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Tribes’ court action could halt megaload

Megaloads protest at Port of Umatilla Dec 2013.Photo source: Warrior Publications — Megaloads protest at Port of Umatilla Dec 2013.
Photo source: Warrior Publications

February 11, 2014

Christina Marfice of the Argus Observer

VALE—With the last of three Omega Morgan megaloads poised at the Port of Umatilla, waiting out winter weather before beginning its crawl across the state, several agencies have filed a court action seeking to halt it.

Peo Peo Mox Mox Chief — Headman of the Walla Walla Tribe Carl Sampson and ActOnClimate’s Peter Goodman filed a “petition for review of agency decision” Tuesday, alleging that the Oregon Department of Transportation failed to meet what they say is a legal obligation to determine whether the permit it issued last week for the megaload’s travel “serves the public interest.”

“The position of Sampson and Goodman is that these megaloads are not ordinary vehicles to be permitted on Oregon scenic highways using routine practices established for normal oversize loads, but that they are extraordinarily large industrial loads (longer than a football field and weighing up to 900,000 pounds), causing substantial harm to the citizens of Oregon and therefore not in the public interest,” reads a press release describing the action. “At the very least, they argue, ODOT should not be making a unilateral decision without a process for hearing public comments on whether these megaloads are in the ‘Public Interests.’”

ODOT spokesman Tom Strandberg said he sent out news releases about the megaloads, and ODOT visited the Umatilla Tribe. But he said he was not sure what else was done as far as outreach. He said public hearings are not part of the permitting process. But according to Monte Grove, ODOT’s Region 5 manager, ODOT is rethinking its process for public involvement in regards to permitting megaloads because they are getting bigger and bigger.

“And now here we are, in the middle of winter, with no formal notification, no Tribal consultation, no information to our Tribal members at our monthly council meetings that not one, but three monster megaloads are coming onto our ceded boundary lands,” Sampson wrote in a statement.

“Why did the Oregon Department of Transportation allow a variance permit of such magnitude on our sovereign and inherent Treaty rights, allowing interruption into our ceremonial, cultural, social and spiritual homelands without regard to the importance to our people?”

Omega Morgan adjusted its shipping route last year after a court ruling prohibited the Hillsboro-based shipping company from using Idaho’s Wild and Scenic River Corridor for megaload transport. Its circuitous route takes it from Umatilla to Pendleton, south on U.S. Highway 395 to Mount Vernon and east on U.S. 26 to Vale where it turns onto Clark Boulevard. It proceeds south to Highway 201 into Idaho near Homedale, then through Montana and into Canada, where its loads are bound for the tar sands oil fields in Alberta.

Christina Marfice is a news reporter at The Argus Observer. She can be reached at (541) 823-4822 or by emailing christinam@argusobserver.com. To comment on this story, go to www.argusobserver.com.

Washington coal terminal to get extensive review

A mile-long coal train waits south of Blaine, Friday morning, Oct. 11, 2013, to cross the border and unload in Canada.PHILIP A. DWYER — THE BELLINGHAM HERALD — A mile-long coal train waits south of Blaine, Friday morning, Oct. 11, 2013, to cross the border and unload in Canada.
PHILIP A. DWYER — THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

By Phuong Lee, Associated Press

SEATTLE — State and local regulators said Wednesday they’ll consider a sweeping environmental review of the effects of a proposed terminal along the Columbia River in Washington that would export millions of tons of coal to Asia.

The review of the nearly $650 million Millennium Bulk Terminals project will consider impacts that extend well beyond the site, including global-warming effects from burning the exported coal in Asia and rail impacts as coal is shipped by train from the Rockies throughout the state.

The announcement represents a victory for project opponents, who said the decision ensures that concerns over coal dust, greenhouse gas emissions and rail traffic are addressed.

“It’s appropriate for such a massive project,” said Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of the Columbia Riverkeeper. “It’s encouraging to see the agencies take to heart the deep public interest in protecting our communities.”

Some national and local business and labor groups criticized the broad scope, saying “cradle to grave” permitting isn’t justified and would have a chilling effect on trade and economic development.

Ken Miller, president and CEO of Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview, said in a statement Wednesday that the company had hoped to be hiring workers now, two years after submitting permits, but was pleased the agencies are moving forward. A spokesman for Miller said he would not be available for an interview.

The National Association of Manufacturers, the attorney generals of North Dakota and Montana and others had argued for a narrower focus, saying there’s no precedent for such a far-reaching analysis.

“This decision sets an unnecessary precedent for manufacturers that could make it harder to obtain approvals for almost every product we export, from grains to airplanes,” Ross Eisenberg with the National Association of Manufacturers said in a statement Wednesday.

State Department of Ecology officials challenged the notion that this review sets a precedent for others, saying that projects are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Ecology’s Sally Toteff also noted that the state and county has just started the study and haven’t reached any conclusions.

“How much of a concern are impacts from greenhouse gas emissions or vessel or rail transport? We don’t know yet. How might this affect permitting decisions? We don’t know yet. That is the point of the study,” she said.

The project, planned by Ambre Energy Ltd. and Arch Coal Inc., would handle up to 44 million metric tons of coal from the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming at a terminal near Longview.

It’s one of three coal-export docks proposed in the Northwest. The other projects are near Bellingham, Wash., and Boardman, Ore.

On Tuesday, Oregon regulators issued three key permits for another Ambre Energy project in Boardman but threw up a new hurdle. The state Department of Environmental Quality said it would require the project to seek a water-quality certification sought by opponents.

The proposal, known as the Morrow Pacific project, would bring up to 8.8 million tons of coal a year by train from Montana or Wyoming. The coal would be loaded onto enclosed barges at the terminal and then shipped down the Columbia River, where it would be loaded onto Asia-bound ships in Port Westward in Clatskanie.

That project still needs permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Oregon Department of State Lands.

An Army Corps spokesman said a permitting decision is expected this spring.

The coal-export issue has been a hotly debated topic with people and groups weighing in from across the region, including Montana ranchers, Northwest tribes and local city officials and labor groups.

Washington state regulators said they received more than 215,000 comments on the proposed Longview terminal. A bulk of them submitted as part of massive public comment campaigns organized by various groups.

Toteff said the environmental review will look at the amount greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the project on-site and when coal is burned in Asia, but it won’t look at impacts within any country that imports the coal.

The study could take years. It’s required before many local, state and federal permits can be approved. The county and state are conducting one review, while the Army Corps of Engineers is doing a separate one.

Last July, Ecology and Whatcom County officials also said they would consider a broad scope when reviewing the Gateway Pacific terminal coal-export dock proposed near Bellingham. The corps decided to take a narrower review of that Cherry Point project.

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/2014/02/12/2980321/sweeping-review-for-sw-wash-coal.html#storylink=cpy

Kinder Morgan Pipeline Threatens Ecology and Economy of Salish Tribes

Tribes on both sides of the border intervene in proceeding to address tanker traffic and oil spill risks

A boy pulls salmon from a net.Photo Courtesy of Tulalip Tribes — A boy pulls salmon from a net.
Photo Courtesy of Tulalip Tribes

Press Release, Office of Public Affairs, Tulalip Tribes, Earth Justice

Seattle, WA; Vancouver, BC — Opposition to Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain proposed pipeline project ramped up today as Coast Salish peoples on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border vowed to oppose the project as intervenors before Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB). Coast Salish intervenors include the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Tulalip Tribes, Lummi Nation, and Suquamish Tribe in Washington state, and the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations in British Columbia. The deadline for application to participate in the NEB process was last night at midnight.

“Over the last 100 years, our most sacred site, the Salish Sea, has been deeply impacted by our pollution-based economy,” said Swinomish Chairman Brian Cladoosby. “Every kind of pollution ends up in the Salish Sea. We have decided no more and we are stepping forward. It is up to this generation and future generations to restore and protect the precious waters of the Salish Sea.”

“Our people are bound together by our deep connection to Burrard Inlet and the Salish Sea. We are the ‘People of the Inlet’ and we are united in our resolve to protect our land, water and air from this risky project,” said Chief Maureen Thomas of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. “We will use all lawful means to oppose it. This is why we have applied to intervene in the NEB hearing process.”

In December, Kinder Morgan filed an application with the NEB to build a new pipeline to bring tar sands oil from Alberta to Vancouver, B.C. The NEB is the Canadian federal agency that regulates interprovincial energy infrastructure. It is responsible for reviewing, recommending and regulating major energy projects, such as the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline.

If approved, the proposal would see the transport of tar sands oil expanded from its present level of approximately 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day. With an almost seven-fold increase in oil tankers moving through the shared waters of the Salish Sea, an increase in groundings, accidents, incidents, leaks and oil spills is inevitable.

Experts have acknowledged that a serious oil spill would devastate an already-stressed marine environment and likely lead to collapses in the remaining salmon stocks and further contamination of shellfish beds, wiping out Indigenous fishing rights.

“The fishing grounds of the Salish Sea are the lifeblood of our peoples. We cannot sit idly by while these waters are threatened by reckless increases in oil tanker traffic and increased risk of catastrophic oil spill,” said Mel Sheldon, Chairman of the Tulalip Tribes.

The proposed tar sands pipeline expansion is one of several projects that would dramatically increase the passage of tankers, bulk carriers, and other vessels through Salish Sea shipping routes and adjacent waters on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. In addition to oil, regulators in both countries are reviewing controversial proposals to export huge quantities of U.S. coal. Taken together, these projects would greatly increase the risk of oil spills and other accidents that threaten the Coast Salish economies and cultures.

“Today we are taking a stand to honour our ancient connection to the Salish Sea. The threat of oil spills and industrial pollution continue to threaten our way of life.” said Chief Ian Campbell of the Squamish Nation. “We stand in unity with all who care about the health of the Salish Sea and defend it for future generations.”

Chairman Timothy Ballew III of the Lummi Nation stated, “I am a fisherman, a father and a member of the great Lummi Nation. As the northernmost Washington Treaty Tribe of the Boldt Decision, we are the stewards the Salish Sea and will not allow the Kinder Morgan proposal along our waterways that will threaten our harvesting areas and further the detrimental impacts to the environment and natural resources.”

Read an FAQ on the Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline expansion.

Inslee halts executions; impact on current cases may be minimal

Originally published February 11, 2014 at 10:16 AM | Page modified February 12, 2014 at 9:37 AM

Gov. Jay Inslee announced a moratorium on executions while he is in office: “During my term we will not be executing people.”

By Andrew Garber and Jennifer Sullivan, Seattle Times staff reporters

OLYMPIA — One of the first questions Gov. Jay Inslee had to ask himself upon taking office last year was whether he was willing to let death-row inmates be executed.

“This is really a tough question for a lot of reasons,” he said Tuesday.

In the end, his answer was no.

Not everyone is happy about that. One lawmaker called Inslee’s decision “shortsighted.” The father of a murder victim said he was devastated by the governor’s action, and some county prosecutors said they will pursue death sentences regardless.

“You’re not changing the law; you’re postponing it for another day,” said King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg.

Inslee’s announcement caught many people by surprise, considering it is not an issue the governor has highlighted in the past. It was cheered by death-penalty opponents, including one state legislator who said it “sets in motion a legitimate and genuine public conversation.”

Inslee said no one would be executed while he’s in office, but he did not commute the sentences of inmates on death row. That creates the potential for future governors to reinstate the death penalty in those cases.

Inslee also is not proposing legislation to abolish the death penalty this year, although he said he would support such a bill if offered.

For his part, the governor said there was no light-bulb moment, no sudden conviction that he should issue the moratorium on executions.

Instead, the governor and his staff described months of briefings, learning about inmates on death row, as well as issues surrounding the death penalty both on a national and local level.

The governor even visited the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla last month so he could be walked through each step of an execution. That is where death row is housed, and where executions take place.

“To have the superintendent, who sits next to the condemned during an execution, talk about what that means, was an important conversation” for Inslee, said Nicholas Brown, the governor’s general counsel.

There also were discussions with former Department of Corrections personnel who have overseen executions. And Inslee met with victims — the families of people who were murdered and have been waiting for the killers to die.

There are nine inmates now on death row, including murderers who bludgeoned, stabbed and suffocated their victims. Many of their victims were children.

In the end, Inslee concluded the system was too flawed to allow more executions. He said the death penalty is applied unequally in the state; death-row inmates are rarely executed; life in prison is less expensive than prosecuting a death sentence from start to finish; and that there is no evidence it deters murder.

“It’s not right,” the governor said during a news conference. “So I’m exercising that decision-making authority as governor of the state of Washington. I’m also at peace with this decision.”

The governor called his decision “a relatively restrained, more modest use of the executive power. It allows people to continue this conversation. It allows people to have their thoughts expressed.”

He also sought to assure Washington residents that the inmates now on death row will stay in prison for as long as they live, he said.

When questioned, Inslee acknowledged the moratorium may not necessarily save money, particularly because death-penalty cases can still be filed and appeals still pursued. However, the move could prompt county prosecutors not to seek the death penalty in some cases, thus realizing some savings.

There are no plans to pursue legislation aimed at abolishing the death penalty during this session.

State Rep. Reuven Carlyle, who has repeatedly introduced bills to ban the death penalty, said he might hold a hearing this session but will start a new push in 2015.

Carlyle, D-Seattle, called Inslee’s moratorium “a profound shift. He has opened a legitimate conversation. … It sets in motion a legitimate and genuine public conversation.”

However, Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, chairman of the Senate Law and Justice Committee, disagreed with Inslee’s decision, calling it “shortsighted.”

“I question it, I really do,” Padden said of the moratorium. “To victims, it’s the wrong message. The relatives who have suffered the deaths. They have gone through 10 years or more of waiting. … For the governor to unilaterally take that away I think is wrong.”

Reprieve vs. commutation

“Washington’s Constitution and state statutes grant the governor significant powers over the fate of individuals sentenced to death,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement Tuesday. “Consequently, the governor has the authority to hit the ‘pause’ button for executions in Washington.”

Ferguson said his office will continue to represent the state when death-row inmates file challenges to their convictions or sentences with the federal courts. Currently, there are four such cases before the federal courts, he said.

Satterberg, the King County prosecutor, in a written statement said the legal ramifications of Inslee’s “reprieve policy” appear limited and that state law remained unchanged. However, he said in the short term it is likely to cause more delays, expense and uncertainty.

“A moratorium alone will not resolve the issues raised by the Governor,” Satterberg said. “Let’s have an informed public debate and let the citizens of Washington decide if we should keep capital punishment in our state.”

Nonetheless, Satterberg said he doesn’t expect the moratorium to have a direct impact on the two potential death-penalty cases his office is prosecuting: that of Christopher Monfort, who is accused of killing Seattle police Officer Timothy Brenton on Halloween 2009; and that of Joseph McEnroe and Michele Anderson, who are accused of killing six members of Anderson’s family on Christmas Eve 2007 in Carnation.

Green River killer spared

The death penalty has come under fire in Washington state for a variety of reasons, including what some have termed inconsistencies in when it is sought, something Inslee mentioned in announcing the moratorium.

For example, in the case of Green River killer Gary L. Ridgway, King County prosecutors gave up on capital punishment in exchange for his cooperation in providing details that helped solve dozens of open murder cases. Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated first-degree murder in 2003 and was sentenced to life in prison. He has since been convicted of a 49th slaying.

Cal Coburn Brown, the last person executed in the state, died by lethal injection in September 2010 for the 1991 murder of Holly Washa in SeaTac.

Jonathan Lee Gentry, sentenced for the 1988 murder of 12-year-old Cassie Holden in Kitsap County, was expected to be the next inmate in line to be executed. Last month, the state Supreme Court rejected a petition for release filed by Gentry’s defense team. Gentry just filed another appeal, based on DNA testing.

Pam Mantle, whose daughter, son-in-law and two young grandchildren were among those fatally shot in Carnation on Christmas Eve 2007, said she was disappointed by Inslee’s announcement.

“We have put our lives on hold,” said Mantle, who with her husband has sat through nearly every court hearing for defendants McEnroe and Anderson over the past six years. “I think if it was his family he would perhaps feel a lot differently.”

Calling the decision irresponsible and disgraceful, Leonid Milkin, whose wife and two young sons were killed by Conner Schierman in Kirkland in 2006, said he was “appalled by Inslee’s blatant disregard for victims’ suffering.”

“It is a shame that Inslee turned his back on victims and chose to be on the side of convicted murders,” he wrote in an email.

“Executions are down”

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said Inslee is not the first governor in the nation to oppose the death penalty.

Last year, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper granted a reprieve to an inmate who killed four people at a Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurant in 1993.

Hickenlooper had found the state’s death-penalty system “imperfect and inherently inequitable,” according to The Denver Post. Dieter said the move means the inmate won’t be executed while Hickenlooper is governor.

“Death sentences are down. Executions are down. Six states in the last six years have repealed the death penalty,” Dieter said Tuesday. According to the information center, seven states have an effective moratorium on executions.

Eighteen states, as well as the District of Columbia, have abolished the death penalty.

Seattle Times staff reporters Brian M. Rosenthal and Sara Jean Green contributed to this report, which includes information from The Associated Press.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @SeattleSullivan.

Yellowstone bison slaughter begins

By Matthew Brown, Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. — Yellowstone National Park transferred 20 bison to a Montana Indian tribe for slaughter on Wednesday, marking the first such action this winter under a plan to drastically reduce the size of the largest genetically pure bison population in the U.S.

The transfer was first disclosed by the Buffalo Field Campaign, a wildlife advocacy group, and confirmed by park officials.

Five more bison that had been captured were to be turned over to the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday for use in an experimental animal contraception program, said park spokesman Al Nash.

Yellowstone administrators plan to slaughter up to 600 bison this winter if harsh weather conditions inside the 2.2-million-acre park spur a large migration of the animals to lower elevations in Montana. It’s part of a multiyear plan to reduce the population from an estimated 4,600 animals to about 3,000, under an agreement between federal and state officials signed in 2000.

Tens of millions of bison once roamed the North American Plains before overhunting drove them to near extinction by the early 1900s. Yellowstone is one of the few places where they survive in the wild.

James Holt, a member of Idaho’s Nez Perce tribe and board member for the Buffalo Field Campaign, said the park’s population target was an arbitrary number that threatens to infringe on treaty hunting rights held by his and other tribes. Members of those tribes travel hundreds of miles every winter for the chance to harvest bison.

Holt said many tribes have a sacred, spiritual connection with the animals because American Indians historically depended on them for food and clothing.

“We’re talking about the last free-roaming herd here,” he said. “It does them a disservice and is a disrespect to them that they are being treated in this manner.”

But Montana’s livestock industry has little tolerance for bison because of concerns over disease and competition with cattle for grass.

Steps taken by former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer to give bison more room to roam outside the park have yielded mixed results, with ranchers and local officials pushing back.

The last major bison slaughter occurred in the winter of 2008, when 1,600 were killed. Schweitzer later placed a temporary moratorium on the practice that has since expired.

The latest group of bison destined for slaughter was transferred to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes.

Nash said hundreds more bison remain clustered near the park’s northern boundary, where the 25 animals were captured Friday after they wandered into a holding facility. That sets the stage for potentially more shipments to slaughter in coming days and weeks if more bison start to move into Montana.

“We’re set up and ready to go should we see bison come down in significant numbers,” Nash said.

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/2014/02/12/2980929/yellowstone-bison-slaughter-begins.html#storylink=cpy

Gambling Industry Fights Self On Internet Gambling

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Many experts believe online wagering is the future of gambling, but the casino industry is increasingly divided on the issue.

The latest evidence of the split came Monday as the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling launched the first commercial in a six-figure campaign warning of the dangers of legalized Internet gambling. The coalition is emphasizing the possibility that criminals and terrorists may use online gambling to launder money.

The group has support from casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp. The GOP mega-donor is the 11th-richest American, according to Forbes.

Adelson has said he is willing to spend “whatever it takes” to stop the spread of Internet wagering.

Meanwhile, the casino lobby has made the legalization and regulation of online gambling its signature issue for the year. Major members including Caesars Entertainment Corp. and MGM Resorts International are taking steps to get into the market.

The battle is turning into a boon for lobbyists and public relations experts in Washington, D.C., and state capitals around the country.

Proponents formed their own group, the Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection, which is expected to launch its own six-figure ad campaign targeting federal decision makers.

“The coalition will operate exclusively at the federal level — encouraging Congress to embrace regulation as the best means to protect minors, detect money launderers and eliminate a dangerous black market,” American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman said in an email to his board last week.

The new anti-online gambling ad features stock scary-voice narration and starts with a black and white shot of two men shaking hands in silhouette. “Right now, disreputable gaming interests are lobbying hard to spread Internet gambling across the country,” the ad warns.

Established casino companies have regarded the rise of Internet gambling warily, wondering whether it will cut into profits from brick-and-mortar casino companies or revive the specter of corruption that the industry worked so hard to shed in the 1980s and ’90s.

Some executives have decided that Internet gambling, or at least, Internet poker, can be properly regulated and boost the industry. But others have their doubts. Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts Ltd., recently signaled that he had turned against online gambling for now.

Morgan Stanley has predicted that by 2020, online gambling in the U.S. will produce the same amount of revenue as Las Vegas and Atlantic City markets combined: $9.3 billion.

At least three congressional bills related to online gambling have been introduced this year. Two lawmakers introduced bills over the summer that would legalize some form of Internet gambling nationwide. This fall, Rep. Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Washington, introduced a bill that would tax federally sanctioned online wagering.

Gamblers wanting to bet from the privacy of their homes have had few options in recent years. The federal government cracked down definitively on Internet gambling in 2011. But the same year, the U.S. Justice Department issued a ruling making online gambling legal so long as it’s permitted on the state level.

Congress flirted with an online gambling bill in 2012, but industry infighting and partisan disagreement ultimately doomed it. When that legislation failed, states began moving ahead on their own.

Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware have legalized some kind of online gambling, and at least 10 other states are considering following suit, according to a survey conducted by Gambling Compliance, a group that tracks gambling-related legislation worldwide.

Ancient genome stirs ethics debate

Sequencing of DNA from Native American ‘Clovis boy’ forces researchers to rethink handling of tribal remains.

By Ewen Callaway, Nature.com

12 February 2014

Source: Robert L. Walker
Humans from the Clovis culture used characteristic stone points (brown) and rod-shaped bone tools.

The remains of a young boy, ceremonially buried some 12,600 years ago in Montana, have revealed the ancestry of one of the earliest populations in the Americas, known as the Clovis culture.

Published in this issue of Nature, the boy’s genome sequence shows that today’s indigenous groups spanning North and South America are all descended from a single population that trekked across the Bering land bridge from Asia (M. Rasmussen et al. Nature 506, 225–229; 2014). The analysis also points to an early split between the ancestors of the Clovis people and a second group, whose DNA lives on in populations in Canada and Greenland (see page 162).

But the research underscores the ethical minefield of studying ancient Native American remains, and rekindles memories of a bruising legal fight over a different human skeleton in the 1990s.

To avoid such a controversy, Eske Willerslev, a palaeobiologist at the University of Copenhagen who led the latest study, attempted to involve Native American communities. And so he embarked on a tour of Montana’s Indian reservations last year, talking to community members to explain his work and seek their support. “I didn’t want a situation where the first time they heard about this study was when it’s published,” he says.

Source: Montana Office of Public Instruction.
Construction workers discovered the Clovis burial site on a private ranch near the small town of Wilsall in May 1968 (see ‘Ancient origins’). About 100 stone and bone artefacts, as well as bone fragments from a male child aged under two, were subsequently recovered.

The boy’s bones were found to date to the end of the Clovis culture, which flourished in the central and western United States between about 13,000 and 12,600 years ago. Carved elk bones found with the boy’s remains were hundreds of years older, suggesting that they were heirlooms. The ranch, owned by Melvyn and Helen Anzick, is the only site yet discovered at which Clovis objects exist alongside human bones. Most of the artefacts now reside in a museum, but researchers returned the human remains to the Anzick family in the late 1990s.

At that time, the Anzicks’ daughter, Sarah, was conducting cancer and genome research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and thought about sequencing genetic material from the bones. But she was wary of stoking a similar debate to the one surrounding Kennewick Man, a human skeleton found on the banks of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, in July 1996. Its discovery sparked an eight-year legal battle between Native American tribes, who claimed that they were culturally connected to the individual, and researchers, who said that the roughly 9,000-year-old remains pre-dated the tribes.

The US government sided with the tribes, citing the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The act requires that human remains discovered on federal lands — as Kennewick Man was — are returned to affiliated tribes for reburial. But a court ruled that the law did not apply, largely because of the age of the remains, and ordered that Kennewick Man be stored away from public view in a museum.

Sarah Anzick sought the advice of local tribes over the Clovis boy, but she could not reach a consensus with the tribes on what to do. She gave up on the idea, stored the bones in a safe location and got on with her other research.

In 2009, archaeologist Michael Waters, of Texas A&M University in College Station, contacted Anzick with the idea of sending the remains to Willerslev’s lab. (In early 2010, the lab published one of the first genome sequences of an ancient human, a 4,000-year-old resident of Greenland; see M. Rasmussen et al. Nature 463, 757–762; 2010.) “I said, ‘I will allow you guys to do this, but I want to be involved,’” recalls Anzick, who has published more than a dozen papers in leading journals.

In Copenhagen, she extracted DNA from fragments of the boy’s skull ready for mitochondrial genome sequencing, which offers a snapshot of a person’s maternal ancestry. Back in Montana months later, she received the sequencing data and discovered that the genome’s closest match was to present-day Native Americans. “My heart just stopped,” she says.

Right to remains

After Willerslev’s team confirmed the link by sequencing the boy’s nuclear genome (a more detailed indicator of ancestry), Willerslev sought advice from an agency that handles reburial issues. He was told that, because the remains were found on private land, NAGPRA did not apply and no consultation was needed. Despite this, Willerslev made his own attempt to consult local tribes. This led to a meeting in September at the burial site, with Anzick, Willerslev and their co-author Shane Doyle, who works in Native American studies at Montana State University in Bozeman, and is a member of the Crow tribe.

“That place is very special to me, that’s my ancestral homeland.”

“That place is very special to me, that’s my ancestral homeland,” says Doyle. He told Willerslev and Anzick that they should rebury the child where he was found. “I think you need to put the little boy back where his parents left him,” Doyle recalls telling them.

Doyle and Willerslev then set off on a 1,500-kilometre road trip to meet representatives of four Montana tribes; Doyle later consulted another five. Many of the people they talked to had few problems with the research, Doyle says, but some would have preferred to have been consulted before the study started, and not years after.

Willerslev says that researchers studying early American remains should assume that they are related to contemporary groups, and involve them as early as possible. But it is not always clear whom to contact, he adds, particularly when remains are related to groups spread across the Americas. “We have to engage with Native Americans, but how you deal with that question in practice is not an easy thing,” he says.

Hank Greely, a legal scholar at Stanford University in California who is interested in the legal and ethical issues of human genetics, commends the approach of Willerslev’s team. But he says that there is no single solution to involving Native American communities in such research. “You’re looking to try to talk to the people who might be most invested in, or connected with, particular sets of remains,” he advises.

Dennis O’Rourke, a geneticist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, who studies ancient DNA from populations native to the islands around Alaska, notes that indigenous groups have varying concerns: some want remains reburied, others do not, for instance.

The Montana tribes overwhelmingly wanted the Clovis boy’s bones interred. Plans for a reburial ceremony, possibly at an undisclosed site, are now being hashed out, with the Crow Nation playing a lead role. It is expected to take place in the spring, after the ground thaws.

Nature 506, 142–143 (13 February 2014) doi:10.1038/506142a

Navy Says Failed Pump Led To Oily Wastewater Spill In Puget Sound

By Ashley Ahearn, EarthFix

The Navy is blaming a failed pump for its spill of nearly 2,000 gallons of oily wastewater into Puget Sound.

Tom Danaher, spokesman for Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, said the Navy was using a pumping system on one of its piers to remove oily bilge water from a vessel late Monday.

An electrical ground prevented the pump from automatically shutting off when a 4,000 holding tank was filled –- and because the operation was not attended, it took about 20-30 minutes before naval staff realized that oil-contaminated waste-water was pouring into the sound, Danaher said in an interview Wednesday.

“So the pumps did not get the signal that the tank was full. The tank overflowed,” he said. “When the people on the pier saw the overflow, we stopped all pumping and started our cleanup.”

The cleanup expanded Wednesday to include the deployment of surveyors who are walking the beaches around Puget Sound’s Hood Canal where the spill occurred, Danaher said.

Mark Toy, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Health, said his agency is continuing to advise against shellfish harvesting in the area affected by the spill

“While at this time there’s not any evidence that shellfish have been affected, we’ve taken the precaution of advising against harvesting from the area,” he said.

Initially, the Navy had indicated the spill involved 150-200 gallons but since then, the unified spill command – including the Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Washington Department of Ecology – have agreed the spill involved nearly 2,000 gallons.

Containing the spill has involved the use of booms to absorb the oily sheen. Danaher said the cleanup has been “like chasing a ghost.”

“Because it’s oily waste, it’s about 95 percent water and that makes it very difficult to absorb and it moves very fast because it’s so light,” he said.

Initially, Navy personnel were skeptical about Washington Department of Ecology reports that the spill had traveled about 10 miles to the Hood Canal Bridge. But then they looked at the state agency’s aerial photographs of the sheen on the water surrounding the bridge.

Danaher described his own reaction to seeing the photos this way:

“Well, there’s good chance it’s probably related to this spill. I wouldn’t know what else to say. I wouldn’t say well, no, that wasn’t it. Some guy dumped his motor boat oil.”

Ice Age Infant’s Genome Fills in Native American Ancestry

BY NIDHI SUBBARAMAN, NBC news

About 12,600 years ago, when ice sheets still covered parts of North America, a baby boy lived, died and was buried in a rocky grave in a field in western Montana.

A new whole genome sequencing of this infant — the oldest genome sequence of an American individual — identifies his community as ancestors of Native Americans who live on the continent today.

“We found the genome of this boy is more closely related to Native Americans today than to any other peoples anywhere else,” Eske Willlerslev, of the University of Copenhagen, who led an international team on this study published in the Thursday issue of Nature, told reporters during a teleconference.

The new study adds to archaeological evidence that Native Americans are descendants of humans that migrated from Asia through Siberia, and thrived across North America 13,000 years ago.

MIKE WATERSAt the Anzick site, a pole marks location where the burial was found. — MIKE WATERS
At the Anzick site, a pole marks location where the burial was found.

The infant boy was discovered in 1968 by construction crews on private property belonging to the Anzick family. He was named Anzick-1, and identified as a member of the ancient Clovis people — a group that appeared between 13,000 and 12,600 years ago, and crafted strikingly distinctive spear tips made from stone.

The first of those stone tools were discovered in Clovis, New Mexico, but then unearthed all across North America. But these tools seem to be all this that this group left behind.

Because the “Clovis points” are so similar to the flint tools found at the Solutré site in France, dating back to about the same time, some researchers have proposed that the Clovis — and ancestors of Native Americans — were Europeans who migrated across the Atlantic from Europe.

But Anzick-1’s genome analysis supports a different theory: His ancestors came from Asia, and travelled into North America through Siberia. “The boy is part of a larger story,” Michael Waters, a geoarchaeologist at the Texas A&M University, and a member of the crew, said during the teleconference,

The researchers compared the Clovis infant’s DNA to several other modern and ancient genomes, including a 4,000-year-old sample from Greenland and a 7,000-year-old sample from Spain, a 24,000-year-old sample from another young lad who was buried on the banks of Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. Anzick-1’s closest relationship was with the Siberian youth — who, researchers showed in February this year, is genetically linked with Native Americans today.

Also, Anzick-1 is most closely genetically related to tribes living in North America, but also to Native Americans in Central and South America. An older lineage split, some time between 13,000 and 24,000 years ago into two, his sequencing data indicates: One that gave rise to the Clovis and Native Americans today, and a second lineage, from which the Central and South American tribes descended.

“The Anzick family is directly ancestral to so many peoples in the Americas. That is astonishing,” Willerslev said.

SARAH ANZICKA large biface made of brown chert along with the beveled end of an osseous rod. — SARAH ANZICK
A large biface made of brown chert along with the beveled end of an osseous rod.

“I think it’s highly significant piece of work,” John Johnson, curator of anthropology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, told NBC News. Johnson, who was not involved with the work, added that “There is a need for continued sampling of living Native Americans to get a more complete look at genetic diversity.”

Sarah Anzick, who was a young girl when the Clovis boy was discovered on her family property, traveled to Copenhagen and contributed to the research. “This has been a labor of love for me and been done outside of my day job and separate from my professional career,” Anzick, who is a molecular biologist at the Rocky Mountain Labs, said during Tuesday’s teleconference.

Tribes living in Montana have been among the first to know the story told by Anzick-1’s DNA. For the last several months, the Willerslev has traveled through Montana and been sharing the results of his crew’s analysis with members of Native American tribes.

“This discovery confirms that tribes never really doubted,” Shane Doyle, a professor of Native American History at Montana State University who is a co-author on the study and a member of the Crow tribe, said. He’s had conversations with more than 100 members, and the main reaction has been: “We have no reason to doubt that we’ve been here for this long.”

In cooperation with local tribes, the group is planning to return Anzick-1 to his grave, in the late spring of this year.

“This boy has gifted us far more than anyone has every dreamed off, and it’s time to put him to put him to rest again,” Doyle said.

First published February 12th 2014, 10:48 am

Landmark Study Demonstrates Climate Benefits of Estuary Restoration

Source: Restore America’s Estuaries

WASHINGTON – Restore America’s Estuaries has released the findings of a groundbreaking study that confirms the climate mitigation benefits of restoring tidal wetland habitat in the Snohomish Estuary, located within the nation’s second largest estuary: Puget Sound. The study, the first of its kind, finds major climate mitigation benefits from wetland restoration and provides a much needed approach for assessing carbon fluxes for historic drained and future restored wetlands which can now be transferred and applied to other geographies.

The Study, “Coastal Blue Carbon Opportunity Assessment for Snohomish Estuary: The Climate Benefits of Estuary Restoration” finds that currently planned and in-construction restoration projects in the Snohomish estuary will result in at least 2.55 million tons of CO2 sequestered from the atmosphere over the next 100-years. This is equivalent to the 1-year emissions for 500,000 average passenger cars. If plans expanded to fully restore the Snohomish estuary, the sequestration potential jumps to 8.8 million tons of CO2 or, in other terms, equal to the 1-year emissions of about 1.7 million passenger cars.

“The study is the first to provide a science-based assessment of climate benefits from restoration at scale. The findings are clear: restoring coastal wetlands must be recognized for their ability to mitigate climate change,” said Jeff Benoit, President and CEO of Restore America’s Estuaries. “The report adds to our list of science-based reasons why restoration is so critical.”

“Healthy estuaries mean healthy economies,” Representative Rick Larsen, WA-02, said. “I have long advocated to restore our estuaries because of the critical role they play in supporting recovery of fisheries. This new study shows that estuary restoration can play a big role in countering climate change too.”

“It is very fitting that we are implementing some of the world’s leading Blue Carbon research here in Puget Sound,” said Steve Dubiel, Executive Director of EarthCorps. “We have always known that wetlands are a kind of breadbasket, thanks to the salmon and shellfish they support. Now we are learning that they are also a carbon sponge.”

In addition to the climate benefits outlined by the study, healthy and restored estuaries act as spawning grounds and nurseries for commercially and recreationally important fish and shellfish species, provide storm buffers for coastal communities, filter pollutants, and provide habitat for numerous species of fish and wildlife, as well as recreational opportunities for hundreds of millions of Americans annually.

“This study illustrates the contribution of tidal wetland restoration to reduce global warming,” said Dr. Steve Crooks, Climate Change Program Manager for Environmental Science Associates and lead author on the study. “From this analysis we find wetlands restoration in Puget Sound likely to be highly resilient to sea level rise while at the same time continuing to sequester carbon within organic soils. Similar opportunities will exist in other coastal regions of the U.S.”

“This report is a call to action. We need to invest more substantially in coastal restoration nationwide and in science to increase our understanding of the climate benefits which accrue from coastal restoration and protection efforts,” said Emmett-Mattox, Senior Director for Restore America’s Estuaries and co-author on the study. “Sea-level rise will only make restoration more difficult and costly in the future. The time for progress is now.”

This report was a collaborative effort of Restore America’s Estuaries, Environmental Science Associates (ESA), EarthCorps, and Western Washington University. Lead funding was provided by NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation and additional support was provided by The Boeing Company and the Wildlife Forever Fund.

“Coastal Blue Carbon Opportunity Assessment for Snohomish Estuary: The Climate Benefits of Estuary Restoration” full report is available here, and the Executive Summary is available here.