Draft EIS for Barwest's Barstow Casinos and Resorts likely delayed until 2008

TVT has learned that sources at the Sacramento office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and at Analytical Environmental Services (AES) have indicated a Draft EIS for the Barstow Casinos and Resorts, proposed by Barwest LLC with the Big Lagoon Rancheria and Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians, won't be available for public inspection until after the first of the year (2008). AES is the consultant that has been retained by the BIA to manage the EIS program.

The EIS is a required element in the proess to transfer land in Barstow controlled by Detroit casino syndicators Barwest LLC into trust for the two Indian tribes.

Following release of a DRAFT EIS, the public will have a minimum 45-day review process which can be extended. Both the BIA and AES have indicated that during that time another public hearing on the matter is expected as well.

Barwest had originally announced the public could expect the Draft EIS by the end of this past summer and then revised those statements to indicate the document would be available this past September.

Based on these most current reports, the EIS process would not be completed until March or April 2008 at the earliest.

Completion of an EIS is only part of the process that the BIA/Department of Interior undertakes when considering the taking of land into trust for federally recognized Indian tribes.

While the best case scenario to take land into trust for a tribe for any purpose might take 18-24 months it can take as long as ten - fifteen years or more. Trust applications involving lands intended for gaming historically have taken the longer, rather than the shorter, time frames.

During the last seven years of Bush Administration, the Secretary of Interior has failed to take any land into trust for the purpose of gaming with circumstances similar to the Barwest scheme for Barstow.