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Web posted
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Cherokee County sues over Oklahoma casino
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) -- Cherokee County plans to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior, asking if environmental laws should be enforced on tribal land in the construction of an Oklahoma casino and hotel near the Kansas border.
The County Commission voted Monday to pursue the litigation after a 30-minute, closed-door session.
''We mostly want clarification,'' said Commission Chairman Charlie Napier. ''We don't feel everything environmentally was done properly.''
The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma is building its $200 million Downstream Casino Resort just off the I-44 exit in Oklahoma. The parking lot will be in Kansas.
Cherokee County is concerned about the land being exempt from environmental laws. The county has not decided when the lawsuit will be filed, Napier said.
Penn National Gaming Inc., which is seeking to build and operate a $295 million casino in the southeast corner of Cherokee County, will pay for the county's attorney, David Cooper, and the lawsuit against the Department of the Interior.
Wyomissing, Pa.-based Penn National has submitted its casino plan to the Kansas Lottery Commission, and it's not clear when construction might begin. The state must first approve the plan, and a lawsuit is pending over the law that expanded gambling in Kansas to allow non-tribal casinos.
Messages from The Associated Press seeking comment from the Department of Interior were not immediately returned Tuesday.
The commissioners and Cooper said they don't want the lawsuit to appear as if it's directed at the Quapaw Tribe and don't plan to name them in the lawsuit.
"It's the Department of Interior, not the tribe" that is being sued, Napier said.
Sean Harrison, a spokesman for the Quapaw Tribe, said he couldn't comment on the litigation until he sees it but said he was confused by the commission's action.
"The tribe and the Downstream Authority have done everything they were supposed to do," Harrison said. "I have no idea what the Cherokee County commissioners are basing this on."
Cooper showed commissioners a copy of a Dec. 20 letter from Carl Artman, assistant secretary of Indian affairs for the Interior Department, to Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
The letter discussed whether environmental procedures were required at the tribe's casino site.
Artman said an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement for the project were not completed because they are not required for Indian Land Consolidation Act acquisitions.
Cooper told the commissioners he questions the exclusion.
"They may not have their facts entirely straight" Cooper said.
Commissioner Rodney Edmondson said the lawsuit is the best way to find out if the land should be excluded.
Information from: The Joplin Globe
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