The Sault St. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians recently received a letter from the U.S. Department of the Interior stating the tribe’s 2014 land-trust applications for two parcels are mandatory under the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act. However, the department asked the tribe to provide additional evidence that the proposed parcels qualify under the 1997 act. The tribe used funds it received under the MILCSA to purchase the two parcels.
Sault Tribe Chairperson Aaron Payment said in its January 19 letter the DOI said it “will keep the Tribe’s applications open so that the Tribe may present evidence” to support that the parcels of land meet federal legal requirements. He said the tribe “remains absolutely confident in our legal theory and committed to pursuing the success of these projects,” and that the tribe will determine its response “in the very near future.”
One 2.7 parcel in Lansing, adjacent to the city’s convention center, will be used for the Lansing Kewadin Casino, first proposed by the tribe and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero in January 2012. The tribe will conduct an economic impact study to determine if the 71-acre parcel in Huron Township will be used for gaming.
Payment said, “The law is clear. The Secretary is required to accept these parcels in trust. It is a clear, plain-language legal argument. Our tribe is within federal law and our legal rights to pursue these opportunities to create thousands of new jobs and generate millions of dollars in new revenues that will benefit our members, the people of Lansing, public school students in Lansing, the people of Huron Township and the entire state.”
The tribe decided to file the land-trust applications following three federal court developments. First, in December 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled the Sault Tribe had the right to pursue approval of its Lansing casino. In May 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the state of Michigan could not stop the Bay Mills Tribe from opening a casino on off-reservation land. Also in 2014, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette withdrew a lawsuit blocking the Sault Tribe from filing the applications from the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 125,000 square foot Lansing casino would create 1,500 permanent jobs and 700 construction jobs. Revenue would be used for a scholarship fund. The Huron Township location near the Detroit Metro Airport includes a large unfinished building that could be converted to a casino or tribal offices.
Bernero said, “We are very encouraged by the Interior Department’s statement on the tribe’s trust application. It is another step forward in what we knew would be a long, complicated process. We remain completely committed to the project and confident that the Lansing Kewadin Casino, and the Lansing Promise Scholarship it will fund, will come to fruition.”
However, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi and Saginaw Chippewa Indian tribes have continuously opposed the Lansing casino. Saginaw Chippewa Chairman Frank Cloutier and Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Chairman Jamie Stuck noted the letter said the Interior Department had “insufficient evidence” to allow it to proceed with the land-trust process.
The chairmen sent a letter to the Interior Department opposing the Sault Tribe’s application, noting its inability to gain approval from the Obama Administration could be detrimental. Their letter said, “It’s been five years since the Sault Tribe and Mayor Bernero promised the people of Lansing that a casino was only one to two years away. At the time we said that was a blatant attempt to mislead the public. The fact is, they are no closer to a casino today than five years ago.”
Cloutier and Stuck added incoming Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke “has a record that is not nearly as favorable to off-reservation gaming as the previous administration.”
