Cascade Locks Casino Update

In 2005, Governor Kulongoski agreed to support the Warm Springs Tribe's efforts to build on an industrial site in Cascade Locks in exchange for the tribe's promise to close its casino in Central Oregon and forgo developing a more sensitive site on tribal land in Hood River.

The location of the casino as well as the change in state policy to allow an off-reservation casino brought on public scrutiny and concern. In response, the federal government agreed to a round of public hearings on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Cascade Locks casino proposal.

The hearings were on a draft environmental impact statement done by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs that concluded the Cascade Locks site was a better choice than alternate sites in Hood River, where the tribe owns land, and on the Warm Springs Reservation. The public hearings were held during the month of March in Warm Springs, Cascade Locks, Stevenson, WA, Portland and Hood River.

During the Portland hearing on March 13, the Gorge casino opponents submitted nearly 4000 comments opposed to the off-reservation casino proposal in the Columbia River Gorge. The comments were from coalition outreach efforts the past few weeks and from efforts last year when the federal government initially announced plans for a public comment period.

Representatives of the Coalition for Oregon's Future, including Friends of the Columbia Gorge, Oregon Family Council, Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Oregon Restaurant Association and others attended the public meeting in Portland to formally submit the opposition comments and to speak out against the casino.

"Thousands of Oregonians are speaking out against the Gorge casino because they know it's bad for the environment, it's too far away for most tribal members to reasonably commute every day, it will open the door to even more casinos off reservation lands and because an on-reservation casino alternative exists," said Dan Lavey, a spokesman for the anti-casino coalition.

Although the round of public hearings on the Cascade Locks casino proposal is now complete, comments may be submitted until May 15 (see below). Even though Gov. Kulongoski agreed to support the casino at Cascade Locks back in 2005, the Department of Interior rejected 22 of 30 applications for off-reservation casinos this month. The department also indicated that it will tighten restrictions for off-reservation casinos and give more credence to the concerns expressed by local and state government. Currently being reviewed and a hot topic in all the hearings was the issue of commute time between Warm Springs and Cascade Locks.

For additional information, please visit www.nogorgecasino.com. Comments are being accepted until May 15, and you can submit a comment using the BIA website comment form at www.gorgecasinoeis.com/co/comment_form.html. If you would like to write a letter, please fax and/or mail your letter to:

Mr. Gerald Henrikson
Bureau of Indian Affairs
911 NE 11th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97232
FAX 503-231-2201

A final EIS will be crafted from these comments and presented once again to the public. The Interior is then expected to make a final decision on the Warm Springs' proposal in early 2009.