Cascadia today: Spokane 3 found guilty + Ballard light rail is dead + Vancouver art in the era of climate change
Good morning! Just a reminder that I'll be attempting to read 24 books about Cascadia or by Cascadia authors this summer, and you're welcome to join me. My first is Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco and it's a fabulous historical novel about a gang of queer, gender-bending rogue smugglers in the seedy environs of late 19th century Tacoma. Find out more about Cascadia Summer Book Bingo here.
Andrew Engelson
Three Spokane protesters found guilty of felony conspiracy
According to RANGE Media, yesterday a jury found three people who protested against ICE in Spokane guilty of felony conspiracy charges, and the three could face up to six years in prison and $250,000 each in fines. Those convicted – Jac Archer, Justice Forral and Bajun Mavalwalla II – are appealing their convictions.
After an impromptu protest erupted at Spokane in June 2025 as ICE attempted to detain two Venezuelan immigrants in the US legally, the Trump regime has since used the incident to attempt to criminalize dissent and excessively punish civil disobedience. Former US attorney for eastern Washington, Rich Barker, resigned days before the indictment in protest. Six other defendants, including former Spokane city council president Ben Stuckart, accepted plea deals in order to avoid prison time.
Erin Sellers, who's been doing fantastic coverage of the trial for RANGE Media, spoke to KUOW about the case and its implications.
These convictions are outrageous. The US is moving quickly punish dissent and to claim that even participating in chats or posting online about civil disobedience efforts is something to be punished with years in prison. Rest assured, these convictions will not stand. Cascadia is fed up with US fascism. Residents of Oregon and Washington are standing up to authoritarianism and we demand that these political prosecutions end – or the states of Oregon and Washington will leave the union. The choice is theirs.
Sound Transit approves plan that abandons Ballard
The Urbanist reports on the epic 5-hour Sound Transit board meeting deciding the fate of light rail expansion in the greater Seattle area in the face of a $34 billion budget deficit. Expansion to the Seattle neighborhood of Ballard, which was projected to have 148,000 daily passengers, was indefinitely postponed. An infill station in Seattle's south end at Graham Street was fully funded, while other stations including one near Boeing field, were put on hold. In other transit news, as plans for a new I-5 freeway bridge over the Columbia River have bogged down in massive cost overruns, a proposed expansion of Portlands' MAX light rail system to Vancouver, WA is now only planned to a remote station 90 feet above the Columbia shoreline, Washington State Standard reports.
The leaders of the Puget Sound region need to pressure governor Ferguson to convene a special session of the legislature and deal with this transportation crisis: we need a climate-forward transit system as promised NOW. There is immense wealth in our bioregion and it needs to be taxed to fund our priorities.
Longview paper mill disaster illustrates industry dangers
KUOW reports that eight people are now confirmed dead after the implosion of a 900,000-gallon chemical tank at a Nippon paper mill in Longview. The accident illustrates the dangers of the paper industry, which took 12 lives in the US in 2024.
BC LNG terminal will increase province's emissions 6%
CBC reports that the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG export terminal on British Columbia's coast will increase the province's greenhouse gas emissions by a whopping 6% to 8%. The project, a venture between Western LNG, Rockies LNG Partners and the Nisga'a Nation, will export the gas to Germany.
This is not the answer to our region's energy needs or economy. Cascadia is falling behind on clean energy development – Washington state is dead last among US states in new renewable energy projects. At the next Cascadia Innovation Corridor meeting, the leaders of BC, WA and OR must set out a binding plan to significantly reduce emissions, build clean energy, and put in place a moratorium on new pipelines and export terminals.
Art in the age of climate change in Vancouver
The Georgia Straight reports on a massive new art exhibit at Vancouver Art Gallery: Future Geographies: Art in the Century of Climate Change, a collection of sculpture, painting, video and installation by more than 30 artists examining the climate disaster we're now experiencing worldwide. I looks like a stunning show, with work by many BC artists, including many Indigenous creators.
“Artists are not scientists, they’re not journalists. But they do have a role to play in how we might imagine our shared future on this planet.” --Eva Respini, Vancouver Art Gallery interim director
The show runs at VAG through January 10.
Thanks for reading. Keep loving and keep fighting. --Andy
Do you appreciate Cascadia Journal's exclusive reporting on the ways the Pacific Northwest is pushing back against US fascism? If you have the means, please consider a paid subscription of just $5 per month. Each subscription helps me produce original reporting and opinionated notes on Cascadia's fight to build a more resilient and autonomous bioregion. And to those who already subscribe, thank you! --Andrew
