9.24.07 Casino still elusive
Lawmakers end session without ratifying compacts for tribes' project
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun
This year's legislative session came and went, and two California Indian tribes hoping to embark on a joint casino project in Barstow are still missing the key component - ratified gaming compacts.
Lawmakers end session without ratifying compacts for tribes' project
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun
This year's legislative session came and went, and two California Indian tribes hoping to embark on a joint casino project in Barstow are still missing the key component - ratified gaming compacts.
An eleventh-hour media campaign launched by the Big Lagoon Rancheria tribe of Humboldt County and the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians in San Diego County to try to sway legislators to ratify the compacts was unsuccessful.
The legislative session ended Sept. 12 without ratification.
"The governor was disappointed the Legislature convened without ratifying these compacts," said Sabrina Lockhart , spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Both tribes are pushing to build a joint casino project - Barstow Casinos and Resort - in the city of Barstow.
The project has been received with open arms by the city and is supported by the governor and environmental groups.
But after two years of waiting and compacts still not ratified, the tribes may wind up going their separate ways.
Big Lagoon chairman Virgil Moorehead sent a letter this week to Schwarzenegger with a request to negotiate a compact so it can possibly build a casino or other facility on its reservation, said Jason Barnett , a spokesman for the tribe.
"We hope to hear from the governor's office soon on that. Meanwhile, Big Lagoon is keeping all its options open," said Barnett, adding that the tribe is not giving up on the proposed Barstow project.
"If the governor were to come to us with a creative solution he felt would get approved by the legislature for Barstow, the tribe would certainly be open to it."
Schwarzenegger and environmental groups are pushing for the Barstow casino project to become a reality for the tribes because it would mean Big Lagoon would not build on its ecologically sensitive reservation.
The 20-plus acre Big Lagoon Rancheria reservation sits on the Northern California coast and supports the largest estuary in the state.
It provides habitat to many endangered plant and animal species.
"These agreements are a creative solution for avoiding the construction of a casino on California's coast and alongside a state ecological preserve," Schwarzenegger said at the time the compacts were negotiated in September 2005.
But efforts by Big Lagoon and Los Coyotes have been met with fierce opposition by other wealthy gaming tribes, primarily the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians near Highland who argue that neither Big Lagoon nor Los Coyotes have ancestral ties to the Barstow area and therefore shouldn't be allowed to build a casino there.
Big Lagoon and Los Coyotes, however, feel San Manuel is more interested in eliminating competition than protecting what they said are Serrano ancestral lands.
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows tribes to build casinos off their reservations as long as they are not met with opposition and do not adversely impact the areas where the casinos are proposed to be built.
San Manuel is lobbying to amend that law to require tribes to have ancestral ties to the land where they wish to build casinos.
The city of Barstow estimates Barstow Casinos and Resort would generate 3,700 jobs and $6 million in revenue to the city annually.
Barstow Mayor Lawrence Dale said while the city is in full support of the project, whether the plans come to fruition rests in the hands of the state and the tribes.
"We're just going to sit back and see what's going to take place," Dale said. "We are still very interested in having a casino in Barstow. We think it would be a good economic boost to our community. We haven't given up, or I haven't given up."
Lockhart said the governor has until Oct. 12 to act on several hundred pieces of pending legislation.
There is no word on whether he will extend the compacts of the two tribes, which expired at midnight Sept. 17.
She said the onus is on the tribes to contact the governor and request a meeting to negotiate new compacts.
"If they approach us and want to renegotiate, we're more than happy to sit down and talk to them," she said.
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