Federal agency OKs Cowlitz Tribe plan
A federal agency has approved the Cowlitz Tribe’s latest strategy for dealing with the loss of the tribe’s 2004 agreement with Clark County.
The National Indian Gaming Commission on Tuesday approved a Cowlitz ordinance that includes provisions of an invalidated memorandum of understanding and gives Clark County legal authority to sue if the tribe doesn’t live up to its commitments.
Tuesday’s decision does not approve the tribe’s request to create a 152-acre reservation west of La Center. That issue remains with Carl Artman, assistant Interior secretary for Indian affairs.
Top Interior officials still haven’t said whether the tribe’s approach will be enough to approve the tribe’s request for a reservation, which in turn would allow for construction of a large casino within a 20-minute drive of the Portland-Vancouver area.
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” George Skibine, director of the Interior Department’s Office of Indian Gaming, told the Columbian last month. “We are going to have to evaluate whether that is sufficient. We haven’t done that.”
The National Indian Gaming Commission, an independent federal agency with ties to the U.S. Interior Department, agreed that the Cowlitz Tribe’s ordinance complies with the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Philip Hogen, commission chairman, said the Cowlitz actually have gone further in terms of enforcement than what is required by the landmark law that has led to an explosion in Indian casinos in fewer than 20 years.
“The Indian gaming commission feels that it’s enforceable,” said Phil Harju, a member of the Cowlitz Tribal Council and its designated casino spokesman. “The NIGC thinks we have gone farther than what is required by federal law.”
Hogen, in his two-page letter announcing the commission’s approval, said he has received “opposition comments” from several groups, including the city of Vancouver, La Center cardrooms and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, but he was not persuaded by their arguments.
The tribe’s memorandum of understanding with Clark County included provisions requiring the tribe to comply with county building and health codes, to build roads and intersections to keep traffic flowing, to pay for law enforcement and prosecution of misdemeanor crimes and to compensate the county and other local governments for lost property taxes.
It was the most important local agreement the tribe has negotiated, but the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board last June declared the agreement invalid. The hearings board concluded the county violated state law requiring early and continuous public participation in a growth management decision.
County commissioners decided to appeal the hearings board’s decision, but a Thurston County judge refused last month to resurrect the agreement.
Commissioners are expected to meet in closed-door session Wednesday to discuss their response to the latest legal development.