Opponents of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe’s 0 million casino resort in Clark County, Washington have asked a federal Court of Appeals to order construction at the La Center site halted.
The lawsuit challenges the action by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to put the La Center land into trust. It cites the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2009 Carcieri v. Salazar ruling that held that tribes recognized after 1934 can’t put land into trust.
Construction began in January with a groundbreaking in February and the project is scheduled for a 2017 opening. February 26 Clark County sent a cease and desist letter to the tribe because it contends that the tribe’s sewer treatment plant violates County land use ordinances.
Opponents of the casino have already lost in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein, who dismissed the lawsuit in December 2104. Opponents have appealed that ruling and last week asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to issue an injunction to stop the building while it considers their appeal.
Arguments for the appeal are scheduled for March 18. The plaintiffs in the appeal are Clark County, several La Center card rooms, the city of Vancouver, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, and Citizens Against Reservation Shopping.
They seek an injunction because, according to Clark County prosecuting attorney Christine Cook, the tribe has “moved extremely aggressively and rapidly to construct the facility … and it appears that what they’re trying to do is to get everything as much built as possible as they can before the court rules.”
Clark County has also joined with opponents who say the sewage disposal system employed by the tribe is problematic. However, late last most the Environmental Protection Agency sided with the tribe, saying that the sewage plan for injecting treated water into the aquifer uses an approved model.
The EPA’s answer was in apparent answer to a letter from Congressman Jaime Herrera Beutler who demanded that the agency address public safety concerns about the $13.4 million wastewater plant and its injection system.
Mike Ollivant of Parametrix, the firm that designed the water treatment center, told the Columbian, “I can say with confidence, we’ve never had this type of concern. I can only speculate of why there is so much—maybe it’s just misinformation.” He noted that the system is used around the world, and in several locations in Washington state.
Peter Contreras of the EPA told the Columbian, “We don’t feel it is cause for concern. Membrane bioreactor systems have provided and do provide a high level of treatment for sewage wastewater.”
Ollivant added, “Membrane bioreactors do a very good job of removing many of the … pharmaceutical and personal care products and endocrine disruptive compounds.” He added, “There’s been studies like the one at Lake Havasu that (injecting) reclaimed water into a vadose zone does a really good job of removing those compounds.”
The tribe resorted to the wastewater system after a superior court judge ruled that its agreement for the city of La Center to provide sewer service was invalid because the tribe was outside of the city’s urban growth area.
The tribe argues that granting of the injunction would harm the tribe, causing a layoff of 80 percent of the 150 employees doing work, and delay the opening of the facility.
