"Since the Rohnert Park casino project was first introduced to the public four years ago, the size of the facility has gone from 350,000 square feet (2003) to 690,000 square feet (2005) to a monster 729,000 square feet with multi-story parking garages and an eight-story hotel tower (2007). This project, the largest commercial development project in the region, is not even included on any general plan, despite the fact that it will have an enormous impact on regional resources. As a result, if the casino is built, all the careful planning and hard work that has gone into the general plans will be for naught.

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has called the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria’s draft environmental impact statement “deficient in almost every issue area” and “fatally flawed” and states that it “fails to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and must be corrected.” The NEPA process is the only opportunity the region will have to protest or comment on the casino project. Yet the governor’s office seems poised to subvert the NEPA review currently under way with its secret gambling compact negotiations reported to currently be under way.

When Graton first approached Rep. Lynn Woolsey seeking restoration, its leaders promised not to pursue a casino. In return for this specific promise, they were given special privilege for taking land into trust that strips the Secretary of the Interior of his discretionary power and bypasses the normal process for trust acquisitions. As things stand now, the Secretary must take any Sonoma and Marin land the FIGR chooses into trust. This applies not only to the proposed casino site, but to any and all future land acquisitions the FIGR may pursue. Once the FIGR has the land taken into trust, it may do whatever it wishes with the land, and will not be required to abide by local zoning or general plans.

Other tribes, with rare exception, must undergo a two-part process for taking land into trust. This process requires full public participation with public hearings."

Get the Story:
Chip Worthington: Take steps to stop Rohnert Park casino (The Petaluma Argus-Courier 10/31)