Judge blocks sale of National Archives in Seattle
SEATTLE (AP) A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Friday to stop the sale of the National Archives at Seattle.
The Seattle Times reports U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour asked Brian C. Kipnis, an assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle, if anybody on the five-person Public Buildings Reform Board was from the Pacific Northwest.
Judge blocks sale and closure of National Archives in Seattle, notes ‘public relations disaster’ by feds Author: Erik Lacitis, The Seattle Times Updated: February 13 Published February 13
This Jan. 23, 2020, photo shows the National Archives on Sand Point, Wash., that has about a million boxes of generally unique, original source documents and public records. More than two dozen Native American tribes and cultural groups from the Northwest and Alaska are suing the federal government to stop the sale of the National Archives building in Seattle, a plan that would force the relocation of millions of invaluable historical records to California and Missouri. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via AP)
U.S. attorney in
Pacific Northwest.
That s the little-known entity few have heard of and which recommended the Archives be shuttered in
Seattle. The board was created in 2016 to find what it deems excess federal property.
Kipnis said he didn t know.
Coughenour said the feds could have avoided a public relations disaster if they had displayed some sensitivity to how the closure affected the Northwest.
Coughenour also asked Kipnis what he knew about this quote in a Thursday Seattle Times story from a spokesperson for the
White House Office of Management and Budget: Tribal consultation is a priority for this administration, and we will further assess the extent to which tribes were consulted under the previous administration on this proposal.
The National Archives in Seattle. (Feliks Banel, KIRO Radio)
A federal judge announced his intent Friday to issue a preliminary injunction halting the sale and closure of Seattle’s National Archives facility.
Come Monday, Judge John Coughenour says he will formally grant Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s request for a court order, effectively pausing efforts of the Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB), an obscure federal agency that led a secretive process in 2019 to target the Seattle facility for closure, and that took steps late last year to expedite the sale.
This comes after a months-long effort from Ferguson, Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, and local stakeholders to save the facility from being shut down and keep its priceless Northwest maps, photos, and documents from being moved out of state to California and Missouri.