Archer Creek/Good Bear - Friends of the Forest Day • Nov 1, 2008
Proposed Gorge Casino
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Casino Proposal draws thousands of comments opposing a Gorge casino.
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was released last spring, drawing thousands of individual comments opposing a casino in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge.
The federal EIS was seriously flawed and written by consultants for the developers, ignores the real problems of a Gorge casino as well as the opportunities of an on-reservation casino.
The EIS also downplays the effect on endangered Columbia River salmon despite a letter of concern from the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The EIS comes on the heels of a memo by Assistant Interior Secretary Carl Artman indicating the federal government will give greater scrutiny to off-reservation casino proposals that are not a "commutable distance" for the reservation (the distance between Warm Springs and Cascade Locks is 220 miles round trip-see map) and if the site is adjacent to "federally designated conservation areas." The Columbia River Gorge is a federally designated National Scenic Area.
Click here for the Hood River Feasibility Study
Learn why the Hood River alternative is "bluff on a bluff"
City of Bingen expresses Concerns
Right now the Federal Government is asking Gorge communities to consider detrimental impacts from a Gorge casino. Read letter
To learn more about what you can do, please contact: kelley@gorgefriends.org
It has been ten years since casino proponents first put forth a plan to build a casino in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge. Since then, the development proposal has grown ten times in size and is estimated to attract 3 million visitors annually. Casino proponents are spending millions of dollars to turn this proposal into a reality, but they are met with strong opposition among the public. Beginning in March, 2008 there will be five meetings where the public is encouraged to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the casino proposal. This will be our chance to end the gorge casino debate FOR GOOD. Scroll down to learn how a mega-casino would impact the Gorge we know and love.
Read the Oregonian article, "Odds Grow Long on Gorge Casino" (12/24/2007).
See also OPB story: "Oregon casino project hits a brick wall at Interior Department" (12/24/2007).
Group forms to oppose Gorge Casino
To meet the challenge of stopping the threat of a casino in the heart of a National Scenic Area, Friends has joined forces with other environmental groups, tribes, businesses and faith-based groups to form the Coalition for Oregon’s Future www.nogorgecasino.com.
Since the Oregon Governor’s announcement to support the Cascade Locks casino, Friends of the Columbia Gorge has been very active in building a coalition opposed to an off-reservation casino in the heart of the Columbia Gorge. First, we’ve been working with Congressman David Wu who came out forcefully against the casino proposal and reinforced our belief that the threat of an alternative Hood River site is a red herring – neither physically buildable nor legally available for gambling purposes.
Second, Friends of the Columbia Gorge has been meeting with a group of Cascade Locks residents opposed to the casino. The group, Cascade Locks No Casino (www.cl-nocasino.org), has been canvassing Cascade Locks and is finding that community members are much more evenly divided on this issue than the city officials let on. Cascade Locks No Casino has also filed a legal suit against the Governor’s Compact stating that the Governor’s decision to allow an off-reservation casino violates Oregon’s Constitution.
Third, Friends of the Columbia Gorge has joined with nine other conservation groups opposing the casino and have written a letter to Senator Gordon Smith asking him to oppose the casino. Finally, Friends has created an unusual alliance with the Oregon Restaurant Association, a powerful business lobbying group and the Oregon Family Council, a conservative Christian pro-family group opposing this proposal. The three groups sent a joint letter of opposition to former Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, which we believe helped inform her decision to deny the compact.
What a casino would mean to the Gorge
A Cascade Locks casino is estimated to draw three million visitors per year, an average of 8,200 visitors per day. This is equivalent to a Six Flags Amusement Park in the heart of the Columbia Gorge and would dramatically increase traffic, congestion and air pollution. The U.S. Forest Service has already determined that air quality and visibility are degraded in the Gorge with visibility impairment occurring more than 90% of the time.
Here are some of the biggest problems with the proposed casino development:
1. Urban expansion into the National Scenic Area. Locating a large casino and resort in the small town of Cascade Locks (pop. 1,100) would also lead to an explosion of unplanned growth, increasing pressure on this small town to greatly expand their urban growth boundary that currently protects surrounding scenic area lands.
2. Harm to water quality, fish and wildlife habitat. Millions of square feet of casino development along the Columbia River may harm water quality, fish and wildlife habitat. This area is home to bald eagles, osprey, great blue herons and also provides habitat for salmon and steelhead.
3. Adverse scenic impacts. The sprawling mega-casino with its immense parking lots and huge buildings will be visible for miles in the Gorge and also visible from the nearby Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.
4. Traffic, sprawl and increased air pollution. Adding millions of additional car trips to bring the estimated 3,000,000 annual visitors and 1,700 employees to Cascade Locks will dramatically increase traffic, sprawl and air pollution. Air pollution is already at a dangerous level in the Gorge. The Forest Service reports that visibility is impaired 95% of the time. A recent study showed that fog and rain in the Gorge is 10 to 30 times more acidic than usual Northwest rainfall. The sources of pollution include mobile sources, a coal power plant, pulp mills and cattle feed lots. Many of these sources are located outside the Gorge. Damage is occurring to scenic, natural and cultural resources in the Gorge.
5. A dangerous precedent will be set. Allowing one off-reservation casino in the Gorge will create pressures to allow more off reservation casinos in the Gorge and throughout Oregon. At least three other tribes have a stake in the Columbia Gorge and they may all demand equal treatment. Approval of this casino would escalate the “gambling arms race” that then Attorney General Ted Kulongoski warned about in a 1996 editorial in the NY Times. Ground zero for this casino race will be the Columbia Gorge.
A Casino in the Columbia Gorge: PERCEPTION VS. REALITY
In their efforts to place a large-scale casino in the heart of the Columbia Gorge, the gambling advocates of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs have set their sights on Cascade Locks and laid out a series of false statements that the media and government officials have eagerly stated as fact.
False Perception #1: "The Tribes by right can develop on land they own just outside Hood River.”
-Randy Gragg, architectural columnist, The Oregonian
Reality: The Tribes DO NOT have an unequivocal right to build a Hood River casino. Numerous obstacles face such an effort. The state law, the National Scenic Area Act, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and other federal laws provide insurmountable roadblocks to allowing a casino near Hood River.
False Perception #2: "This is a unique situation: the Warm Springs is the only tribe with trust land in the national scenic area.”
-The Oregonian’s editorial board
Reality: The Yakama Nation has hundreds of acres of trust land on the Washington side of the Gorge and in February 2001, contacted the city of North Bonneville and the Port of Skamania County regarding placing a casino near the Bonneville Dam on the Washington side. If the Cascade Locks casino is approved by Governor Kulongoski, a Yakama casino just across the river becomes not only more financially lucrative, but also more politically feasible.
False Perception #3: "The local community, including Skamania County, overwhelmingly supports the casino.”
-Chuck Daughtry, Port of Cascade Locks
A poll by Grove/Quirk Insight, who conducted the poll for the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, and is the pollster for Governor Kulongoski, shows 53% of Oregonians oppose a Cascade Locks casino, while only 34% favor one (margin of error is 4.4%). In the Cascade Locks region (Cascade Locks, Bridal Veil and Corbett) 45% oppose, while only 47% favor a casino (margin of error is 4.9% at 95% level of confidence). Hardly the mandate being touted by gambling advocates.
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