Oregonian Groups Rally Against Proposed Native American Reservation Casinos
Oregonian groups, is at the forefront of fighting against two proposed Native American reservation casinos: the Cowlitz Tribe’s proposed casino near La Center, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs’ proposed casino in the Columbia River Gorge.
The Coalition for Oregon’s Future has joined other organizations that oppose the casinos. Ed Lynch, the leader of Citizens Against Reservation Shopping, welcomed the additional force that the Coalition will bring.
"It's useful," said Lynch. "It brings this whole issue more into the public awareness. It will perhaps encourage people to listen more carefully and study the proposal to decide whether it helps them or hurts them."
Ironically, one of the biggest opponents of the reservation casinos is another Native American tribe- one which already has a casino, the Grande Ronde.
Grand Ronde lobbyist Justin Martin said that the other casinos were the result of “reservation shopping,” and that the tribes were being exploited by investors from outside of Oregon.
"There is concern about the precedent that this may set in Oregon and the fact that large out-of-state investors, in the Cowlitz case, are coming in and looking to find ideal locations," Martin said. "It's important to raise awareness of what these two facilities will mean in terms of the perception of the Indian gaming industry and the future of Indian gaming, not only in the Northwest but throughout the country."
The only one of the Coalition for Oregon's Future’s member associations which does not oppose the reservation casinos is the Friends of the Columbia Gorge, an environmentalist group of which Kevin Gorman is the executive director.
The group, which does not take a position on the tribal casinos issue, is nevertheless concerned about the casinos’ potential environmental impact. Last week, the group wrote an open letter to U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, requesting that the government commission an impact study of the casinos on the environment of the region.
While Gorman said that his group is not so worried about one casino, they are afraid that a spiral effect of more and more casinos will ensue.
"You can't look at the impact of a gorge casino in isolation when you might have another one 15 miles up the road," Gorman said. "It could become a kind of an arms race, with the two competing against each other. Is it just one gambling pie that people are carving up, or does the pie keep getting bigger and bigger? If you throw a lot of marketing into it, it's possible the pie could get bigger."
At the present time, Oregon has nine Native American casinos, while Washington has seventeen.
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Oregonian Groups Rally Against Proposed Native American Reservation Casinos
The Coalition for Oregon's Future, an association comprised of various Oregonian groups, is at the forefront of fighting against two proposed Native American reservation casinos: the Cowlitz Tribe’s proposed casino near La Center, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs’ proposed casino in the Columbia River Gorge. |
