A Colorado casino proposed by the Ute Tribe is in danger as a result of opposition from the new head of the Interior Department to the sale of public land.
The tribe, which once lived in Colorado but is now in Utah, wants to buy 2,453 acres in Colorado from the Bureau of Land Management. The property lies along the Utah state line on the border of the Utes’ Uintah and Ouray Reservation.
“The tribe proposes to purchase these lands from the BLM in order to expand its reservation and pursue economic development,” Chairman Shaun Chapoose said in a December letter to the agency.
The Utes want the property in order to build a casino near the town of Dinosaur in Colorado. The tribe believes the acquisition will make the gaming site contiguous to the reservation, eliminating the need to follow a cumbersome determination process required under the U.S. Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that could take years to complete.
Officials in Dinosaur support the casino but it has drawn opposition from elsewhere in the area.
Currently, however, it’s Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke who stands as the project’s biggest obstacle.
Zinke, who took control of department last month, has repeatedly opposed transactions involving public land. Recently, he blocked the transfer of the National Bison Range to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana, his home state, even though the land lies within the tribe’s reservation.
At the time, he stated, “I have said I will not sell or transfer public land. I remain steadfast in that commitment.”
