Interior Department puts tribal casino on hold

SALEM – The federal Interior Department on Friday temporarily blocked a proposal by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to build a casino in Cascade Locks, but left open the possibility that it will approve the deal later.

The agency’s decision comes more than a month after the tribes and Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed an agreement setting out the terms for a casino in the community in the scenic Columbia River Gorge.

The department said granting approval now would be premature because the tribes have not yet purchased the property where the casino would be built.

“Only after the tribes have acquired the Cascade Locks land into trust, will the department consider the terms and conditions of a timely submitted compact,” the department said in a letter to Kulongoski.

The department left open the possibility it would approve the casino proposal in the future.

“The department is encouraged by the prospects that there is a foundation for mutual agreement on these issues at some point in the future,” the letter said.

Warm Springs tribal spokesman Len Bergstein said the tribe is not worried by the department’s letter.

“It’s not a big deal to us at all,” he said. “What we’ve got here is a letter that clarifies the steps we have to take to get our Cascade Locks casino approved.”

He said he was confident Interior Secretary Gale Norton would approve the casino and that it would open “by Christmas of 2007.”

If the deal goes through, it will be the first tribal casino on nontribal land in Oregon.

The deal faces opposition from a newly formed coalition that represents a wide range of interests including environmentalists, fishing groups, opponents of gambling, and a tribe whose casino could lose business if one is built in Cascade Locks.