A federal jury trial is scheduled to begin on October 4 in a case that has drawn widespread attention from tribal nations, archaeologists, and infrastructure advocates across the Pacific Northwest. The Lummi Nation is suing Whidbey Telecom for allegedly destroying ancestral burial grounds near Point Roberts during a broadband fiberoptic cable installation project, exposing human remains and defying stop-work orders from both state and federal authorities.
Point Roberts is a small peninsula south of the U.S.-Canada border, west of Bellingham, that is surrounded on three sides by water and accessible by land only through British Columbia. It sits within the Lummi Nation's historical territory, and the Lummi have long maintained connections to the area as a place of cultural and spiritual significance.
What the Lummi Nation Alleges Happened
According to the Lummi Nation's lawsuit, Whidbey Telecom was trenching to install broadband infrastructure in Point Roberts when workers encountered an ancestral burial site. The Lummi allege that the company continued earthwork after being ordered to stop by state and federal authorities, exposing human remains in the process.
The situation escalated when a suspected cranial fragment was found at the site. In her answer to the lawsuit, Whidbey Telecom CEO Donna Hilty acknowledged that a shell midden was disturbed during the project. She also confirmed that the suspected cranial fragment was later lost. Hilty claimed the Lummi Nation was notified of findings, but the Lummi Nation disputed this, stating at the time the lawsuit was filed that it was not informed of all discoveries when they occurred and that human remains were still exposed.
U.S. District Court Judge Kymberly K. Evanson issued a significant ruling on July 16, ordering that Whidbey Telecom cannot proceed with any earth-disturbing work before first giving the Lummi Nation 30 days' notice. In that order, Judge Evanson stated that the Lummi Nation "faces irreparable harm if ground work were to commence without the Nation's knowledge." She also wrote that the Lummi Nation "is likely to succeed" at trial, a preliminary assessment that carries weight as the case heads toward the courtroom.
Whidbey Telecom has stated that earthwork is unlikely to occur before the trial begins, according to court documents. The company has not made additional public statements beyond the CEO's response to the lawsuit.
The Lummi Nation is asking the court to revoke all project permits, order the reinterment of remains under Lummi supervision, and award financial penalties that have not yet been specified. All three remedies, if granted, would have lasting implications for how infrastructure projects near tribal cultural sites are permitted and monitored in Washington State.
Why Disturbances Like This Are Not Rare
The Salish Current's reporting on this case places it in a broader regional context that is uncomfortable but important. People have lived in what is now Washington State for thousands of years, and burial sites, village sites, and other culturally sensitive areas exist throughout the landscape, often in places that are not marked on any map held by a non-tribal agency.
The Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation reported that 54 human skeletal remains were identified as Indigenous between 2023 and 2025. Forty-eight of those ancestral remains were repatriated to tribal nations, and six were reburied in place at tribal request. The numbers represent only the cases that were reported, documented, and processed through official channels. Unreported disturbances are, by definition, harder to count.
Frances Charles, chair of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, spoke to the broader pattern in the Salish Current's report. "It's not only us. It's everywhere," she said. Charles led the effort to restore Tse-whit-zen, an ancestral village site near Port Angeles that was disturbed by a state construction project in 2003. The case became a landmark in how Washington agencies approach pre-construction cultural resource review. "Private landowners are taking over in different areas, even in our hunting and fishing territories, and they don't know the history and if they do they sometimes ignore it until they run into a situation," she added.
The legal framework governing these situations is the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, known as NAGPRA, passed by Congress in 1990. NAGPRA requires federally funded institutions to inventory and return ancestral remains and funerary objects to tribal nations. As of this year, nearly 2,400 remains have been repatriated by Washington museums, colleges, and universities since the law took effect. The National Park Service administers NAGPRA at the federal level.
What the Trial Could Mean for the Region
The October 4 trial date in federal court gives both sides roughly two months to prepare their final arguments. The case is being watched closely because it involves not just the specific conduct of one company at one site, but the enforceability of stop-work orders under NAGPRA and state cultural resource protection laws when a private company is the party responsible for the disturbance.
Most high-profile NAGPRA cases have involved public agencies or federally funded institutions. A case against a private telecommunications company is less common, and the outcome could influence how other infrastructure operators approach cultural resource compliance in tribal territories. The Lummi Nation's request for permit revocation, if granted, would also send a signal that courts are willing to impose severe consequences rather than simply requiring after-the-fact remediation.
For the Lummi Nation and other Coast Salish peoples whose ancestral territories span the Salish Sea region, the case is also about recognition. Frances Charles's advice to communities about what to do if construction workers encounter suspected remains is practical: stop work immediately, do not touch anything, establish a safety perimeter, and notify local law enforcement or the coroner. The same protocols apply whether the discovery is made by a private contractor, a homeowner digging a foundation, or a utility crew laying cable.
The Lummi Nation is one of the largest tribal nations in Whatcom County, with a reservation on the Lummi Peninsula west of Bellingham and an extensive history in the region stretching back thousands of years. Earlier reporting on environmental protections affecting tribal communities in the Salish Sea provides background on the legal and regulatory landscape facing tribal nations in the Northwest as federal and state policies continue to evolve.
