Last fall the South Carolina-based Catawba Nation applied to the U.S. Department of Interior to take into trust a 16-acre parcel in Kings Mountain, Cleveland County, North Carolina, where the tribe hopes to build a 0 million resort casino and hotel. The project would create 4,000 jobs in an area with more than 10 percent unemployment.
Recently three U.S. Congressmen wrote to the Interior Department supporting the Catawbas’ application. Congressman Jim Moran (D-Virginia), Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.) and former Democratic Congressman and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said the federal government must fulfill its trust responsibility and the promises made in the 1993 Catawba Indian Land Claims Settlement Act. That legislation restored the tribe’s federal recognition but the promise of a 4,200-acre reservation never has been fulfilled.
Moran wrote, “Two decades later, the tribe’s reservation is a mere 1,006 acres, with the state of South Carolina working to block the Catawba Tribe at every turn. The Catawbas have been faithful allies of the United States, and yet their lands and rights have been eroded by a combination of federal and state action. It is a familiar story in the long and tragic history of federal Indian policy, but with a twist–the tribe’s rights were further undermined by Congress during my service here through passage of the Catawba Indian Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993.”
Miller was chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources when Congress passed the Catawba Settlement Act. He wrote, “I believe that it is in the interest of justice that the Interior fulfill the intent and promise of this legislation by moving forward expeditiously on the Catawba’s trust application.”
Richardson, chairman of the House Indian Affairs Subcommittee in 1993 when the settlement act was passed, wrote, “The Subcommittee was well aware of the Tribe’s unique history, the vast lands in South and North Carolina they once owned and the injustices visited upon them throughout their history. Even the Act as passed in 1993, although intended to bring a measure of justice to the Catawbas, included extraordinary jurisdictional and other restrictions in South Carolina that were insisted upon by the South Carolina delegation.” No such restrictions were included for North Carolina, where the subcommittee extended the Nation’s service area into six counties, Richardson added.
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina also supports the Catawbas. Lumbee Chairman Paul Brooks said, “As our friends and neighbors, the Catawbas have demonstrated a commitment to working together for the mutual benefit of both tribes, and we are proud to stand with our brothers and sisters of the Catawba Indian Nation in full support of this important economic development project in North Carolina.”
However, the Catawbas face strong opposition to their plans from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and its Washington lobbyist Ietan consulting, which successfully lobbied against federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe. Michell Hicks, principle chief of the Eastern Band, said the
Catawba casino would have a negative impact on job growth and revenue at the tribe’s Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and for the western region of North Carolina.
Most members of the North Carolina legislature also oppose the Catawba plan. Last fall, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis and more than 100 House legislators signed a letter Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, asking her to block Catawba’s land-trust application. Nearly every legislator who signed the letter received campaign donations between $500 and $4,000 from the Eastern Band in 2012. The tribe spent $3 million on campaign donations between 2004 and 2012.
Last month, the North Carolina Republican Party has held its convention at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.
Interior spokeswoman Nedra Darling said Catawba’s application is pending.
