The plan for side-by-side casinos in Barstow could have gone belly up today, as a legal settlement crucial to the proposal was set to expire.
But this afternoon, that settlement was extended -- even though the casino projects in question still face an uphill battle in the Legislature.
As we reported earlier this week, the proposal for casinos owned by the Humboldt County's Big Lagoon Rancheria and San Diego County's Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians remains in limbo at the state Capitol. Neither tribe believes they can open a gambling facility on their respective reservations, and signed an agreement with Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005 to open casinos in Barstow.
That agreement ended a legal battle in the case of Big Lagoon, where the state has argued that the tribe's coastal reservation is too environmentally fragile for a casino.
But the court settlement was set to expire today. And late last week, Big Lagoon chairman Virgil Moorehead sounded reluctant to keep waiting on the Barstow project.
Now, he's decided to give it one more shot-- an extension of the settlement that will expire on September 17. If the Legislature fails to ratify the two tribes' formal gaming compact by then, Big Lagoon is likely to resume its efforts to build a casino up north... while Los Coyotes would probably have to go back to the drawing board.
Cliched as it may be, the extension of the settlement is a high-stakes gamble. Several powerful Indian gaming tribes in southern California oppose the Barstow plan, arguing that it sets a bad precedent of off-reservation gaming. And the proposal currently sits in the Senate, and doesn't appear to be moving.
In fact, the chairman of the committee that oversees Indian gaming was emphatic last week that the Barstow project isn't on his immediate radar.
"We probably will see that particular compact coming up maybe early next session, but not this session," said Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter).
If that's the case, today's announcement won't do much good. But others at the Capitol say a deal may still develop... hence, the need for extra time to make such a deal happen.
NOTE: John Myers is the only reporter to cover this story in the last week who understands the complexity of the situation.
Big Lagoon Rancheria has failed to have Barstow land owned by its Detroit backers transferred into Trust with the Department of Interior by May 31 -- a deadline provision in the Gaming Compact the tribe negotiated with Governor Schwarzenegger in 2005. As such, the Compact, which has failed to win ratification from the Legislature the last two years, would be considered null and void at this point.
And under provisions in the companion "Settlement Agreement" between the State and Big Lagoon Rancheria that was intended to restrict future development on the tribe's Humboldt County reservation; if the Compact (section 14.2) is deemed null and void for failure to meet such deadlines, then the terms of the Settlement Agreement (section M.18.f) are no longer enforceable.
If in fact the Governor has agreed to any extension of the May 31 deadline, it is purely to keep the Settlement Agreement active because as both Virgil Moorehead and Barwest's Tom Shields have acknowledged there is little chance the Tribe will complete the Fee to Trust transfer of the land prior to September 17, the apparent date of the extension. There has been nothing from the Governor's Office to validate what Barwest is spinning publicly.
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