Federal red tape snags port fiber project

The pause button has been hit on the Port of Whitman County’s $12 million project to build an information pipeline connecting the Palouse with Spokane.

The port has still not signed a contract to receive grant funds, reported Joe Poire, port executive director, and Bruce Ensley, the port’s attorney, to port commissioners at their meeting Monday morning.

The port in March was awarded $10 million in federal stimulus money as part of an overarching statewide project to bring broadband internet to rural Washington.

Northwest Open Access Network, or NoaNet, received $135 million in a pair of stimul...