Sierra Club
Redwood Chapter Newsletter
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STOP THE CASINO ON HIGHWAY 37 AND STOP AN ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER! Hugo Steensma | |
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The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria Tribe is planning to develop a resort casino on Highway 37, close to Lakeville Road. In a joint venture with the Nevada-based Station Casinos, the Tribe has indicated plans to build a casino, a 250 - 500 room hotel, some 20 single family homes, offices etc. For this purpose it has purchased a 300-acre parcel and acquired an option to purchase an additional 1700 acres. Under their stated plans, the resort casino development would take place on the 300 acres while the remaining 1700 acres would remain undeveloped. The proposed location is an undeveloped, scenic wetlands area and very environmentally sensitive. The site includes habitat for a variety of rare, threatened and endangered plant and animal species, including the California clapper rail, western burrowing owl, the red-legged frog and a very rare clover. Much of the land surrounding the proposed site is protected, in public ownership through open space districts and land trusts and is in the process of being restored. Millions of dollars of private and of public money have been spent to protect and restore these pristine and unique natural areas. The site is adjacent to the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge. A resort casino on that site would have a significant impact on the availability and quality of water. In addition, the disposal of wastewater, gas and oil run-off from roads and parking areas as well as the deterioration of air quality as a result of increased traffic are other major issues. It is estimated that the initial increase in traffic flow will be some 10,000 - 20,000 cars per day. It is the experience of other casino developments in different states that once established, casinos will continue to grow, leading to increased pressures for further development and widening of area roads. In the bill passed by Congress giving the Tribe back its status, there was a clause stating that the Department of the Interior (DOI) SHALL convey land in trust to the Tribe assuming it meets various requirements. That language, as written, as much as orders the transfer to take place and with very little chance for any substantive review of the proposal and its potential impacts on the environment and surrounding communities. Once that happens, the casino construction could begin moving rapidly with virtually no restrictions or controls. A review under NEPA will probably be required, but this act does not include mitigation for identified negative impacts. Sovereign Tribes are exempt from a wide range of other federal and state and local laws and regulations, including CEQA! Congresswoman Woolsey and Senator Feinstein have filed legislation which would change the language of the transfer clause from "SHALL convey" to "MAY convey". If this were done, it would give the DOI greater leeway to take an in-depth look at the project and possibly deny the transfer. (Representative Mike Thompson has signed on as a co-sponsor of the House legislation.) We now know that the proponents of the casino are trying to find people willing to write letters urging elected officials NOT to change the language in legislation concerning the transfer of land to the Graton Rancheria. Gaming interests have made significant campaign contributions and as a result, key committee members in the House will attempt to block this proposed legislation from getting to the floor. At the same time, all of California's counties are asking Governor Davis, who is starting negotiations on formal compacts with the state's Tribes, to include provisions in those compacts that any tribal projects, including casinos, must be subject to local zoning laws AND to the State's CEQA environmental regulations. CEQA is much tougher than federal NEPA regulations. Casino representatives obviously do not want to be held to those tougher State rules. Hence their efforts to muster public support for keeping the "SHALL convey" language. Tougher reviews are clearly needed. Without them, the Tribe, once it gets the land, will be free to do pretty much whatever it wants and the backers will be moving swiftly to get a facility built and operating. Once a casino project breaks ground, there is very little that can be done to limit its growth ... even if the Tribe has signed a "legally-enforceable" Memorandum Of Understanding with Sonoma County. They are "Sovereign" and there will simply be too much money behind it. The developers have already said they intend to create a "regional entertainment destination" on what they perceive to be the "best site in California" for a casino. The Supervisors of Sonoma, Napa and Marin Counties have adopted resolutions that are strongly opposed to a resort casino on this site. What You Can Do: Please take a few minutes to write a letter to all the federal representatives listed below and to Secretary Gale Norton and ask them to do all that is in their power to push through or support the change from SHALL to MAY language for the bill concerning the Graton Rancheria Tribe (refer to Senate Bill S 1342; House Bill HR 2656). Please use your own words as much as possible. You can also download this letter from: www.stopthecasino.org. A copy of your letter should also be sent to Supervisor Valerie Brown, who has agreed to document the public support on this issue. Original letters to the Secretary of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Director Skibine must be sent to directly to Supervisor Brown for presentation to these agencies since they deal only with inter-governmental communications. Copies of your letter can also be sent to Senator Feinstein and Representatives Woolsey and Thompson, along with a note of thanks for their leadership on this issue. For press releases, research reports and further information on the impact of the proposed and already existing casinos visit the website: www.stopthecasino.org. |
Sample Letter U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Dear Senator Campbell: The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria recently announced plans for a major Las Vegas-style casino facility on 2,000 acres of privately owned land in Southern Sonoma County bordering the San Francisco Bay. The property includes environmentally sensitive bay, agriculture and wet lands that have been the subject of conservation efforts for many years and is in a scenic corridor. When Congress passed the bill in 1998 to restore the Tribe's status (H.R. 5528 - Boxer), much of the support for the bill was based on the Tribe's pledge not to conduct gaming. In addition to restoring the Tribe's status, the bill directed that the Secretary of the Interior "shall accept land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe any real property in Marin or Sonoma County". This language, perhaps unintentional, circumvents established federal regulations that govern the fee to trust process. This process normally requires that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) evaluates the environmental impacts of the trust application and considers local and state government input. The "shall" language in the law takes away all agency discretion and would require the Secretary to take land into trust whether it is in downtown San Rafael or in the middle of a nature preserve, without any review, regardless of the planned development of the property. Graton's trust application should be treated no differently than any other tribe attempting to take private land and transfer it from the state to sovereign status, with the attendant immunity from local land use controls. I urge you to play a leadership role in amending the Restoration Act to change "shall" to "may" so that the otherwise required regulatory review process can be applied. Now that it is clear the Tribe, in fact, does intend to open a casino on San Francisco Bay, the law should make clear that state gubernatorial concurrence also should be required for the land to be used for gaming as would ordinarily be the case for land taken into trust after 1988. Thank you for your consideration of this important issue. Very Truly Yours, Contact Information: Supervisor Valerie K. Brown
Congressman Richard Pombo
Congressman Nick Rahall
U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell
U.S. Senator Dan Inouye
Honorable Gail Norton
******** Original letters to the two following must be sent via Supervisor Brown (see above): Bureau of Indian Affairs
Honorable George T. Skibine
******** Senator Dianne Feinstein
Congressman Mike Thompson
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey
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