – The Southern Ute Indian Tribal Council says Chairman Jimmy R. Newton, Jr., died Monday after a short illness. He was 36.

Newton served as a Tribal Council member and was appointed acting chairman twice before becoming chairman in 2012.

He is survived by his wife, Flora Murphy, and one daughter.

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall said Tuesday Newton was a strong voice for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, working on projects including the Pine River Indian Irrigation Project.

Native American donors needed for bone marrow drive in honor of 14-year-old battling cancer

By Sarah Moses | smoses@syracuse.com

on March 27, 2014 at 11:00 AM, updated March 27, 2014 at 11:02 AM

Christopher Murillo, 20, of Eastwood swabs the inside of his mouth during the bone marrow drive held at the Onondaga Nation in this 2010 file photo. The sample given by Murillo, an Onondaga, was tested to see if he was a match to be a donor for Cazenovia teen who is one-quarter Native American. Native Americans make up about one percent of the 10 million donors on the blood marrow registry. Photo: John Berry / The Post-Standard, 2010

Nedrow, NY — A bone marrow drive will be held Saturday in Nedrow in an effort to find a match for a 14-year-old Northern New York girl who is fighting for her life as she waits for a bone marrow transplant.

Alyson Stiles is battling acute lymphocytic leukemia and finding a bone marrow match has been difficult because Stiles is part Native American.

Alyson Stiles, from Northern New York, was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when she was a toddler. Stiles, 14, is staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Syracuse and receiving treatment at Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital. She is in need of a bone marrow transplant. Provided Photo — Alyson Stiles, from Northern New York, was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when she was a toddler. Stiles, 14, is staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Syracuse and receiving treatment at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital. She is in need of a bone marrow transplant. *Provided Photo*

Stiles’ best chance for finding a match would come from a person with Native American ancestry, said Paula Miller, of the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, who organizes local bone marrow drives.

It is very difficult for Native Americans to find matches because there are so few Native Americans donors registered. Miller said there are 10 million registered donors, but only one percent are Native American.

In 2010, a bone marrow drive was held on the Onondaga Nation to find a match for a Cazenovia teen who is part Native American. More than 50 Native Americansjoined the registry during the drive. Miller said those potential donors will remain on the registry until they are 61 years old, but more donors are needed.

The bone marrow drive will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Nedrow Fire Department, which is located at 6505 S. Salina St., in Nedrow. The bone marrow drive is in honor of Stiles, but potential donors of all racial backgrounds are needed to join the registry, Miller said. Thousands of patients on the Be the Match Registry are searching for a match.

Potential donors must also be willing to donate to any patient in need, not just Stiles, Miller said.

Stiles and her family are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Syracuse as she receives treatment at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital. Stiles was diagnosed with leukemia when she was a toddler. The cancer returned when Stiles was 11 and again recently. Stiles has been sick most of her life.

To be a donor, volunteers must be between 18 and 44 years old and have no history of heart disease, cancer, diabetes or HIV. The collection kit is performed by swabbing the inside of the cheek.

“It’s not painful,” Miller said. “We don’t draw blood. It’s just a quick swab to the inside of your cheek.”

To learn more about the donation process, visit the Be The Match website. For more information about the bone marrow drive in Nedrow, call Paula Miller at 476-3000, ext. 2576.

The bone marrow drive is sponsored by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation and in collaboration with the Nedrow Fire Department, Onondaga Nation Fire Department and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central New York.

Sarah Moses covers the northern suburbs of Onondaga County and Oswego County. Contact Sarah at smoses@syracuse.com or 470-2298. Follow@SarahMoses315

For Native Americans, Losing Tribal Membership Tests Identity

by DAVID NOGUERAS

NPR

April 01, 2014 3:07 AM

Some of the 79 people told by the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde they were enrolled in error. Seated on floor are Russell Wilkinson and Mia Prickett (holding the drum). Seated second row from left are Nina Portwood-Shields, Jade Unger, Marilyn Portwood, Eric Bernando, Debi Anderson, Val Alexander. Standing are Antoine Auger, left, and Erin Bernando. Photo: Don Ryan/AP — Some of the 79 people told by the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde they were enrolled in error. Seated on floor are Russell Wilkinson and Mia Prickett (holding the drum). Seated second row from left are Nina Portwood-Shields, Jade Unger, Marilyn Portwood, Eric Bernando, Debi Anderson, Val Alexander. Standing are Antoine Auger, left, and Erin Bernando. *Photo: Don Ryan/AP*

In western Oregon, members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde are engaged in a debate over what it means to belong.

The tribe’s enrollment committee is considering kicking out an entire family that traces its lineage back to the founding of the modern tribe more than a century and a half ago. The family is related to Chief Tumulth, leader of the Watlala, a tribe that controlled river traffic along a key section of the Columbia River.

“If you search for ‘Chief Tumulth,’ you’ll find that he’s, as some people claim, the most famous Chinookan chief that there ever was,” says Jade Unger, Tumulth’s great, great, great, great grandson.

After Unger heard about Chief Tumulth as a teenager he began to study the tribal language, Chinuk Wawa, and learned the traditional methods of hunting and fishing. Studying his ancestors, he began to learn about himself.

Eventually, Unger was enrolled at the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. In 1855, Tumulth played an early role in the confederation’s founding by signing an important treaty with the U.S. government.

Unger says for nearly 30 years his family was embraced by the tribe, that is, until last September, when everything changed. The tribe’s enrollment committee told Unger and 78 members of his family that a recently completed audit showed they were enrolled in error.

“I’m not worried about me. I know I’m fine economically,” Unger says. “I’ll make it. But there’s people in my family that are going to be devastated by this, people that are dependent on their elders’ pensions. There are people that are going to lose their homes.”

Back in 1995, the tribe opened its Spirit Mountain Casino, and for the first time, members began to see a financial benefit. Within a few years, the tribe began to tighten its enrollment requirements. In fact, under the new standards, Unger’s family wouldn’t be let in today.

His ancestor may have signed a key treaty in the formation of the Grand Ronde, but Chief Tumulth was killed before the reservation was officially recognized in 1857. Unger says that information was well known to the committee members who approved their applications.

“There was no error,” Unger says. “It was very deliberate and it was unanimously agreed upon that we had a background and we had a right to belong here in this tribe.”

Tribal Council Chairman Reynold Leno wouldn’t discuss pending cases. But he says the audit was needed to correct inconsistencies in the tribal record.

“Tribes are made up of families and families know their own history,” Leno says. “And when you have people that don’t kind of fit into that family-type scenario, it kind of draws a question. And I think that’s what a lot of people wanted looked into.”

While he says any disenrollments that result from the audit are unfortunate, he says the tribe has a constitution — and it’s his job to uphold it.

“It was given to us by the Supreme Court to set standards and regulations for our enrollment, and I think people should respect that,” Leno says.

But both in and outside of Oregon, disenrollments are raising questions. David Wilkins, a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lumbee Nation, estimates that as many as 8,000 U.S. citizens have been cast out of native tribes over the last two decades. And Wilkins worries tribal disenrollments could be putting tribal autonomy in jeopardy.

“At some point there’s going to be enough clamor raised by disenrollees that there is going to be a congressional hearing or there is going to be some presidential proclamation or there is going to be a Supreme Court decision that might seriously impinge on what is a true sine qua non of a sovereign nation, that is the power to decide who belongs,” Wilkins says.

Grand Ronde is still reviewing the results of the audit, which means more disenrollment letters could go out.

Unger acknowledges he might lose his federally recognized status, but he says nobody can take away his identity as a native person.

“That’s, hands down, way more important to me than any little chunk of money I might get in a per capita payment,” Unger says. “I don’t care about that. I care about my tribe. I feel like I belong. We belong.”

And Unger says that’s the one thing he wants to hold on to.

Original Broadcast: NPR

HBO Profiles ‘Rez Ball’ Starring Shoni and Jude Schimmel

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel caught up with the Schimmel Sisters — a pair they called a “force in women’s basketball” — to talk about their journey from the reservation to the college ball court. In the hour-long special that aired exclusively on the network (the program is available until April 14 on HBO on Demand), Shoni and Jude, who grew up on the Umatilla reservation in Pendleton, Oregon, opened up about their success on and off the court.

John Frankel, an HBO correspondent, went to the sisters’ home in Oregon where got a lesson in rez ball and learned that basketball, not baseball, is their national pastime.

Watch the clips below.

U.S.-China Talks On Shellfish Ban Lead To New Testing For Contaminants

A geoduck clam from Puget Sound. China's ban on importing such shellfish remains in place, but recent U.S.-China talks have led to plans for a new testing protocol to ensure food safety. | credit: Katie Campbell | rollover image for more — A geoduck clam from Puget Sound. China’s ban on importing such shellfish remains in place, but recent U.S.-China talks have led to plans for a new testing protocol to ensure food safety. | credit: Katie Campbell | rollover image for more

By Ashley Ahearn, KUOW

U.S. officials say they will develop a new testing protocol to detect certain contaminants in shellfish, following their meeting with the Chinese government to discuss an end to that country’s ban on importing shellfish from most of the U.S. West Coast.

Representatives of the two countries’ governments met in Beijing last week for their first face-to-face discussion of China’s shellfish ban. China banned shellfish imports in December after officials there said they found high levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning in a geoduck clam from Alaska and high levels of inorganic arsenic in a geoduck from southern Puget Sound.

U.S. officials said during a briefing with reporters Friday that the Chinese are satisfied with U.S. testing methods for paralytic shellfish poisoning but they’re still concerned about arsenic. High concentrations of inorganic arsenic, a carcinogen, were found in the skin of geoduck harvested near Tacoma, Wash., last fall.

Americans don’t eat the skin. But the Chinese often do.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Paul Doremus said the U.S. will develop a new testing protocol for inorganic arsenic in shellfish.

“Ultimately it is up to China to decide whether they are satisfied that our testing mechanisms and overall protocols meets their standards,” he said.

Doremus said it was impossible to say when the ban might be lifted.

U.S. officials will meet within a week to put together the new testing protocols.

The ban has been in effect since November of 2013, costing the industry hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Court Orders Agencies To Consider Fewer Hatchery Fish For The Elwha

In this 2011 photo, Lower Elwha Hatchery Manager Larry Ward feeds the steelhead and coho that are being raised in a hatchery for introduction to the Elwha. | credit: Katie Campbell | rollover image for more

By Cassandra Profita, OPB

A judge has ordered federal agencies to reconsider the number of planned hatchery fish releases into the Elwha River on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula

As crews finish the largest dam removal in history on the Elwha, managers are working to restore fish runs above the dam sites. Their plan includes releasing more than 7 million hatchery salmon and steelhead into the river.

That plan has been controversial. Some conservation groups want to see wild fish repopulate the river on their own. They’re worried that releasing too many hatchery fish will reduce the chances of wild fish reproducing. They sued the agencies in charge of the plan as well as officials with Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, which operates hatcheries on the river.

One of their arguments was that the agencies –- including the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Park Service –- failed to consider options that would release fewer hatchery fish into the river.

“There was no range of alternatives,” said Kurt Beardslee, executive director of the Wild Fish Conservancy. “It was either plant all of the hatchery fish or none.”

Federal Judge Benjamin Settle agreed with that argument. He’s ordered federal agencies to meet with conservation groups to consider an option that would reduce the number of spring coho salmon and steelhead released to just 50,000 apiece. Those are the numbers conservation groups proposed.

In his opinion, the judge wrote that “the court is concerned with the spring coho and steelhead releases,” and as the agencies consider options for releasing fewer hatchery fish, those proposed numbers “would be a good starting point for an agreement.”

The National Marine Fisheries Service released a statement in response to the decision noting that the judge upheld the overall hatchery plan for the Elwha River.

“Numerous reviews and a broad consensus of scientists have found that hatcheries are necessary during dam removal to prevent the wild Elwha salmon and steelhead populations from being extinguished by sediment as the dams come down,” the statement reads. “The court upheld the Federal agencies’ decisions and the hatchery plans of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe on all points except one.”