"While the federal government continues its lengthy process to determine if the Cowlitz Tribe may build a mega-casino near La Center, the growing question is whether the tribe will ever find the money to do so.

That lingering doubt is good news because, as we’ve editorialized before, a $510 million gambling operation in north Clark County would deteriorate the local quality of life in many ways. Any prospective casino jobs would not be the reliable, high-paying jobs that the county needs, and sudden and massive new strains on social services would occur if gambling stakes such a huge claim here.

As Stephanie Rice reported in Thursday’s Columbian, one of this project’s cash cows back East is failing to produce, and the dairy’s recovery is not imminent. The Connecticut-based Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, with which the Cowlitz partnered in 2002 to pursue the Cowlitz project, already knew its second-quarter net income had plunged 50 percent from 2009. And last week the Mohegan group cut 355 jobs and reassigned 120 other workers. These cuts occurred at the Mohegan Sun Casino in southeastern Connecticut (one of the largest casinos in the country) and at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Plains Township, Pa. What’s new this week is that Moody’s Investors Service placed the gaming authority on review for a possible downgrade over debt concerns. A Moody’s executive said the Mohegan group might not be able to reduce its debt in time to refinance outstanding bonds on good terms.

What does this do for the Cowlitz proposal in north Clark County? That depends on whom you ask. “We think it should be dead,” said Ed Lynch, president of the anti-casino group Citizens Against Reservation Shopping. (Columbian Publisher Scott Campbell is a member of CARS). But, Lynch added, “it’s not dead until the federal government says it is. It’s an exceedingly long process and I don’t think that helps either side of the issue. It’s costing the tribe money and it’s costing us money to keep battling this thing. In our view, it’s time for closure.”

Predictably, though, tribe officials take a different view. Mohegan officials “are still committed to our project,” said Cowlitz Tribe spokesman Phil Harju. “I don’t have any concerns. The whole country is in a recession.”"

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In Our View: Cash Cow is Ill (The Columbian 9/24)