PORT ANGELES — A settlement that would allow full resumption of work at the state Department of Transportation’s graving yard on Marine Drive may be near.
Lower Elwha Klallam tribal and state Department of Transportation officials say they feel negotiations to restart the work are finally drawing to a close.
“We are hopeful that a resolution is approaching that will allow work at the site to resume,” said Lloyd D. Brown, Transportation’s public information manager for the Olympic region on Friday.
Tribal and Transportation officials won’t speculate on when an agreement will be reached.
Officials from both entities have refused to talk about what specifics have stymied the negotiations, but it appears the discovery of artifacts in dirt removed from the graving yard prior to the shutdown changed the process.
“Some of the things we must agree to have also changed since this all started,” said Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Secretary/Treasurer Frances G. Charles
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The rest of the story appears in the Sunday Peninsula Daily News.