Washington Archives - Page 18 of 22

National Congress of American Indians Joins National Action to Realize the Dream March

Source: Native News Network

WASHINGTON – Fifty years after the March on Washington where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered one of the most dynamic speeches of the last century on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, thousands are expected to be in Washington on Saturday, August 24, for the National Action to Realize the Dream March & Rally.

In an act of solidarity, the National Congress of American Indians has partnered with the National Action Network, and numerous other national conveners, to help organize and assist in planning for this historic march and rally.

The March commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The March will take place from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm on Saturday, August 24, and will focus on Jobs, Justice, Voting Rights and Freedom. In the wake of the Trayvon Martin tragedy, the Supreme Court’s decision impacting the Voting Rights Act (Shelby County v. Holder ), and the Baby Veronica adoption case – where the statutory requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act were wrongfully evaded – it is more important than ever for our collective voices to unite for justice and dignity for all people.

The National Congress of American Indians calls on friends and allies nationally to participate, and for those in the Washington DC area to volunteer for the March; bring their families and friends in a show of support; and to help spread the word. The National Action Network is requesting volunteers for the following areas:

Marshalls
Cleanup
Medical (licensed nurses to assist with health needs)
Volunteers are asked to contact the volunteer office at 800.311.7020 or by email at MLK50volunteers@gmail.com

Also, while the March will occur on Saturday, events are taking place beginning August 21 through August 28. Click here for the most up to date list of events throughout this week of mobilization.

Quinault Nation Passes Resolution to Oppose Coal Exports

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network, August 16, 2013

The Quinault Indian Business Committee has passed a resolution opposing proposals to export coal from the Pacific Northwest. The resolution, passed Monday, specifically addresses a proposal to transport coal by rail from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming through Washington State for export from Cherry Point in Anacortes. There are other locations in Washington and British Columbia under consideration, including Longview, said Fawn Sharp, President of the Quinault Indian Nation.

“This resolution is a strong statement by the Quinault Nation and demonstrates its commitment to protect and promote the health, safety and general welfare of our people,” said Sharp, who is also President of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians. “We have determined that the coal trains are detrimental to the health of our people and to the natural resources of our region, and thus in violation of our treaty-protected rights,” she said.

“We have serious concerns about the long-term effects of pollution caused by burning coal from Asian countries, many of which lack the pollution standards we are used to within the United States. Emissions from coal-fired plants have the potential to further threaten our oceans and fisheries, already severely impacted by the acidification of the water, added Sharp.

The Quinault Indian Nation is signatory to the Treaty with the Quinault of 1855. It, along with other Northwest treaties, has been repeatedly reaffirmed by the federal government, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and is thus legally classified as the “supreme law of the land” under Article VI of the U.S. Constitution.

“Coal dust and diesel particulates will find their way into our air and waterways as these trains pass along and over our rivers, doing damage to natural resources upon which the Nation depends,” said Sharp. “The United States Environmental Protection Agency, Tribal governments, and environmental organizations have voiced concerns over the threat to human health these proposals bring because of the adverse health effects of coal dust and diesel pollution, including bronchitis, emphysema, lung damage, asthma, and cancer. Our elders and our children are particularly vulnerable because of sensitivity to the health effects of fine particles,” she said.

“The Quinault Nation’s treaty fishing right includes a right of access to its traditional fishing, hunting, and gathering sites that will be impacted by increased vessel and rail traffic.

In the Resolution, the Quinault Business Committee expresses its solidarity and support for the “no” position regarding the Gateway Pacific Terminal proposal adopted by the Lummi Indian Business Council, based on documented disturbance of sacred burial grounds and proposed fill of that area for the purpose of containing over a hundred acres of coal piles.

The Resolution also endorses the words of Billy Frank, Jr., Nisqually tribal elder and longtime chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission that, “We are at a legal and biological crossroads in our efforts to recover the salmon and preserve our tribal cultures, subsistence, spirituality, and economies. Not since the darkest days of the fishing rights struggle have we feared so deeply for the future of our treaty rights.” Quinault Nation, one of 20 member tribes of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, is signatory to “Treaty Rights at Risk” submitted to the federal government by that Commission. Among other things, that report states that coal export proposals will, in fact, further endanger Treaty Rights.

The Quinault Resolution will be submitted to President Obama, key members of the federal Administration, key members of Congress and to Governor Inslee.

Deceased man who worked for Makah Nation called serial killer

Source: indianz.com

Federal authorities say a deceased man killed several people 11 people, including five during his time as an employee of the Makah Nation of Washington.

Israel Keyes allegedly admitted to the murders while he was being held in Alaska for the death of a young woman there. The FBI needs help identifying the victims.

“We’ve exhausted all our investigative leads,” FBI spokesperson Eric Gonzalez told The Peninsula Daily News. The FBI posted information about Keyes in hopes of drawing new leads.

Keyes worked for the tribe from 2001 through 2007. The first murder was committed while he lived on the reservation in 2001, the FBI said.

Makah Police Chief Charles Irving previously told The Seattle Weekly that Keyes didn’t draw attention to himself. He reportedly lived with a woman who bore his child.

“He had no run-ins with the police,” Irving told the Weekly back in January. “A lot of people were surprised because he was pretty well liked here.”

The woman and the child still live on the reservation, The Peninsula Daily News reported. Keyes was known as a good father, tribal judge Emma Dulik said.

“He never seemed to cause any problems,” Dulik told the paper.

It wasn’t reported whether the woman or the child are tribal members. Of the three known victims, including the one in Alaska, none have been identified as American Indian or Alaska Native.

“Out of the respect for the family of Mr. Israel Keyes, the Makah tribe will not be making any formal comment to the media related to Mr. Keyes’ time spent in Neah Bay,” the tribal council said in a statement to the Daily News

Keyes killed himself in December 2012 while being held for the murder of an 18-year-old woman in Alaska.

Get the Story:
FBI releases taped interviews with Alaska serial killer indicating 5 victims in Wash state (AP 8/13)
SERIAL KILLER I: Israel Keyes history a shock to those who knew him in Neah Bay (The Peninsula Daily News 8/14)
SERIAL KILLER II: Murderer tied to five slayings while living in Neah Bay, including body in Lake Crescent (The Peninsula Daily News / AP 8/14)
SERIAL KILLER III: FBI’s updated timeline for Israel Keyes (The Peninsula Daily News /

SERIAL KILLER II: Murderer tied to five slayings while living in Neah Bay, including body in Lake Crescent

Peninsula Daily News and The Associated Press

PORT ANGELES — FBI agents have linked 11 killings to admitted serial killer Israel Keyes, including five murders from 2001 to 2006 while he lived in Neah Bay.

Keyes told agents he weighed down at least one body with anchors and dumped it from a boat into 100 feet of water in Lake Crescent, 18 miles west of Port Angeles.

The FBI on Monday released a timeline of travels and crimes by Keyes, a handyman and owner of an Alaska construction company who committed suicide in his Anchorage, Alaska, jail cell in December 2012 while awaiting trial for the kidnapping and murder of an 18-year-old barista.

Before his death, police said he admitted to at least seven other slayings, from Vermont to Washington state, hunting down victims in remote locations such as parks, campgrounds or hiking trails.

In a statement issued Monday afternoon, the FBI office in Anchorage said agents now have added three more to that grim tally, based on his statements, and said the timeline sheds some new light on a mysterious case that left a trail of unsolved killings around the country.

FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez said the goal of releasing the information is to seek input from the public, to identify victims who remain unknown and to provide some closure to their families.

“We’ve exhausted all our investigative leads,” Gonzalez said.

Anyone who might have information about Keyes or possible victims is asked to call the FBI at 800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324).

The FBI said Keyes lived in Neah Bay in 2001 after he was discharged from the Army.

While he was living there, Keyes committed his first homicide, according to the timeline.

The victim’s identity is not known, and neither is the location of the murder. Without giving any specifics, Gonzalez said the FBI did not know whether this murder occurred in Washington state.

The FBI documents said Keyes frequented prostitutes during his travels and killed an unidentified couple in Washington state sometime between July 2001 and 2005.

Keyes also told investigators he committed two separate murders between 2005 and 2006, disposing of at least one of the bodies from a boat in 12-mile-long Lake Crescent.

“Keyes stated at least one of the bodies was disposed of in Crescent Lake in Washington, and he used anchors to submerge the body,” the FBI said.

“Keyes reported the body was submerged in more than 100 feet of water.”

Keyes reportedly lived and worked in Neah Bay from 2001 to 2007, employed by the Makah tribe there for repair work and construction, before moving to Alaska.

When he killed himself in jail, the 34-year-old Keyes was awaiting a federal trial in the rape and strangulation murder of 18-year-old Samantha Koenig, who was abducted February 2012 from the Anchorage coffee stand where she worked.

Keyes confessed to killing Koenig and at least seven others around the country, including Bill and Lorraine Currier of Essex, Vt., in 2011.

Keyes also told investigators in Alaska that he killed four people in Washington, but names and details were lacking, according to an FBI news release.

He said he killed two people in separate incidents sometime in 2005 or 2006, and then “murdered a couple” in the state between 2001 and 2005.

The FBI said Monday that Keyes is believed to actually have killed 11 people, all strangers.

Keyes told investigators his victims were male and female, and that the murders occurred in fewer than 10 states, but he did not reveal all locations.

Koenig and the Curriers were the only victims named by Keyes because he knew authorities had tied him to their deaths.

Keyes told investigators only one other victim’s body besides Koenig’s was ever recovered, but that victim’s death was ruled as accidental.

The bodies of the Curriers were never found.

The FBI said Keyes admitted frequenting prostitutes, but it’s unknown whether Keyes met any of his victims this way.

Keyes said he robbed several banks to fund his travels along with money he made as a general contractor, and investigators have corroborated his role in two holdups, according to the FBI.

Keyes also told authorities he broke into as many as 30 homes throughout the country, and he talked about covering up a homicide through arson.

The timeline begins in summer of 1997 or 1998, when Keyes abducted a teenage girl while she and friends were tubing on the Deschutes River, he told investigators.

The FBI said Keyes was living in Maupin, Ore., at the time, and the abduction is believed to have occurred near that area.

Keyes moved to Anchorage in 2007 but continued to travel extensively outside the state.

After killing Koenig, Keyes flew to New Orleans, where he went on a cruise.

He left Koenig’s body in a shed outside his Anchorage home for two weeks, according to the FBI.

After the cruise, Keyes drove to Texas.

The FBI said that during this time, Keyes may have been responsible for a homicide in Texas or a nearby state — a crime Keyes denied.

Keyes was arrested in Lufkin, Texas, about six weeks after Koenig’s disappearance. He had sought a ransom and used Koenig’s debit card.

Three weeks after the arrest, Koenig’s dismembered body was found in a frozen lake north of Anchorage.

The FBI said Keyes also traveled internationally, but it’s unknown if he killed anyone outside the U.S.

He is known to have been in Belize, Canada and Mexico.

Remote areas

Keyes frequented remote areas such as campgrounds, trailheads and cemeteries to pick victims, according to the FBI.

While the specifics of his murders are largely unknown, the FBI hopes that by elaborating on Keyes’ whereabouts and the nature of his crimes, anyone with information might come forward to provide details on who Keyes’ victims may have been.

“In a series of interviews with law enforcement, Keyes described significant planning and preparation for his murders, reflecting a meticulous and organized approach to his crimes,” the FBI wrote in a release accompanying the timeline.

“It’s a more comprehensive timeline,” Gonzalez said of the updated breakdown of Keyes’ whereabouts.

“It’s based on investigations and on speaking with Keyes. It’s the best timeline that we have. We’re really just opening it up and putting it all out there at this point.”

Keyes killed himself by slitting one of his wrists and strangling himself with bedding, police said. He left behind an extensive four-page note that expressed no remorse nor offered any clues to other slayings.

He studied other serial killers but “was very careful to say he had not patterned himself after any other serial killer,” Anchorage Police Detective Monique Doll said last December.

Investigators said he had “a meticulous and organized approach to his crimes,” stashing weapons, cash and items used to dispose of bodies in several locations to prepare for future crimes.

Authorities have dug up two of those caches — one in Eagle River, Alaska, outside Anchorage, and one near a reservoir in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.

Amber Alert kidnap suspect may be using explosives, officials say

By Kate Mather, Tony Perry and Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times
August 9, 2013, 3:15 a.m.

Authorities searching for a missing San Diego County teenager allegedly abducted by a family friend stretched warned that her alleged abductor might be using explosives.

The suspect, James Lee DiMaggio, 40, might have abandoned his blue Nissan Versa and left it booby-trapped with explosives, authorities said, warning people that if they find the vehicle or anywhere he might have stopped, they should stay away.

DiMaggio is an avid outdoorsman, and authorities are also urging people to be on the lookout at campsites and other rural areas where he might be hiding.

Four days into the search for 16-year-old Hannah Anderson, authorities were no closer to finding her or DiMaggio, though numerous tips have poured in to law enforcement agencies in multiple states.

“Basically, the search area is the United States, Canada and Mexico,” said Lt. Glenn Giannantonio of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. “The search area is North America.”

As the search fanned out Thursday, authorities had no confirmed sightings of Anderson or DiMaggio, who is believed to have abducted the teenager Sunday after killing her mother and 8-year-old brother in Boulevard, a rural border town in eastern San Diego County.

An Amber Alert for Hannah Anderson and her brother Ethan was active in four states Thursday, though authorities said it was possible she might have been taken to Texas, or even Canada. Boulevard is about five miles north of the Mexican border, and the FBI was working with Mexican authorities to search for DiMaggio, Giannantonio said.

New details in the case emerged Thursday about the death of Hannah’s mother, 44-year-old Christina Anderson of Lakeside, another community east of San Diego. Anderson died of blunt force trauma and may have been hit with a crowbar, a source close to the investigation said.

Anderson’s body was found in a stand-alone garage near DiMaggio’s burning home, the source said. The body of a child was found in the house. Although the child has not been identified because the body was badly burned and DNA difficult to obtain, family members have said they believe it to be Ethan.

Christina Anderson’s dog was also found dead on the property, Giannantonio said.

An arrest warrant for murder has been issued for DiMaggio, and a judge agreed to set bail at $1 million if he is arrested, San Diego County sheriff’s officials said Thursday.

As the Amber Alert widened to Nevada, authorities said DiMaggio might have changed vehicles.

A horde of humpies heading our way

By Wayne Kruse, The Herald

It’s time to start thinking pink.

For many seasoned anglers, Aug. 10 is the rule-of-thumb start to the odd-year pink salmon fishery in local saltwater. That means this weekend could see solid catch rates — instead of just a scattering of “humpies” — at Possession Bar and the stretch of shoreline between Mukilteo and the “shipwreck” known as Humpy Hollow.

River fishing will take longer to develop, particularly in this summer of very low, warm stream flows. But make no mistake, there’s a horde of humpies on the way. State Fish and Wildlife Department salmon managers expect upwards of 6 million pinks to enter Puget Sound, and another 6 million Fraser River fish to be available to Washington anglers in the San Juan Islands.

Predictions are for 1.25 million pinks to return to the Skagit River; 1 million to the Snohomish/Skykomish; 1.25 million to the Puyallup; and 1.3 million to the Green. And even though humpies are smallish and a couple of notches down the list of top table salmon, a million-plus fish off Mukilteo and in the Snohomish River will bring recreational fishermen out of the woodwork. Lots of fish, lots of fishing, lots of fun.

As of early this week, humpy reports were as follows:

n Skagit River: The Skagit pink run is usually a little earlier than that in the Snohomish system, and this summer seems to be following the script. The Skagit opened Aug. 1 up to Gilligan Creek, and good fishing was the rule in the lower end. Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington said plunkers in the Mount Vernon area scored well fishing off the bars with red or pink Spin N Glos and shrimp.

“It was pretty decent,” John said. “There were actually more fish in the river early than we had expected.”

Young’s Bar at Mount Vernon bristled with plunking rods, as did the forks area and the “trestle” in Burlington. John said techniques changed farther upriver, to trolling spoons above Burlington and working jigs above Sedro-Woolley.

John said the third week of August is usually the peak for pink fishing in the Skagit, but that it may be a little earlier this year. He said the westside Whidbey Island beaches are putting out humpies consistently now to shore casters, including Fort Casey, Bush and Lagoon points, and North Beach at Deception Pass. Those folks are tossing Buzz Bombs and Rotators in pinks and greens, John said, concentrating on low slack and the first portion of the incoming tide.

n Snohomish River: The Sno opened Aug. 1 below Highway 9 to so-so results, said John Martinis at John’s Sporting Goods in north Everett. “I expect the river fishing to gradually improve, with the last week of August being the usual peak,” Martinis said.

He likes jig fishing for humpies in the lower Snohomish. Drift and cast quarter-ounce pink jigs to rolling fish or, better yet, anchor above a pod of fish showing well and fish jigs down to them. Try to get a feel for where the bottom is, he said, because the fish generally will be about a foot off the bottom.

“The Snohomish can be a little ‘grabby,'” he said, “so I suggest to customers they try the Danielson jigs. If you buy them in packages, they’re something like nine cents or 10 cents each, and you’re set for the whole day.”

The morning incoming tide is the best time to hit the lower Snohomish, and there are spots to fish from Lowell Rotary Park all the way up to Snohomish, on both sides of the river.

n Local saltwater: “The run is building,” said Mike Chamberlain of Ted’s Sport Center in Lynnwood. “A lot of guys fishing last weekend in Humpy Hollow hit two or three fish per boat. Limits? Not yet, but it won’t be long.”

He agreed that the westside Whidbey beaches are a good bet, casting 2- or 21/2-inch Buzz Bombs or Rotators in “pink, pink, and more pink.” Prime time, he says, is the last hour of the incoming tide through high slack and the first two hours of the ebb.

In saltwater, rig with a size “0” white dodger, 8-inch Coyote Flasher, or Gibbs white flasher; a 25-pound test leader two times the length of the dodger or 11/2 times the length of the flasher; and a pink mini-squid on either a single 3/0 hook or a double 2/0, tied close together. The trolling speed should be very slow, Chamberlain said, so your flasher/dodger swings side to side instead of rotating.

Early in the day, start at 30 feet, later dropping to 70 feet or deeper.

Humpy derby

Pink salmon have their own event with the debut this summer of the Bad Draw Humpy Showdown Derby, Aug. 24, rain or shine, in any water, fresh or salt, legally open to pink salmon fishing. The event is a fund-raiser for the Bad Draw Wrestling Club of Snohomish County and proceeds benefit youth sports.

The entry fee is $25 adult (13 and over), and $15 youth (12 and under), with tickets available at Doug’s Boats, Woodinville; Holiday Sports, Burlington; Greg’s Custom Rods, Lake Stevens; McDaniel’s, Snohomish; Harbor Marine, Bayside Marine, John’s Sporting Goods and Precision Machine, all of Everett; Sky Valley Traders, Monroe; Ted’s Sporting Goods and Ed’s Surplus, both in Lynnwood; Triangle Beverage, Snohomish; Three Rivers Marine, Woodinville; Anglers Choice, Shoreline; The Coffee Box, Sultan; and Outdoor Emporium, Seattle.

The largest pink wins $2,500 (adult) or $500 (youth), and the grand prize draw will award a Lavro drift boat, fully equipped, with trailer — an $8,500 package.

For more information,visit www.baddrawwrestling.com or call Adam Aney at 425-231-1301.

Buoy 10

The popular chinook/coho fishery on the bottom end of the Columbia River opened Aug 1, and the success rate has increased slowly from that point. The latest creel sampling, on Aug. 4, showed 155 anglers in 52 boats, with 15 kings and 13 coho. The fishery will be working on the largest run of “upriver bright” fall chinook in nearly a half-century, according to state biologist Joe Hymer in Vancouver. Those fish also will provide a top recreational fishery later this year in the Hanford Reach portion of the Columbia, above the Tri-Cities.

For more outdoors news, read Wayne Kruse’s blog at www.heraldnet.com/huntingandfishing.

Steep tax difference between recreational, medical pot a worry

Dan Bates / The Herald At the Comcast Arena Conference Center on Tuesday, Jim Andersen, of Lynnwood, addresses concerns and asks questions regarding rules about Initiative 502. It was one in a series of public hearings by the Washington State Liquor Control Board .

By Sharon Salyer, The Herald

Washington received national attention last fall when voters approved an initiative to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana for adults.

Now officials are deciding how this new industry will be regulated.

At a public hearing on this Tuesday in Everett, some people asked how the state could have one system for medical marijuana and another system — with separate rules — for recreational marijuana.

And with recreational marijuana being taxed — and medical marijuana not — it could mean a steep difference in prices.

The new statewide system is expected to begin next year, legalizing recreational pot sales to adults. It will tax marijuana when it’s harvested, shipped to distributors and sold at state-licensed stores.

The concern is the taxes could make it more expensive than marijuana sold in medical dispensaries or in illegal street sales.

“You’ll compete against them,” said Shawn Scoleri, general manager of Canna RX, a medical marijuana dispensary in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood.

Sharon Foster heads the state’s Liquor Control Board, which is overseeing the enforcement of the state’s marijuana legalization. During Tuesday’s meeting, she acknowledged that it’s an issue that keeps getting raised as the state moves closer to legalization.

The Liquor Control Board is working with two other state agencies, the departments of health and revenue, to try to come up with recommendations to the Legislature on how to resolve the taxing issue, she said.

The hearing at a conference room at Comcast Arena on Tuesday is the first of five around the state to discuss the proposed rules. The state is scheduled in six weeks to begin accepting applications to grow, distribute or sell marijuana. Many questions remain to be resolved, as many of two dozen people who spoke at Tuesday’s hearing were eager to point out.

There were questions over how to find insurance, how marijuana entrepreneurs could legally bank their money, and what actions the federal government, with laws on the books making marijuana illegal, might take to legally challenge the state’s marijuana law.

“Anything we would say about federal law would be speculation,” Foster said, noting that the board is simply charged with implementing the new state law.

“There is a problem not having a clearer signal from the feds,” said Chris Marr, a member of the liquor control board.

Loren Simmonds, mayor pro-tem of Lynnwood, wondered if the city has to provide a license to operate a marijuana business if it didn’t meet the requirement to be at least 1,000 feet from schools and parks. Foster told him no.

Gloria Rivera, a Lynn-wood planner, wondered if the city could prohibit marijuana business entirely.

Liquor board staff, recalling terminology used during Prohibition, said that the state initiative does not allow for “dry” areas, but the city can regulate marijuana through its zoning.

Jason Bess, from Lynn-wood, said he came to Tuesday’s hearing to get more information on the production, processing and licensing of marijuana businesses. He said he plans to start a business growing the crop.

“This is a new era for the country,” he said. “In five years, every single state will have marijuana.”

Matt Barron, from Everett, said that the state will decide how many marijuana licenses to approve, and who gets them.

“This is like a lottery,” he said. “Who’s lucky enough to get a license? I want to be prepared.”

Jim Woods of Makah Tribe continues as EPA senior tribal policy advisor for Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(July 30, 2013 – Seattle) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that Jim Woods, of the Makah Tribe in Neah Bay, Washington, will continue as the region’s Senior Tribal Policy Advisor for an additional two-year term.

Jim, or K’a’s•cak•a•b’lkh to the Makah, will continue to work with over 271 tribes in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, as part of an Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement with the Swinomish Tribe originally signed in 2011.

“I am pleased that Jim has agreed to extend his term through July 2015, and I am grateful to the Swinomish Tribe for their continuing strong support of Jim and partnership with EPA,” said Dennis McLerran, EPA Regional Administrator. “Our region has by far the largest number of tribal governments in the nation, and Jim has been key to helping us fulfill our trust responsibilities and work together to protect the resources that tribes depend on.”

“EPA has a unique relationship with tribes, as our common goal is to ensure we provide healthy and safe communities and sustainable resources in the Northwest and Alaska for today and generations to come. As EPA’s Senior Tribal Policy Advisor, Jim carries the voices of hundreds of tribal communities and members in a meaningful way to EPA and helps both the agency and tribes find common ground to advance tribal environmental protection objectives,” said Brian Cladoosby, Chairman of the Swinomish Tribe.

Jim will continue to serve under a renewed Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement, as the senior liaison between tribes and the EPA regional office, communicating tribal perspectives, trust responsibility, sovereignty, treaty rights, and self-governance to the Regional Administrator and senior EPA management.

One of Jim’s primary responsibilities is the regional implementation of the Presidential Executive Order on Consultation and Coordination with Tribal Governments, focusing on promoting effective and meaningful government-to-government interaction with tribes in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

Before his appointment to EPA, Jim served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Swinomish Tribe, focusing on environmental policies, natural resource policies, and treaty rights.

Jim previously led the Sustainable Resource Management division for the Makah Tribal Council.

More about Jim Woods: http://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/tribal.nsf/programs/jimwoods

Follow @EPAnorthwest on Twitter! https://twitter.com/EPAnorthwest

Oil trains and terminals could be coming to the Northwest

John Upton, Grist

Pacific Northwesterners worried by three planned new coal export hubs along their shorelines have something new to fear.

Oil refiner Tesoro and terminal operator Savage are trying to secure permits to build the region’s biggest crude oil shipping terminal at the Port of Vancouver, along the Washington state side of the Columbia River.

KPLU reports that the proposed terminal would receive crude by rail from oil fields in North Dakota and transfer it onto oceangoing tankers for delivery to refineries along the West Coast. And that’s just one of many plans to boost shipments of oil through the region to coastal ports. Environmentalists are not pleased, fearing oil spills among other problems.

From The Columbian:

The Port of Vancouver got an earful Thursday from backers and opponents of a proposed crude-oil transfer terminal who packed the Board of Commissioners’ hearing room to trumpet their arguments.

Executives with Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies, who want to build the terminal to handle as much as 380,000 barrels of oil per day, told commissioners the project capitalizes on rising U.S. oil production, boosts the local economy and will operate in ways that minimize harm to the environment.

“A lot of family-wage jobs will be created,” said Kent Avery, a senior vice president for Savage.

Critics told commissioners the project, which would haul oil by rail and move it over water, conflicts with the port’s own sustainability goals, increases the risk of oil spills in the Columbia River and further fuels global warming.

“This is a really big gamble,” said Jim Eversaul, a Vancouver resident and retired U.S. Coast Guard chief engineer.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) will have the final decision on the proposal. From the Columbian again:

Port managers are negotiating the terms of a lease agreement with Tesoro and Savage. Commissioners may decide a proposed lease arrangement on July 23.

Such a decision won’t end the matter, though. The state Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council will scrutinize the proposed crude oil facility and make a recommendation to Gov. Jay Inslee, who has the final say.

The council’s review could take up to a year or more. The companies hope to launch an oil terminal at the port in 2014.

The Seattle-based nonprofit Sightline reports that 11 port terminals and refineries in Washington and Oregon “are planning, building, or already operating oil-by-rail shipments” and “if all of the projects were built and operated at full capacity, they would put an estimated 20 mile-long trains per day on the Northwest’s railway system.”

Gov. Inslee signs $33.6 billion state budget

Rachel La Corte, The Herald

OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee signed a new two-year budget on Sunday, averting a government shutdown that state officials had been planning for in case the new spending plan wasn’t in place by the end of the weekend.

The $33.6 billion operating budget was the key item among more than a dozen bills signed by Inslee, just a day after the Legislature adjourned for the year after two overtime legislative sessions.

“We’ve done some good things in tough times, and I’m glad we found compromise so that the work of the state of Washington will continue,” Inslee said before signing the budget.

His signature came just hours before the end of the current budget cycle. Thousands of state workers had been warned last week that they could face temporary layoffs because much of state government would need to shut down if a budget plan wasn’t in place by midnight Sunday.

It’s been more than 20 years since a governor signed a budget this late in the process. Lawmakers were supposed to complete the spending plan in April but got delayed by a series of disputes over tax, spending and policy proposals.

The final operating budget added $1 billion to the state’s education system and provided enough money to universities so that tuition would remain at current levels.

“We really are prioritizing education over other parts of government,” said Republican Sen. Andy Hill of Redmond, who was the chief budget negotiator in the Senate.

A year ago, the Washington Supreme Court ruled in what is known as the McCleary case that the state is not fulfilling its constitutional duty to pay for basic education and is relying too much on school districts to raise extra dollars through local levies. The justices want to see the Legislature pay for previously adopted education reforms and proof of yearly progress toward completing the work by 2018.

Inslee and other lawmakers noted that the money put toward education in this budget is only a down payment on that obligation.

“We have long-term funding challenges for education, and I hope we will address those in a more systematic way in the years to come,” Inslee said.

The new budget, which runs through mid-2015, didn’t include much of the new revenue options initially proposed by Inslee — he had sought to limit or close a variety of tax breaks — but it did save or raise some money by making changes in estate and phone taxes, largely in response to court rulings.

The budget includes some cuts, including another suspension of voter-approved cost-of-living increases for school employees, saving $320 million. Budget writers also booked $30 million in savings from the implementation of lean management practices.

About $500 million of the budget is funded by a variety of transfers, with the largest chunk coming from the state’s public works assistance account that helps support local projects — a shift that irked local government leaders.

The plan also creates or extends some tax breaks, benefiting the beekeeper industry, nonprofit gun clubs who purchase clay targets, dance venues and renewable energy. Those tax breaks were among the bills signed by Inslee on Sunday. Also signed was a measure to start a long-term effort to help manage water in the Yakima River Basin.

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, said he was most proud of the money put toward education, as well as a Medicaid expansion under President Barack Obama’s health care law.

“This budget means so much to so many people’s lives,” Chopp said after the bill signing.

Inslee vetoed more than a dozen sections of the budget, including a handful of studies or reports from various agencies for which no funding existed, including the study of a the long-term effectiveness of a chemical dependency treatment program at the Department of Social and Health Services.