Wanapine village, which sits on a ridge in Selah, a small town bordering Yakima to the north, has been mired in the court system for years. The Yakama Nation has been battling Yakima County and Granite Northwest, which seeks to expand its gravel mine from 26 acres to more than 160.
Yakima County officials have twice approved the expansion, which the Yakama Nation appealed twice and then sued the county and the mining company in 2017. The case could spend several more years in court because of the complexity and cutting edge nature of the cultural resource protection laws being debated, according to Ethan Jones, the Yakama Nation’s lead attorney in the case.
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