The Department of the Interior (DOI) has not yet responded to Rep. Brian Baird’s May request that the agency release the Business Plan included in the Cowlitz Tribe’s preliminary Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a 30-day public comment period.
The casino project’s Business Plan and attached “Unmet Needs Report,” a required element of the fee-to-trust application (which the tribe filed incompletely in 2006), appears to have been held back until the preliminary Final EIS was released to cooperating agencies last spring, so it could be used -- without public scrutiny -- to provide a rationale for not considering a site in the Cowlitz Tribe’s aboriginal homeland. The preliminary Final EIS argues that a northern site would not make enough money to satisfy the tribe’s needs.
The Plan and Report contain highly controversial needs and numbers, and are being used by the regional Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in an attempt to justify its dismissal of a site for the proposed Cowlitz casino in the tribe’s aboriginal homeland. Among what the tribe calls its “unmet needs” -- which add up to $113.6 million a year -- are a horse program (cost: $22.6 million initially and $655,125 annually), two medical facilities plus wellness centers (cost: $41.1 million initially and $30.2 million annually) and a library (cost: $1 million to acquire core holdings and $500,000 in acquisitions annually).
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
For more information, check out the CARS Web site:
Who’s behind the proposed casino project?
Many of CARS’ stories about this casino proposal describe it as the work of “the Cowlitz Tribe.” But every time we attribute it to “the Tribe,” we wince.
The casino project is being driven by the Salishan-Mohegan partnership, which includes:
+ the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (49.15 percent)
+ David Barnett (Salishan Co.), son of the late tribal Chairman John Barnett (sharing 43 percent with the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians)
+ the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, California (sharing 43 percent with David Barnett)
+ the Mohegan Tribe, Connecticut (7.85 percent)
According to the development agreement, the partnership would receive fees equal to 3 percent of total project costs. The management agreement states that Salishan-Mohegan would manage, operate and maintain the casino-resort for seven years and earn 24 percent of annual net revenues.
We want to be clear: CARS is critical of the casino proposal and the way it has been pursued. Beyond its involvement in the casino, we have no issue with the Cowlitz Tribe.
The casino project is being driven by the Salishan-Mohegan partnership, which includes:
+ the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (49.15 percent)
+ David Barnett (Salishan Co.), son of the late tribal Chairman John Barnett (sharing 43 percent with the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians)
+ the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, California (sharing 43 percent with David Barnett)
+ the Mohegan Tribe, Connecticut (7.85 percent)
According to the development agreement, the partnership would receive fees equal to 3 percent of total project costs. The management agreement states that Salishan-Mohegan would manage, operate and maintain the casino-resort for seven years and earn 24 percent of annual net revenues.
We want to be clear: CARS is critical of the casino proposal and the way it has been pursued. Beyond its involvement in the casino, we have no issue with the Cowlitz Tribe.
About CARS
Citizens Against Reservation Shopping (CARS) is a group of Clark County, Wash., citizens formed in June 2005 and led by longtime Vancouver businessman and civic leader Edward Lynch.
CARS opposes the Cowlitz Tribe's plan to build a casino in Clark County in part because it objects to the practice of "reservation shopping." This is the practice of selecting an ideal casino site and then working to have it given reservation status.