The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians’ proposal to build a casino in Vallejo in California’s wine country is sparking controversy in nearby counties who oppose casinos in the tourist-heavy region. The casino would be located 15 miles from the historic wine center of Napa.
The Napa County Board of Supervisors is weighing whether to support or oppose the casino, which would be located in nearby Solano County near where Interstate 80 and State Highway 37 meet.
The final decision to put land into trust for the tribe rests with the Department of the Interior. Although comments are always solicited from local government, those comments are generally disregarded.
The board has a history of opposing casinos near farmland and wineries. But it might support this one since it would be located far enough from the town of Napa to ensure that another Indian casino wouldn’t be proposed any closer. Usually a California state tribal gaming compact comes with a regional monopoly.
The other nearby county, American Canyon County, is already on record opposing the casino.
Napa Supervisor Diane Dillon told the Napa Valley Register last week “I want to be fully supportive of our colleagues in Solano and Vallejo and American Canyon. But I don’t want to invite the project to move to Napa.”
The tribe applied to put the land into trust last month. The landless tribe is based in Lakeport, 75 miles away. The federal government broke on the reservation more than 60 years ago, until that decision was reversed in the 1991 decision Scotts Valley Band of Pomo v. The United States. The tribe was deemed “restored” in 2008, and thus eligible to engage in gaming. However, the tribe is staring at a deadline. It may only put land into trust within 25 years of being restored. That deadline is rapidly approaching.
The city of American Canyon is concerned that the tribe’s casino would overtax the water supplies of the region. California is still in the midst of the longest drought in its history.
Meanwhile U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is a longtime opponent of what she calls “reservation shopping,” has lined up with local officials in Napa to try to strangle this casino in its crib.
The senator wrote a letter about the proposal to the Obama administration several months ago: “There has been no notice to the surrounding tribes with historic ties to the area,” she wrote. “The affected cities and counties are similarly left in the dark. And the agency has failed to provide any notice to the state. That’s a problem.”
This is the second time the tribe has applied to put land into trust. It tried and failed to do so for land in the city of Richmond in 2012.
