Tulalip News

Seattle Area Leaders Announce Plans To Merge Duwamish River Clean Up Efforts

a 2012 file photo of scrap metal that environmentalists say was contributing to pollution in the Duwamish River. | credit: Katie Campbell

By Kim Malcolm, KUOW

SEATTLE — King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced plans Monday to combine efforts to clean up of the Duwamish and Green River watershed.

The strategy calls for coordinating the work of governments, non-profits and businesses already involved in the clean-up.

Constantine said bringing all the players together will improve the chances that the cleanup will work, permanently.

“We can begin to get more value for each dollar, to get more clean up, to get better environmental outcomes, and economic outcomes,” he said.

No new money was announced with the new plan, although officials said it will build upon 524-million dollars already committed by the City of Seattle and King County.

The watershed stretches 93 miles, from the Cascade Mountains to Elliott Bay in downtown Seattle. The Duwamish River flows through some of the most industrialized areas of South Seattle. It was declared a superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2001.

This was first reported for KUOW.

Native Vote Counts More in ’14 According to the Math

Mark Trahant, 9/8/14, Indian Country Today

So what if you had more votes than everyone else? What if your vote counted more? Would you?

Well, on Tuesday the primary season ends with elections in the Northeast. And in one of those states — New York — a candidate for governor, is illustrating exactly that extra voting power. It’s what could happen with Native American voters in 2014.

Zephyr Teachout is running a rag-tag campaign against the machine of incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She insists that she’s going to win. On Saturday she told MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki that her route to victory will be the “miniscule” turnout in the primary. She said she will win the primary with 300,000 to 350,000 votes. In the last general election, Cuomo earned nearly 3 million votes.

Think of that: A primary vote is worth roughly 10 times that of a general election ballot. It’s because turnout is so low.

Mark Trahant

Remember Eric Cantor? The former House majority leader was defeated by primary challenger David Brat. Brat only won 36,110 votes — less than five percent of that district’s voters.

Low-turnout elections, whether primary or the general, favor the few, the organized, and, perhaps, Native voters.

How can that be? Let’s play with some numbers.

We know that New Mexico has the highest registration rate for Native American voters at 77 percent. That’s step one. And what if that were the standard? What if three-quarters of all eligible American Indians and Alaska Natives were registered to vote?

In Alaska, for example, the total registration for white voters is 71.1 percent, or roughly 362,000 people (figures from the Voter Elections Project and National Commission on Voting Rights.) Alaska Natives could be at least 17.1 percent of that or 87,210 votes. But current estimates are far below that — as low as 43,605.

So if we use New Mexico as the standard? Then the potential vote of Alaska Natives increases by at least 67,238, a difference of nearly 24,000 registered voters.

In a low turnout election, as 2014 is likely to be, that’s a pool of voters that every candidate would want to woo. (Remember it only took some 36,000 votes to knock off the next Speaker of the House, Rep. Cantor.)

Of course that’s just registration numbers. Step one. But the deadline for that first step is coming up across the country. Most states require registration 30 days before Election Day.

One phrase I’ve used a lot in this piece is “at least.” Let me explain. All of the numbers I am using are not precise and they’re based on elections past. But every year there is a growing number of first-time voters.

This is Indian country’s greatest advantage. Here are six more numbers to think about: 18, 11 and 19. And, 15, 23, and 16.

In 2008, when Barack Obama was first on the ballot, people 18 to 29 accounted for 18 percent of the electorate. Then, two years later, that same group voted in smaller numbers and only were 11 percent of the total. Then, two years ago, the young voter was back and it grew to 19 percent of the pie. On the other hand, older voters, 65 and older, were 15 percent of the total in 2008, rose to 23 percent in 2010 and dropped again to 16 percent in 2012. Older voters are reliable and show up. Younger voters not so much.

Indian country has the youngest population in America. Our percentage of potential young voters is growing faster than the population.

There are already success stories to shout out. In New Mexico and Montana, young Native American men, between 18 and 24, are registered at the highest rate of all Native American voters (just shy of 9-out-of-10.)

The whole premise of registering Native Americans to vote is simple, so that we can have a fair say in how this country is run and to better shape programs from health to education that determine our future.

A fair say? Pfffft. For Indian country the election of 2014 is about having a disproportionate say. Our votes will count more this time around. So will we?

Mark Trahant holds the Atwood Chair at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is an independent journalist and a member of The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. For up-to-the-minute posts, download the free Trahant Reports app for your smart phone or tablet.

How to support tribal self-determination

Why today’s congressional policies fail to empower tribes economically

By Dennis Worden, Al Jazeera America

Nearly 45 years ago, President Richard Nixon delivered a special message to Congress on Indian affairs.

One of his key recommendations was to empower tribes economically. The policy shift was intended to enable tribes to govern their own affairs rather than “terminating” them — a failed policy from the 1950s in which the United States attempted to end its relationships with tribal governments recognized as sovereign.

In the decades since Nixon’s message, there have been significant changes — mostly for the better — to embolden tribes in the areas of health, education and business development. But great needs remain because of widespread unemployment, housing shortages and high suicide rates. While progress has been made since 1970, challenges remain, and the potential to slide back toward de facto termination is real.

The good and the bad

As a result of Nixon’s policy, tribes are recognized as sovereign entities that have the right and responsibility to foster and grow their economies for their citizens. Tribes engage in business ventures on the basis of the needs of and resources available to their communities, and if tribes undertake ventures that utilize local resources and expertise, they are more likely (or at least better positioned) to succeed. Economic growth is essential because many tribal communities have suffered from chronically high unemployment.

This is the essence of self-determination: enabling tribes to decide for themselves what works best. Self-determination is critical because cookie-cutter programs lack the flexibility and nuance to acknowledge the diversity of resources and opportunities that might enable each tribe to create its own strong economy.

There are some examples of economic successes, such as Ho-Chunk Village, in Winnebago, Nebraska, which has garnered praise for its strong economic growth and has dropped unemployment to approximately 10 percent, down from more than 50 percent in 1994, primarily through government contracting. Its reinvestment of profits to create housing and job opportunities in the community has also drawn praise. But such successes are generally considered outliers in the public consciousness, which tends to view tribal communities as destitute, plagued by high unemployment or reliant solely on gaming ventures. Because of that, the public may not fully comprehend the degree of desperation — and potential for success — embedded in Indian Country today and Congress’ role in its continuance.

Though Nixon left other harmful legacies, the ideal of tribal self-determination remains just and powerful.

Recent congressional policies regarding Native American communities gravely erode the possibility for economic success through empowerment. Over the past several years, there have been efforts to restrict gaming and opportunities for government contracting as well as strong resistance to the resolution of legal issues regarding Indian land that deters outside investment.

There are two distinct problems with Congress’ approach to considering and enacting legislation that affects tribal economic development.

First, Congress has largely acted on tribal economic legislation in piecemeal fashion; one hand does not know what the other hand is doing. Instead, Congress and Indian Country need to use a more holistic approach by building consensus around policies that promote continued economic growth in tribal communities rather than tackling individual issues. And legislators need to understand communities’ capital, educational, regulatory and other needs as an entity in order to provide the best chance for success.

Second, in recent years, there have been more deliberate efforts to restrict programs or authorities that facilitate various economic opportunities for tribes. As tribal enterprises grow, so does congressional attention to tribal businesses and, increasingly, proposed policies have emerged that would hinder growth.

For instance, efforts to restrict tribal gaming — particularly off-reservation gaming — have been obstacles for at least a decade. In addition, efforts to take away provisions in federal contracting programs that provide unique participation of businesses owned by entire tribal communities would undermine Native American communities that do not have significant gaming resources and thus must find other economic ventures.

The proposed changes would treat Native American community-owned businesses (providing for hundreds or thousands of people) the same as individually owned businesses for purposes of qualifying for federal small business programs. But these programs work well. Gaming and federal contracting programs account for more than $35 billion in revenue to tribal communities, which is a large sum, though nowhere near enough to meet the needs of 566 communities across the country.

Third, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act significantly diminished tribal tobacco manufacturing and distribution on reservations. The law prohibits tobacco distribution through the U.S. Postal Service, making it extremely difficult to process tobacco sales made through the Internet, a niche in the market where tribes and individual Native Americans were particularly successful. When it took effect in 2010, the Seneca Nation anticipated the law would result in 1,000 jobs lost on its territory alone.

Land trusts

Perhaps most significant, Congress has not been able to address the devastating 2009 Supreme Court decision Carcieri v. Salazar, which limited the ability of the federal government to take land into trust for tribes. This has had wide-ranging effects on tribal economic development.

The case turned on the court’s interpretation of a key law passed in 1934 that allows the government to take land into trust only for tribes that are “now under federal jurisdiction.”

The court determined Congress meant only tribes recognized by the government in 1934, not a tribe that is currently under federal jurisdiction.

Land trusts facilitate housing, commercial construction and other tribal projects. Trust status ensures the land cannot be alienated and eliminates state and local taxation of that land. With the status of tribal trust land in question, external investors and businesses are wary of investing in tribal communities. Congress’ inability to enact a positive resolution results in lost economic opportunity for tribes.

Critical health

The interstate commerce clause of the Constitution states that Congress has the power to regulate commerce among the states and among the Indian tribes. Now is the time for Congress to reinvigorate this clause and the origins of self-determination in order to empower tribes, create jobs and honor the responsibilities of the United States toward Indian tribes.

As midterm elections loom and politicians on both sides of the aisle fret over unemployment of 6 to 7 percent, unemployment on tribal reservations is nearing 19 percent. In some communities it climbs higher than 60 or 70 percent. The need for economic development in Indian Country is critical to the health of the entire country because tribal communities are part of rural America, and when tribes succeed, surrounding communities succeed too. It means more people are employed, that more capital is circulating in local economies and that the government has to provide less financial assistance to individuals to meet basic needs.

Today we should recall that Nixon urged Congress to “support and encourage efforts [that] help Indians develop their own economic infrastructure.” Though Nixon left other harmful legacies, this ideal of self-determination remains just and powerful. Congress must recommit to the ideals of self-determination by enacting comprehensive legislation to further empower tribes economically.

Dennis Worden is a fellow with the Center for Global Policy Solutions Greenhouse through the OpEd Project. He is a member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the legislative director for the Native American Contractors Association.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera America’s editorial policy.

Fish migrate into upper Elwha River for first time in century

By Leah Leach, Peninsula Daily News

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Fish have migrated into the upper Elwha River for the first time in a century.

Olympic National Park biologists confirmed last week that two radio-tagged bull trout had migrated from the lower river through the former area of Glines Canyon Dam and reached at least as far as Rica Canyon above the former Lake Mills, some 15½ miles from the mouth of the Elwha River.

Four bull trout had been detected earlier as they passed a telemetry station upriver from the former Glines dam.

Thursday’s walk along the river with handheld radio receivers confirmed it wasn’t a faulty signal, at least for Fish 167 and Fish 200.

“The fish have made it” for the first time in 100 years, spokeswoman Barb Maynes said Friday.

Clearing the river for migratory fish passage was the point behind the $325 million Elwha River restoration project that began in 2011.

Both Elwha Dam, built in 1912 about 5 miles from the river’s mouth, and Glines Canyon Dam, constructed in 1927 some 13 miles from the mouth, were made without fish ladders and so blocked migrating salmonid passage from a river once known for legendary salmon runs.

The 108-foot Elwha Dam was demolished by March 2012.

The last 30 feet of the once-210-foot-tall Glines Canyon Dam came down Aug. 26.

The passage of four radio-tagged bull trout was detected even before that final blast, Maynes said.

That was possible because the 30-foot stub of the dam did not extend all the way across the river channel.

Park biologists know a great deal about those two fish — and hope to know more soon.

Fish 167 was captured and radio-tagged May 7 about 3.5 miles above the river’s mouth. It was 19 inches long.

This bull trout swam through the old Elwha dam site in late July before being noted again 8 miles upriver in early August.

Fish 200, measuring 20.5 inches, was radio-tagged June 25 about a mile and a half upstream of the river’s mouth.

It swam past the Elwha Dam site July 20 and swam through Glines Canyon on Aug. 24, just before the final blast.

Did the bull trout originate in the Elwha River?

Researchers don’t know yet, Maynes said, but they plan to perform genetic tests on fin clips taken when the fish were radio-tagged.

Those tests, which so far as Maynes knows haven’t been scheduled yet, would tell biologists the origin for the fish, she said.

Bull trout in the Olympics often get around, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Bull trout, which were listed in 1999 as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, may live near areas where they were spawned or migrate from small streams to larger streams and rivers or from streams to lakes, reservoirs or salt water, according to the agency.

In a May 2004 draft recovery plan, the agency said bull trout populations within the Olympic Peninsula Management Unit “exhibit all known migratory life history forms of this species, including fluvial [fish that migrate from tributaries to larger rivers to mature], adfluvial [fish that migrate from tributaries to lakes or reservoirs to mature], and anadromous [fish born in fresh water that migrate to the ocean to grow and live as an adult, returning to fresh water to spawn] populations.”

Biologists will continue to look for signs of migrating fish in the upper parts of the 42-mile river, which with its tributaries offers more than 70 miles of fish habitat.

Eighty-seven fish have been radio-tagged so far, Maynes said.

Of that, 13 bull trout, two winter steelhead, five chinook and one sockeye salmon have been located above the old Elwha Dam site.

Each fish is equipped with a uniquely coded radio transmitter that differentiates it from all other tagged fish.

Radio signals from the tags are then detected by radio receivers and antennas.

Six telemetry stations were installed between the mouth of the river and just above the Glines Canyon Dam site.

These stations continually scan for and record data, documenting when individual fish pass by each station.

Biologists also manually track fish between Rica Canyon and the river mouth using handheld radio receivers and antennas.

Also involved in the radio-tracking program are biologists with the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington’s National Park Fund has provided funding, Maynes said.

For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/PDN-damremovalblog.

Annenberg Foundation purchases, then donates Alaska Native art to institute

By Associated Press

Michael Penn | Juneau EmpireChuck Smythe, director of the History and Culture Department for the Sealaska Heritage Institute, holds a recently acquired wooden panel that appears to be part of an Tlingit bentwood box with a painted Chilkat design. The panel was bought at a contested auction in Paris by the Annenberg Foundation and donated to SHI. — Michael Penn | Juneau Empire
Chuck Smythe, director of the History and Culture Department for the Sealaska Heritage Institute, holds a recently acquired wooden panel that appears to be part of an Tlingit bentwood box with a painted Chilkat design. The panel was bought at a contested auction in Paris by the Annenberg Foundation and donated to SHI.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ The Annenberg Foundation has donated Alaska Native artwork to the Sealaska Heritage Institute, which hopes to pinpoint the artifact’s originating clan.

The foundation bought the carved and painted wood panel at a Paris auction house last December when efforts failed to stop the piece and other tribal works from being sold, the Juneau Empire reported Thursday (SHI gets surprise donation).

There have been numerous attempts to circumvent the auction process, including sending U.S. Embassy letters, institute president Rosita Worl said.

The U.S. Embassy in Paris contacted one of the foundation’s trustees last December about participating in a French auction to repatriate artifacts to tribal leaders, Annenberg Ventures manager Carol Laumen said.

The trustee, Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, agreed, and foundation representatives successfully bid on 25 Hopi and Apache items and later on the wood panel.

A week later, the foundation notified the heritage institute about the purchase and intention to repatriate the panel.

The institute plans to reach out to southeast Alaska clans to try to determine the rightful home of the work, which may have been part of a bentwood box. The origin of the object is unknown, although it can be traced to southeast Alaska or British Columbia.

“It’s possible that somebody has that kind of detailed knowledge in a clan or a community,” said Chuck Smythe, the institute’s history and culture director.

The panel could be identified by comparing it with similar designs, historic photographs or matching the design with clan stories. Meanwhile, the Juneau institute is treating the object as a regional repository.

The panel will be displayed from time to time at the Walter Soboleff Center, which is being constructed. When not on display, it is being preserved as part of the institute’s collection.

“It will be available for our people to look at,” Worl said.

___

Information from: Juneau (Alaska) Empire, http://www.juneauempire.com

Transparency a focus of North Dakota tribal election

By Josh Wood, Associated Press

NEW TOWN, N.D. (AP) – In just a few years, oil development has transformed North Dakota’s Fort Berthold Indian Reservation from a place where unemployment was rampant to an area where open job listings drone on for minutes on the local radio station between drum songs and public service announcements.

Tribal business council chairman Tex Hall has been at the helm of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, for the bulk of the boom. Hall, also former president of the National Congress of American Indians, previously served as the tribes’ chairman from 1998 to 2006 before being re-elected for a third term in 2010.

On Sept. 16, the tribes will hold a primary election to determine the two candidates who will meet in the Nov. 4 election for chairman. Out of 10 candidates who filed to run, half were disqualified by the election board, though several are appealing those decisions.

The tribe’s spokeswoman did not respond to several requests for an interview with Hall about the election.

Many of his opponents in the chairman’s race, including tribal attorney Damon Williams and tribal business council member Ken Hall, are calling for more openness in tribal government.

“The people are looking for a change in leadership, they really are,” Ken Hall said. “They want transparency, they want to know and they have the right to know.”

Some are wary of the potential environmental impact of rapid oil development and also question the personal business dealings of council members.

Williams said revenue has steadily increased over the past several years, but no one knows where the money’s going.

“I think that’s a question every enrolled member has to ask,” he said.

Fort Berthold produces more than 300,000 barrels of oil a day – nearly one third of North Dakota’s total production and a figure that would rank the reservation among the top oil producers in the nation if it were a state.

Marcus Levings, a former chairman who was defeated by Hall in 2010, is one of the candidates appealing his disqualification from the primary. Though he believes the tribe does need to be more transparent and develop a plan for its newfound wealth, he acknowledged that problems were likely inevitable.

“The council have done, what I believe any council would have done with new money – they purchased and they approved development that came in front of them,” he said. “Now is the time for a long-range plan that we knew how to do and we’ve always done but we had no money.”

Like most of the tribes’ 14,000 or so enrolled members, Charles Hudson lives off the reservation. It is almost impossible to know what is happening on Fort Berthold, he said.

“I’m looking for a tribal chairman and council that takes a more comprehensive approach to the needs of our people: education, health, the environment and economic development, rather than throwing all our eggs into oil development as it appears now,” Hudson said.

Legislation Would Deny Funding To Schools With Unauthorized Native American Mascots

By CBS4

DENVER (CBS4) – Schools that use nicknames based on Native American names or imagery must seek tribes’ permission or lose funding under a bill proposed by a Colorado lawmaker.

Joseph Salazar, a House Democrat from Thornton, said the measure will help get rid of unauthorized mascots at Colorado’s public schools.

“There are people out there who still reside in the world of ignorance or who still reside in the world of being very stubborn,” Salazar said.

He said mascots like the Savages of Lamar High School on the state’s eastern plains are offensive.

A meeting to address the issue will be held at the Denver Indian Family Resource Center on Morrison Road on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

The issues has flared lately on the national level because of the Washington Redskins nickname in the NFL.

Under the legislation, schools like Arapahoe High School in Littleton Public Schools would be exempt because they sought permission.

Arapahoe High School in Littleton sought permission to use Native American imagery. (credit: CBS)

“Legislation doesn’t really change attitudes. Instead it changes behavior,” Salazar said. “You want to continue using your racist and your stereotypical imagery? Then we don’t have to fund that.”

A board member of the Colorado Indian Education Foundation says Indian-themed mascots portray Native Americans in a negative light.

“It doesn’t allow for young people or Americans to actually see Indian people are contributors, as contemporary people,” Darius Smith said.

Salazar said he believes there are almost 40 schools in Colorado with an American Indian theme.

“This should be a positive and we’re asking people to open up communication with each other and that should be a natural thing to do,” he said.

The superintendent of the Lamar School District did not immediately return a call for comment.

Orca calf born to Puget Sound resident L pod

(Photo: Capt. James Maya / Maya’s Westside Whale Charters)

Susan Wyatt, KING 5 News, September 7, 2014

The Center for Whale Research is celebrating the birth of an orca calf in the Salish Sea, the first one since 2012.

The proud mother is 23-year-old L86, and this is her second calf. The newborn has been designated L120.

The birth is sorely needed in the Southern Resident Community population, Michael Harris, Executive Director of the PWWA, said in a press release. Their numbers had just dipped to 78, the lowest count in over a decade.

Meanwhile, the Northern Resident Community of British Columbia have steadily increased in numbers, and transient or marine mammal-eating orcas seem to be thriving in the Sound and Straits.

Yet the Southerns continue to struggle to recover, Harris said. Researchers attribute the problem to lack of prey, primarily their preferred diet of wild Chinook salmon.

A Pacific Whale Watch Association crew was the first to snap and post the baby photos.

“We wouldn’t have known about it, but heard from David Elifritt out on the water that L86 had a new calf, and then ran into them,” said Capt. Jim Maya of Maya’s Westside Whale Charters on San Juan Island. “What a thrill to be there at the right time in the right place. Everyone on board was so excited. I’ve never seen a calf born, but it’s always a thrill to be there the day a new calf was discovered.”

“I remember someone saw a shot of L86 breaching back in June and word got out that she had a little ‘baby bump,'” explains Michael Harris, Executive Director of the PWWA. “This is great news. But every time a baby’s born, we’re careful not to pass out the cigars too soon. Infant mortality is really high among wild orcas, especially these Southern Residents. This little whale has a tough road ahead. Every birth is exciting, but we’ll be especially thrilled and relieved to see L120 rolling back into the Sound and Straits next summer.”

$58 Million Judgment Adds To Woes Of Cigarette Maker On Yakama Reservation

By Tom Banse, NW News Network

A federal judge in Eastern Washington has ruled a cigarette maker on the Yakama Indian Reservation owes $58 million in unpaid taxes and penalties.

King Mountain Tobacco grows a portion of the tobacco it manufactures into cigarettes on the Yakama reservation.

Credit King Mountain Tobacco

The privately owned tobacco company has tried — so far unsuccessfully — to assert a treaty right to trade tax free.

The U.S. Treasury Department went after King Mountain Tobacco Company for federal cigarette taxes unpaid since 2009. The cigarette factory is owned by a Yakama tribal member. The company’s lawyers and the tribal government insist the reservation-based business is not subject to federal or state taxes.

King Mountain attorney Randolph Barnhouse bases this position on a specific provision of the 1855 U.S. treaty with the Yakama Nation.

“They gave up 17,000 square miles of land and they gave up a lot of other things for the right to be left alone on the reservation and to bring their goods to market without regulation,” Barnhouse said. “There are only two treaties that I am aware of in the entire United States that have that ‘right to travel and trade’ provision in the treaty.”

“People sometimes don’t want to hear about the history and they say, ‘Well, history; that was a long time ago,'” Barnhouse added. “Treaties are important and the promises that we made as a nation are important. They are especially important to the people who are living it every day, the Yakama people.”

U.S. government attorneys argue that the tribal cigarette company’s interpretation of the treaty is overly broad. “If no express exemptive language can be found in the text, the analysis is over. The claim of exemption fails. That is the case here,” wrote Justice Department attorney Carl Hankla in one of his briefs.

Federal district court judge Rosanna Peterson agreed. Attorney Barnhouse said his next step will be to ask Judge Peterson to reconsider at least one aspect of her ruling. The cigarette maker could later appeal. In fact, two other cases pertaining to the company are already before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Back story straight from Hollywood?

An FBI affidavit made public in connection with the federal tax case reads like a Hollywood movie, complete with a confidential informant, wire taps, undercover agents posing as wealthy wholesalers, a chartered aircraft for added impact and the presentation of a briefcase full of bundled $100 bills.

The affidavit even includes what would be a requisite scene in a thriller in which the informant is suspected of being a cop and is challenged by the purported bad guys. According to the FBI transcript, King Mountain Tobacco owner Delbert Wheeler addressed the informant and said it did not matter if the man were a cop “because if you are and you mess with me, I will rip out your eyeball, then I will kill you. You understand you may shoot me but it doesn’t matter because in the end we will both go to the same place.”

The affidavit also places current Yakama Nation Tribal Council chairman JoDe Goudy at the meeting where, according to the government, extensive discussion of contraband cigarette trafficking and false reporting of sales happened. Goudy was identified as King Mountain’s sales manager at the time.

Neither Goudy nor Wheeler replied to interview requests on Friday. Heavily armed federal and state agents subsequently raided King Mountain Tobacco’s cigarette factory in White Swan, Washington. An indictment or case stemming from that 2011 raid remains under seal.

Barnhouse said the government’s treatment of his client “angers” him because he believes the U.S. is trying to put “these people out of business.”

Cigarette factories on the rez

King Mountain Tobacco is one of two cigarette manufacturing operations on tribal land in the Pacific Northwest. The other is Skookum Creek Tobacco Company, operated by the Squaxin Island Tribe near Shelton, Washington. The Squaxin Island enterprise has managed to avoid litigation.

One reason for that is because, unlike the Yakama Nation, the Squaxin Island Tribe reached a cigarette tax agreement with the State of Washington. Both cigarette factories import blended tobacco from the southeastern U.S. to process into their cigarettes. King Mountain has also harvested some tobacco from fields planted near its Yakima Valley manufacturing facility.

If the Yakama Nation were to succeed in winning tax-free status for its tobacco sales, it could gain a significant price advantage. The federal excise tax stands at just over $10 per carton of cigarettes. State escrow fund deposits impose a further $5.60 per carton expense.

On its website, King Mountain says it currently distributes cigarettes under its eponymous brand name in eleven states, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California. Delbert Wheeler started King Mountain Tobacco in 2005.

Tribes Want EPA Involved In Washington Clean Water Rulemaking

By Associated Press

EVERETT, Wash. — An alliance of Washington tribes says it will ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to step in and come up with new water-quality rules for the state.

The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission sent Gov. Jay Inslee a letter on Thursday expressing “dissatisfaction” with his proposal for updating the state’s clean water rules that are partly tied to how much fish people eat.

The Herald reports that the tribes say the proposal won’t do enough to protect tribal members. They’re also concerned about another delay.

Inslee’s plan would increase the fish consumption rate to 175 grams a day, but the tribes say that improvement is offset by other less protective changes.

An Inslee spokesman said Saturday that the governor’s office and the Department of Ecology hope to discuss Inslee’s proposal with the group.