After a contentious 13-year public process, the Biden Administration approves the proposed gaming facility; opponents head to court to halt the project.
The Coquille Indian Tribe recently received federal permission to build a casino off the interstate in Medford, a cap to a rocky 13-year public process.
The Department of the Interior signed a record of decision in the matter Jan. 10, the Oregon Journalism Project reported.
The casino project dates to 2012, when the tribe submitted an application to build a 30,000-square-foot casino on a 2.4-acre site it owns in Medford. The project required federal approval for the property to be considered the tribe’s sovereign land. A law passed by Congress in 1989 to restore Coquille lands lists Jackson County as a potential service area for the tribe.
The project received a favorable ruling by the Obama Administration but languished during the first presidential term of Donald Trump, reports Jefferson Public Radio. The casino project was revived by the Bureau of Indian Affairs after Joe Biden took office.
“Today the Biden Administration sent a clear message: it stands with Indian Country and intends to honor its commitments to tribal sovereignty,” Brenda Meade, chair of the Coquille Tribe, said in a statement. “Waiting almost 13 years for an environmental review process to review two acres was a ridiculous weaponization of the federal National Environmental Policy Act process used to punish the Coquille Tribe for taking a legal course of action to provide for its own citizens after termination.”
The tribe already operates a casino near its headquarters in North Bend on the Oregon Coast. But the Medford site is considered to offer far greater potential with its proximity to Interstate 5.
Eight of the state’s nine federally recognized tribes offer casino gambling, with two tribes operating two casinos each.
The planned Coquille casino was opposed by, among others, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, which hopes to open a second casino in Salem. A request for a temporary restraining order was filed in U.S. District Court by two Northern California tribes and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, which runs the Seven Feathers Casino and Resort nearby in Canyonville. The Cow Creek tribe estimates the Medford casino will cause it to lose 25% in revenue.
Additionally, politicians including Oregon’s governor and both U.S. senators have spoken out against the project. Sen. Ron Wyden is quoted saying the Biden Administration’s decision was “reckless,” saying it will lead to “uncontrolled escalation of gambling with no end in sight.”
“I will fight this senseless decision with all the options available, including the Congressional Review Act that empowers elected representatives to battle back against rogue federal agency decisions just like this one,”
The casino, to be called The Cedars at Bear Creek, will be a Class II-type gaming facility under state law. Class II status does not cover Vegas-style slot machines (Class II machines have a bingo-like central interface). And the tribe’s plan doesn’t feature table games like blackjack, poker or dice games, the Rogue Valley Times reports.
The tribe wasted no time, installing 30 new Class II gaming machines in the tribe-owned Roxy’s Bar & Grill on South Pacific Highway in South Medford, the Times reports. The tribe will ultimately renovate the space to include a 16,000-square foot gaming floor.
The tribe had purchased the machines in anticipation of project approval and will run them temporarily until the casino is built. The tribe is currently finalizing designs, which currently call for 650 gaming machines. The Oregonian quotes a tribal source saying the process to renovate the former bowling alley space into a casino will begin “immediately.”
Click here to subscribe to Oregon Business.
