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"Today I announced that our coalition of 40 tribes, states, and
community organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court to save
our National Archives and stop the federal government from
scattering the DNA of our region more than 1,000 miles away,"
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said on Twitter.
The National Archives and Records Administration facility in
Seattle was approved for eventual closure and sale last year.
The facility is among a dozen properties around the United
States recommended for sale by the Public Buildings Reform
Board.
"This action shows a callous disregard for the people who have
the greatest interest in being able to access these profoundly
important records, which include Tribal and treaty records," the
plaintiffs said in the filing made in the U.S. District Court
for the Western District of Washington.
After the planned sale of the facility by the government, the
records would be moved to National Archives facilities in Kansas
City and in Riverside, California.
The filing alleges that the public, including the concerned
tribes and the state of Washington, were not given prior notice
about the federal government's plan to sell the Seattle
building.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert
Birsel)
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