Why we want DOI to withdraw the Final EIS

1. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) still does not contain a reasonable alternative site. The listed alternative of the Ridgefield junction with Interstate 5 -- 2 miles south of the proposed La Center site -- is saddled with even more problems than the La Center site. It is not a serious alternative. Moreover, neither site is anywhere near the tribe's federally adjudicated aboriginal lands. Lewis County is the point nearest the most Cowlitz Tribe members, and there is plenty of land available.

2. In its effort to imply a strong tribal connection to Clark County, the EIS continues to use erroneous information that has already been debunked multiple times by the Department of the Interior (DOI).

3. The EIS is based on the tribe's highly exaggerated Unmet Needs Statement and Business Plan, which suddenly appeared last year -- long after the public comment period on the Draft EIS was closed. These documents were used to justify placing the proposed casino near the lucrative Vancouver-Portland market and to rule out legitimate alternatives. (See "Regional BIA, developers cook books trying to save La Center site.") The public never had an opportunity to comment on these documents before the Final EIS came out at the end of May, six years after the Cowlitz Tribe first applied to have land at the La Center junction taken into trust.

4. The EIS depends on Clark County's now-overturned plan to change the land at the proposed casino site from agricultural to urban. In May, a state Growth Board re-declared the land agricultural, a designation that will make it impossible for the developers to get services, such as utilities, police and roads. (See "Casino Final EIS suffers major blow.")

5. The traffic analysis absurdly underestimates how great an impact the casino would have on area roadways -- particularly Interstate 5 and Interstate 205, and their bridges over the Columbia. The Supplemental Traffic Impact Study says 92 percent of traffic would come from the south-most of that would be over the Columbia River bridges.