PORTLAND, Ore. — A draft environmental impact statement concludes that the Cascade Locks site sought by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs for Oregon’s first off-reservation casino would best meet tribal needs.
Tribal lawyers said Friday the proposal written for the Bureau of Indian Affairs is within federal environmental guidelines, a claim that opponents Friends of the Columbia Gorge contested.
New federal guidelines “raise even greater doubts about the off-reservation casino proposal in the Columbia River Gorge and favor on-reservation alternatives,” said Michael Lang, the group’s environmental director.
“It’s our responsibility to protect this national treasure for future generations and not allow it to be overrun by casinos and resorts,” he said.
His group and others claim the Cascade Locks site would generate traffic that would damage the gorge and could harm protected fish runs. The draft impact statement admits to the latter possibility during the construction phase.
The draft statement is a step toward project approval but by no means assures it.
A week of hearings is scheduled in early March. The bureau will issue a final statement after the 90-day comment period. That will become part of a package considered by the secretary of the interior.
The current secretary, former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, has said he generally opposes off-reservation casinos but has allowed a handful from among 30 proposed, including the Warm Springs project, to advance.
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a compact with the tribes in 2005 supporting the Cascade Locks proposal.
The tribes want to pay for the government to take 25 acres in an industrial zone owned by the Port of Cascade Locks into trust so the casino can be built there. Tribal attorneys said a price had been agreed on but would not divulge it. The tribes also would lease 35 adjacent acres for parking and other purposes.
Tribal attorney Howard Arnett said there is at least a chance the process could be done this year.
The tribes say they need the estimated annual average of $77 million the casino would generate through 2018 to shore up creaky tribal infrastructure and plug an annual $26 million shortfall in costs of providing basic tribal services.
Arnett said Friday the project meets federal guidelines and has the required support of local communities and governments within 10 miles of the site.
“There has been no expressed opposition to the project from any of those governments,” he said.
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