The Baiden administration is able to advance with a plan to allow the tribe positioned within the Pacific Northwest to assemble a second on line casino far outdoors its territory. However, this plan is fiercely opposed by Democrats and different tribes within the area.
Opponents of the primary EIS draft:
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is projected to launch the final environmental impression assertion (EIS) that’s seemingly to offer approval to a proposal by the Coquille Indian Tribe, an Oregon-based tribe, to assemble and handle a on line casino positioned outdoors of its territory in Medford, Oregon, as early as this week, individuals with data of the federal evaluate course of mentioned to the Fox News Digital.
Furthermore, the aforementioned BIA first launched its EIS draft for the proposal again in November of earlier yr. Additionally, the general public remark timeframe for it ended on the finish of February. A complete spectrum of voices, involving few tribes throughout the state, few regional tribes and bipartisan lawmakers, condemned the draft EIS that recommended the federal authorities validate Coquille’s transfer to assemble an “off-reservation” on line casino, to be referred to as Cedars at Bears Creek.
In this regard, the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations, which speaks on behalf of 13 tribes in California, wrote on to Brian Newland, assistant secretary of the BIA, earlier throughout November: “The Coquille Indian Tribe’s application to transfer fee land in Medford, Oregon into trust for gaming using the restored lands exception directly threatens the sovereign rights of tribal governments to operate gaming on their lands.”
In an similar letter to Newland, the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, which speaks on behalf of many extra federally acknowledged tribal governments on issues linked to gaming, identically claimed that finishing the draft EIS would endanger its members’ “sovereign rights as tribes.”
Numerous opponents of the proposed on line casino:
The query of whether or not to validate Coquille’s on line casino proposal has been met with fierce opposition for the reason that tribe first formally proposed the plan almost a decade in the past. In addition, the plan was initially recommended in step with Obama administration insurance policies that relieved limitations on gaming and trust-land purchases, a transfer that raised considerations from critics that the Biden administration was “doubling down” on it.
However, opponents of the on line casino proposal, involving Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations, the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, along with lawmakers and different tribes, particularly claimed that the mission’s improvement would undermine the rights of different neighboring tribes and straight have an effect on their gaming earnings. Also, talking on the problem, they added: “The move would set a dangerous precedent whereby tribes are able to freely build gaming venues on or near other tribes’ lands and reap the financial benefits. The Coquille already operate the Mill Casino in North Bend, Oregon, and the Cedars at Bear Creek casino would be the first off-reservation casino in Oregon.”
Moreover, additionally talking on the problem, Oregon Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla formally wrote to the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in 2022, stating: “The bottom line is if the Coquille Tribe is allowed to build another casino in Oregon, it will likely lead to all out gaming conflicts between Oregon and California tribes. It would also have a detrimental impact on tribes in Oregon and California that rely on the income generated by their gaming facilities and utilize those funds to provide vital governmental services. This would have negative consequences in many of our communities if Oregon and California’s carefully crafted balance between producing gambling revenues and an overall focus of public good for our citizens were seriously compromised by the Department of Interior approving a second casino for the Coquille Tribe.”
To put it merely, opponents are mounting, involving Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., Jared Huffman, D-Ore., Earl Blumenauer, Democratic Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif and D-Calif., Cliff Bentz. In this regard, a large alliance of tribes within the area headed by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, who’re positioned near the situation of the proposed mission, and involving the Tolowa Dee-Ní, Klamath Tribes, Smith River and Karuk, urged the federal government to dismiss the proposal. The Cow Creek pointed to estimates by the Coquille that reveal Cow Creek’s Seven Feathers Casino Resort will expertise a 25% drop in gaming earnings if the proposed on line casino is constructed.
On that observe, Carla Keene, president of Cow Creek, commented all through a public listening to hosted by the BIA in late 2022: “I want to emphasize the profound impact Coquille’s second casino would have on my Tribe and my people. It will impact essential governmental services that the Tribe provides. It will impact our education program. It will impact our ability to provide healthcare and social services that many of our members rely upon.” Additionally, Michael Rondeau, CEO of Cow Creek, added: “If approved, and the doors open, this will open the floodgates for additional casinos in the State by this one Tribe. The other Tribes do not enjoy that ability to open second casinos. The casino is 150 miles from their reservation.”
Throughout the second public listening to in January of this yr, an skilled in Native American historical past and the Pamplin Chair of History at Oregon State University’s Lewis & Clark College, Stephen Dow Beckham, commented: “The proposal is wrongheaded.” He additionally famous on the time: “Never have I seen a case of more blatant, glaring reservation-shopping than the proposal of the Coquille Tribe to reach 168 miles from North Bend, Oregon into the treaty cession area of the Rogue River tribes to try to justify a second casino and entertainment venue. The Coquille Tribe was not an aboriginal tribe in the Rogue River Valley. It lived over on the coast of Oregon. This project will have deleterious impacts on neighboring tribes. The impacts of the Coquille casino will undermine the delivery of services to the Karuk, the Klamath, the Tolowa, the Smith River and the Cow Creek peoples; all so that another tribe from North Bend, Oregon can have a second casino and hotel.”
Finally, final week, the chair of the Karuk Tribe in California, Russell Attebery, the chair of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, Marshall Pierite and the chair of the Karuk Tribe in California, Russell Attebery, put collectively an op-ed urging President Biden to dismiss the proposed on line casino mission and halt this coverage that can lead to “casino gaming to cascade nationally without any bounds, hurting historically marginalized Indigenous peoples the hardest.” Additionally, they burdened that dismissing the proposal would symbolize a gesture of fine will from the administration earlier than the upcoming Tribal Nations Summit on the White House scheduled to occur at first of subsequent month. Speaking about it, Pierite, of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe, mentioned to the Fox Digital News: “As a restored Tribal Nation, we know the challenges associated with assembling our homelands. Where we come from and where we belong still matters. Federal Indian land acquisition efforts must honor the ancestral relationship our Tribal Nations have with our homelands. The career bureaucrats at DOI appear to be drifting away from that understanding. The White House has an opportunity to make a correction before the Tribal Nations Summit next month.”
On a associated observe, in a November 17 publish on social media, Wyden shared the op-ed of Pierite and different tribal leaders and added: “The Biden administration must reaffirm its commitment to tribal communities and how the misguided policy at the root of the Medford casino proposal is harming tribes across the country.”
The proposal comes as an answer to finish monetary troubles for the Coquille Indian Tribe:
In compliance with the data from the aforementioned BIA’s drafted EIS, the Coquille Tribe and its members have been experiencing monetary hardships for years due to the financial stagnation, altering demographics on the Oregon coast, persistently excessive inflation and an ever-growing inhabitants requiring tribal companies. On that observe, the BIA added: “Revenue from the tribe’s sole casino is now insufficient to sustain the tribe’s needs.”
According to the plan, if the on line casino mission is constructed, the tribe may redirect the earnings raised to keep up current tribal packages and help with financing recent initiatives wanted to fulfill the wants of the tribe’s altering and rising membership, all whereas holding the tribe’s self- sufficiency and self-determination, the BIA mentioned.
Furthermore, within the draft EIS, the BIA acknowledged: “The failure of economic development efforts in the region have driven job seekers out of the community, contributing to a diminishing population and a lack of financial prospects. This situation was further worsened with the addition of tribal gaming competition within the Mill Casino’s limited local market, combined with increasing costs, including those associated with the future impacts of Oregon’s minimum wage law. Based on the underlying causes of the Mill Casino’s trend of declining revenue, it is unlikely that the Mill Casino, with its current limitations, will experience revenue growth in the foreseeable future.”
As quickly because the BIA unveils its finalized EIS, yet one more public remark timeframe would begin. Once completed, the company would publish the closing document of its ruling. However, the Coquille Tribe and the BIA couldn’t be reached for remark.