The Tule River tribe of Central California is moving forward with its process to move its existing Eagle Mountain Casino from the reservation to 40 acres the tribe has owned for a quarter century near the Porterville Airport. The Bureau of Indian Affairs moved the process one more square by releasing its Environmental Impact State (EIS) on the proposal.
The tribe proposes a 105,000-square foot casino, a 250-room hotel, a 29,000 SF convention center, dining and lounge space, a banquet hall and meeting space. It would employ twice as many workers as the current facility.
A Draft EIS could be released by the end of 2017 and a final EIS could be released next year.
The envisioned $180 casino resort would have a multi-story casino hotel; but first the land must be put into trust by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The EIS includes comments that it has been collecting since January when it first released the scoping report on the project. Few comments have been negative.
The casino’s General Manager Matt Mingrone told the Porterville Reporter “We’re excited, but we know it’s going to be a long process,” adding that guests are excited about the proposal.
