For Immediate Release
CARS files anti-casino suit
For nearly six years, Citizens Against Reservation Shopping (CARS) has been a consistent local voice telling the federal government why the proposed Cowlitz mega-casino and resort does not belong in Southwest Washington. We expected that the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) would act on the facts that the Dept. of Interior had on hand as well as those we presented.
However, on Dec. 17, the BIA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) giving a green light to the largest development Clark County has ever seen, despite the fact that most local governing bodies have opposed it.
As a result, CARS has joined Clark County in suing the BIA in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., expecting to stop this development once and for all.
CARS’ objections
CARS has no issue with the Cowlitz Tribe or its members, but we object to several points integral to this project:
1. The Environmental Impact Statement provided under the authority of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and paid for by the developers is a disgrace on multiple issues.
2. The developers claim that the Cowlitz tribe had historical, cultural, or geographical status in southern Cowlitz County or Clark County remains unsupported and contrary to all known facts.
3. The financiers and developers of this project have no connection to our area. They are David Barnett, a Seattle-based developer, the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut and the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians of California.
4. The Business Plan required to be filed in a timely matter was not; and when made public after all public input periods were concluded, was found to be an affront to good sense.
5. Through the Freedom of Information Act, it was discovered that the developers had more than 60 exchanges with the organization drafting the Environmental Impact Statement when there should have been none.
What CARS is not against
CARS does not dispute the right of the Cowlitz Tribe to have a reservation and or a casino in their homeland, which very clearly by the Department of Interiors own findings is at its most southerly point somewhat above Longview, Washington. In Toledo (Lewis County), Washington, the Cowlitz Tribe has used Federal funds to build senior housing and roads, hold their yearly gatherings there, and was the site where the Catholic Missionaries went to minister to the Cowlitz Indians in 1839.
The bottom line
Despite innumerable appeals from local citizens and governing bodies, despite data indicating far-reaching negative impacts if this project proceeds, BIA is working to ramrod the Cowlitz project through. As we submit our complaint against BIA in U.S. District Court, our goal is to see that justice is done and the Record of Decision retracted.
