Column: Campaign against Spokane Tribe's casino shows cracks

The Spokane Tribe Economic Project is controversial for a lot of reasons, not least of which is the presence of another tribe’s casino in Airway Heights and the Spokane Tribe’s sometimes-prickly relations with local governments and leaders.

But encroachment has been the biggest rallying cry for opponents of the project, and the Air Force’s supposed opposition to the casino – its secret, inexpressible opposition – has been the foundation that house was built on.

This foundation seems sandier every day. When the Air Force passed over Fairchild to house new tankers earlier this year, it cited encroachment – but by a trailer park, not the proposed casino. Airway Heights officials, Spokane Tribe representatives and other STEP supporters say this further solidifies the notion that the casino would not endanger future base operations.

The tribe also points to studies by the Federal Aviation Administration and Bureau of Indian Affairs that say the project doesn’t threaten Air Force operations. It also commissioned a study that concluded the risk of a crash at the casino was “low or non-existent.”

Casino opponents dismissed that assertion as “garbage.”

It sounds like the Air Force might have a different view.