By William Hatch - Lincoln News Messenger
Three weeks after the close of the public comment period on the impacts of the proposed United Auburn Indian Community casino, officials in the Sacramento office of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) are assembling a package of documents to be sent to the BIA’S Washington D.C. office for a decision.
“It will be a large document,” Bill Allen, director of the Natural Resources branch of the Sacramento Regional BIA headquarters, said Tuesday.
In addition to the environmental assessment (EA) prepared by the tribe, public comments made on it and responses to those made by the tribe, the package will consider three options. First, the BIA could decide there is no significant impact. Second, it could require the tribe to rewrite the environmental assessment. Third, it could find that an environmental impact study (broader and more detailed than the EA would be required.
Allen said the Sacramento office was trying to get the package to Washington by the end of October but wasn’t sure they’d make that deadline.
Three comments on the EA seem particularly important. Placer County and the City of Lincoln (the closest town to the proposed casino site) spoke in favor of the project. The Sacramento law firm of Remy, Thomas and Moose submitted a 60-page document – paid for by the cities of Roseville and Rocklin – challenging the legality of the EA.
“The EA is inadequate and we believe an EIS is necessary,” said Andrea A. Matarazzo, an attorney in the Remy, Thomas firm. “The project meets the legal standards for an EIS because it would significantly and adversely the human environment in terms of land-use compatibility, its impacts on the character of the community, water and air quality, biological resources and traffic.
An EIS, she explained, is “a document of a broader scope with different public review requirements. It is more detailed, requiring more studies.”
If the BIA approves the tribe’s EA as it stands, she added, it is “entirely possible” a law suit would follow, challenging the decision.
“In the long run,” BIA’s Allen said wearily, “I expect we will be sued. Being sued is not exactly a new experience around here.”
Howard Dickstein, the Auburn tribe’s attorney, said, “There is nothing they’ve raised we hadn’t foreseen. We’re glad to have all the comments.”
The Sacramento lawyers received $75,000, he added, $50,000 from the City of Roseville, $25,000 from the City of Rocklin.
City Attorney Mark Doane, to whom Gold Country Media was referred for confirmation, could not be reached for comment.
Support for the casino project came from Placer County and the City of Lincoln, both of whom have signed extensive memoranda of understanding (MOU) with the tribe.
Anthony La Bouff, Placer County counsel, wrote BIA’s Pacific Regional Office in Sacramento that the Placer County Board of Supervisors had sent a letter endorsing the tribe’s application.
“The County of Placer feels that it was fortunate to work with the United Auburn Indian Community and their willingness to recognize the concerns of the County of Placer and to reach agreement upon the …MOU.”
However, he noted that the tribe’s EA “is not a completed environmental review document consistent with our MOU.”
The MOU between Placer County and the tribe is the best agreement ever reached between an Indian casino project and a county, according to Cheryl Schmidt, co-director of Rocklin based Stand Up For California, an organization opposed to Indian casinos.
Rodney Campbell, director of community development for the City of Lincoln, wrote the BIA, “While our review of the environmental assessment indicates that the project may have potential impacts on the City of Lincoln and its operations, these impacts are being addressed.
These actions would include those mitigation measures proposed in the environmental assessment and those provisions included within the memorandum of understanding once it is fully executed and implemented by the United Auburn Indian Community.”
Lincoln proposed and UAIC accepted an MOU including the following agreements: UAIC agreed to pay more than $1 million for sewage connection and ongoing fees; $1 million toward the development of the Lincoln Route 65 Bypass Project; $1,000 per call for fire/medical services; $37,500 per year for the indirect costs that the casino will have on the Lincoln police department and several hundred thousand dollars for cultural, social and youth activities in Lincoln and the Western Placer County area.
© 2000 Lincoln News Messenger
