In December 2010, the federal government agreed to take 152
acres of land at the La Center-Interstate 5 junction into trust for the Cowlitz
Tribe. It issued a Record of Decision (ROD) that paved the way for casino developers
to build a mega-casino and resort there.
At the time, CARS declared, “This
is still not a done deal.”
We were right.
Yesterday, March 13, 2013, a federal judge threw out the 2010
ROD, sent it back to the Department of Interior (DOI) and ordered the agency to
issue a new one within 60 days.
You see, when DOI produced the 2010 ROD, it “overlooked” a
number of documents submitted by casino opponents—including information related
to the 2005 federal decision to allow gaming on the La Center property, a
cornerstone of the Cowlitz casino ROD.
The situation puts us in uncharted waters, awaiting DOI’s
next move. What is certain is that today’s Columbian
headline got it exactly right: “CASINO DEALT BIG BLOW.” Read
the story online.
