Last week, the Department of Interior rejected fee-to-trust applications for eleven tribes . Matthew has linked to the rejection letters elsewhere on this site. In rejecting these applications, the DoI has changed the method by which it will review all fee-to-trust applications under 25 C.F.R. Part 151. On January 3rd, Assistant Secretary of Interior Carl Artman , issued a letter to the BIA’s Regional Directors that established that all future applications will be subjected to a “commutable distance” test. In other words, if a tribe seeks to have land placed into trust, even for non-gaming economic development purposes, it must be within a distance where tribal citizens on the existing reservation can reasonably commute to jobs at the site. This had previously not been the case.
off-reservation gaming
Lac Vieux Desert Off-Reservation Gaming Proposal (Muskegon)
From Indianz:
Lac Vieux Band seeks off-reservation casino
The Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians is seeking an off-reservation casino in Muskegon, Michigan.
Off-Reservation Gaming Letters
Indianz has links to the letters in which the Secretary of Interior rejected proposals to take land into trust for gaming purposes.
This is a significant development. Expect litigation, hopefully smart litigation.
Romulus Casino Update
From the Journal Newspapers:
Romulus Mayor will pitch casino approval on Capitol Hill
A delegation of city officials hope elected officials will be swayed by testimony they plan to give regarding the impact a casino would have in Wayne County before the Legislature early in 2008.
St. Croix & Bad River Chippewa Trust Acquisition Lawsuit Materials
On December 7, 2007, the St Croix Tribe of Chippewa filed a suit against Dirk Kempthorne and Carl Artman. The Tribe has been working with the Bad River Chippewa and the City of Beloit (Wisconsin) to develop a casino in the city (which is not located within either Tribe’s reservation). The suit alleges that DOI has reversed its procedure of applying the two-step IGRA section 20 determination before the 25 CFR Part 151 determination. The Tribe claims that seeking the Part 151 determination first will be futile because of Secretary Kempthorne’s personal views on off-reservation gaming. The Tribes have already spent a great deal of time and money in developing the plan, meeting the requirements of the various applicable environmental laws, et cetera.
County of Amador v. USDOI Materials
From Indianz:
The Bush administration is facing tribal criticism for its land-into-trust policies but officials have at least one court victory under their belts.
In a 16-page decision issued last Thursday, a federal judge in California dismissed a suit against Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and Assistant Secretary Carl Artman. The two officials were accused of violating federal law with a legal opinion that said the Ione Band of Miwok Indians could open a casino in Amador County.
Here are the briefs:
St. Croix Chippewa Gaming & Trust Lands Suit
From Indianz [complaint and motion for TRO at the bottom of the post]:
Wisconsin tribe sues BIA over off-reservation gaming
Monday, December 10, 2007
A Wisconsin tribe sued the Bush administration on Friday, accusing two political appointees of changing the land-into-trust process to block off-reservation casinos.
Op-Ed Favoring Sault Tribe and Bay Mills Land Claims Settlement Acts
From the Port Huron Time Herald:
Democratic process is lost in decisions made at national level
Those required “Problems of Democracy” classes you took in high school are long on theory, but very short on reality.You saw it again a week ago. After several previous attempts, the Bay Mills Indian Community sought approval of a Michigan land settlement plan. The tribe would relinquish any claims to contested land at Charlotte Beach in exchange for the right to have property put into trust in the city of Port Huron.
HR 2176, the bill to approve the land-claim settlement between the state of Michigan and Bay Mills, was offered by U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, whose district includes the contested land. It was co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, whose district includes the property to be put in trust as part of the settlement. The arrangement has the support of former Michigan Gov. John Engler and Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Who was responsible for pressuring House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., into pulling the bill and thereby preventing it from being voted out of committee – let alone an up-or-down vote by the House and Senate? Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. The Senate majority leader pressured House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to pull the plug.What has our government become when a senator 2,000 miles away can reach down into the belly of a House subcommittee and kill a bill that would provide staggering benefits for Port Huron? After six years, Bay Mills has yet to be permitted a vote -even by a subcommittee of either branch of Congress. That’s absolutely astonishing to any American who still believes in the precepts of American democracy – “one man, one vote.”
In small-town America, the democratic system actually works pretty smoothly. If you’re a county commissioner, school board trustee or village or city council member, all you have to do is make a motion, get just one other person to second it, and you get your day in court – an up-or-down vote.
In Congress, however, the system has been corrupted beyond belief. It’s a system where power is granted to members not based on “one man, one vote,” but on an anti-democratic arrangement where certain members can block a bill, giving them power way beyond their single vote.
What has the corruption of the democratic process in Congress cost Port Huron? As a community facing an economic depression, one of the highest unemployment rates in America and a federally-funded Blue Water Bridge Plaza project that is on the brink of annihilating Port Huron, Congress is six years into blocking a $500 million casino development that would provide 3,000 to 6,000 union jobs with the spin-off developments.
Who’s benefiting from this obvious attempt to block competition for Detroit’s good old boys? Along with Reid’s Nevada crowd (including Detroit’s MGM Grand Casino, with its record $55 million earnings in October), is the newly-crowned “Most Dangerous City in the Nation” – Detroit.
Think the battle for the Port Huron casino is over? I think not!
Cliff Schrader is a radio columnist on WGRT-FM 102.3. His Friday columns are part of a cooperative agreement between the radio station and the Times Herald. His opinions are his own and not those of the Times Herald or WGRT.
IGRA Restored Lands/Restored Tribes Exception — Oklahoma Shawnee
From NewsOK.com:
Zoning, land trust could cloud Shawnee casino plan
Landless the Shawnee Tribe is, and landless it will remain for some time. The tribe faces legal obstacles in its aim to develop land along Interstate 35 as a hotel-casino attraction and tribal headquarters.
Gardner-Tanenbaum Group sold the 104 acres on the west side of I-35 between Britton Road and Wilshire Boulevard to investors who are working with the tribe to get it put into trust, a requirement before the tribe can develop it.
The land is zoned for industrial use, not entertainment or retail. Gardner-Tanenbaum marketed it for several years as a prime Interstate site for warehouses or distribution centers.
Getting the zoning changed shouldn’t be too hard since the tribe has been working with city planners as it looked for land in Oklahoma City, said Greg Pitcher, head of the tribe’s economic development arm.
“In talking to the city and choosing a site, we took all that into consideration,” Pitcher said, in an effort to locate a site that specifically would not be at cross purposes with the city’s goals. “We assume the city would not oppose” a zoning change request, he said.
City planning director John Dugan said Wednesday that his staff had had no discussions with tribal officials — that they knew of. He said city planning staff deal with many planning and zoning inquiries daily.
Dugan said that if the land is put in a trust, it might supersede local zoning. In that case, Pitcher said the tribe still would work closely with the city.
“Our interest in the beginning has been to sign an intergovernmental agreement that would exceed their guidelines,” Pitcher said. “We’re going to exceed any requirement the city has, in doing this.”
Pitcher said he could not outline the argument the Shawnee Tribe will make to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in seeking that the land be put in trust — because it’s confidential.
But, he said, the tribe only appears to be caught by conflicting law.
The federal law that restored the tribe by severing it from the Cherokee Nation in 2000 forbids it from developing land in any other tribes’ jurisdiction, he said. That made Oklahoma City attractive, since the city is within no tribe’s jurisdiction.
BIA rules generally state that to have land put in trust, a tribe must have a historical tie to it, and the Shawnee Tribe appears to have no historical tie to the land on I-35.
But Pitcher said the issues are much more complex than that, partly because the Shawnee Tribe, while restored, is landless, and partly because federal laws in Oklahoma surrounding Indian tribes, trust land and what they can do with it are different from every other part of the country.
Rep. Miller: Dems & Detroit Killed Sault Tribe and BMIC Bills
From the Port Huron Times Herald:
Your recent editorial about efforts to bring a casino to Port Huron shows the Times Herald is, at best, completely naive as to the politics behind this issue in Washington, D.C.
It is almost laughable that you are urging me to stand up to the bullying of my fellow Republicans to get this legislation passed. It is true some Republican members of Congress are opposed to any gaming expansion; however, as you may be aware, the Democrats control both the U.S. House and the Senate, every committee chairmanship and what legislation is heard in committee and on the floor.
***
Our bills were scheduled to be approved by the Natural Resources Committee. We were certain we had the necessary votes for passage, which is why it appears that Senate Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada called Speaker Nancy Pelosi and asked her to pull the bill. We are aware that Las Vegas Casino interests and other tribes that fear competition were heavily lobbying against our bills, as were Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his mother Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, members of Congress representing Detroit.
Turtle Talk 
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