Indian Gaming > DOI pressed to review Cowlitz Tribe's casino site again

February 02, 2006

DOI pressed to review Cowlitz Tribe's casino site again

Introduction - 5:24 - 1.23MB
Introductory remarks by Sen. John McCain and Sen. Byron Dorgan. Missing the first minute or so of McCain's statement.

Panel I - 17:58 - 4.11MB | Panel I Q&A - 33:35 - 7.68MB
Testimony and Q&A with George Skibine, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Penny Coleman, National Indian Gaming Commission.

Panel II - 33:11 - 7.59MB | Panel II Q&A - 28:33 - 6.53MB
Testimony and Q&A with Alex Alexanderson, Philip Harju (Cowlitz Tribe), Duane Kromm, and Liz Thomas.

The city council in La Center, Washington, voted 3-2 to ask the Interior Department to determine whether the Cowlitz Tribe qualifies for an exception under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The council plans to send a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton objecting to the way the tribe's land-into-trust application has been handled. The letter will ask Norton to set aside a November 23, 2005, Indian land opinion [Link] written by the National Indian Gaming Commission and seek more public comment.

The opinion, written by acting NIGC general counsel Penny Coleman, stated that the tribe qualifies for an exception under IGRA. The opinion said the tribe demonstrated historical and modern connections to the land, and that the land-into-trust application was filed within a "reasonable" period after the tribe received federal recognition.

The issue was discussed at yesterday's Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on off-reservation gaming in the context of the NIGC's approval [Link] of the tribe's gaming ordinance. The NIGC made a decision on the site-specific ordinance even though the tribe's land is not yet held in trust.

Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the committee chairman, was critical of the process being used to make land determinations and land-into-trust decisions. He said

Get the Story:
Casino siting needs clarity, senators say (The Oregonian 2/2)
McCain Seeks Clarity on Indian Gaming Law (AP 2/1)
Username: indianz@indianz.com, Password: indianz
La Center objects to casino process (The Columbian 2/1)
Cowlitz offers La Center a revenue deal (The Oregonian 2/1)