PORT ANGELES — Lower Elwha Klallam tribal and state officials will meet today to discuss a new construction plan to protect a Native American burial ground discovered on the site of the Hood Canal Bridge graving yard.
Transportation officials are preparing best- and worst-case scenarios, but aren’t ready to talk about moving the graving yard site to another location, according to Linda Mullen, communications director for the state agency.
“We need to focus on what the next steps are and are working closely with the tribe,” Mullen said Tuesday. “We want to continue work on the Port Angeles site.”
Mullen said officials will continue evaluating options for construction in Port Angeles.
Mullen would not comment when asked if Transportation officials are considering moving the graving yard project to another venue.
Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairman Dennis R. “Sully” Sullivan confirmed Tuesday the meeting would include the tribe’s council, its attorney and state Department of Transportation officials.
The discovery of Native American remains shut down Transportation’s graving yard project on Aug. 26, a week after work started on the $17 million project on Marine Drive.
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The rest of this story appears in Wednesday’s Peninsula Daily News.
