The Federal Public Buildings Reform Board, created by Congress in 2016 to identify and dispose of high-value Federal real estate, is recommending the sale of the building that houses the National Archives in Seattle. The report can be found at https://www.pbrb.gov/.

The records from the National Archives center in Anchorage were moved there when it closed in 2014. If the Seattle facility is closed, the closest NARA facility for Alaskans will be in San Francisco. The report indicates the archival records at Seattle will be moved near Riverside, California, and the federal agency records will be moved to Kansas City, Missouri. Alaska materials will be farther out of reach for researchers, students, attorneys, and government agencies.

Timeline: The Office of Management and Budget is expected to approve or reject the recommendations by the end of January 2020.

Please consider sending comments to Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Representative Don Young by email through their webpages: murkowski.senate.gov; sullivan.senate.gov; donyoung.house.gov.

You may also send comments to the Public Buildings Reform Board by sending an email to fastainfo@pbrb.gov.

Lastly, you may contact the Archivist of the United States, David S. Ferriero, at david.ferriero@nara.gov or through the webpage archives.gov.