The Tule River Tribe of Northern California has begun the process of relocating its Eagle Mountain Casino off the reservation to a new site, 40 acres near the Porterville Airport Industrial Park, about 20 miles away.
The first step was to publish the environmental impact statement in the Federal Register.
According to the EIS: “The proposed casino-hotel resort would include a hotel, convention center, multipurpose event space, several restaurant facilities, parking facilities and water reclamation infrastructure, the notice, which was signed by Tara Sweeney, the recently-installed Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, reads. “The new facility would replace the tribe’s existing casino, and the existing casino buildings would be converted to tribal government or service uses.”
The tribe currently owns the land, but it still needs to be put into trust by the Department of the Interior before the casino can locate there.
Land into trust on non-reservation land triggers the “two-part determination” of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,” which, even if the federal government approves, gives a veto the governor of the state. That is currently Jerry Brown, although he is retiring at the end of the year.
If the governor assents, an amendment to the existing tribal state gaming compact would also be required, which would bring the legislature into the proceedings.
The tribe initiated the process two years ago. Now that the EIS has been made public the Bureau of Indian Affairs will begin taking public comments. After this process is completed, the tribe will issue a final environmental impact statement.
