The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation strongly objects to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation’s plan to continue advocating for a casino in Pasco.

The Colville Tribe’s fee-to-trust application covers 194 acres in the Tri-Cities area for the development of a casino and hotel within 4 miles of the CTUIR’s aboriginal lands and within the aboriginal lands of the Yakama Indian Nation.

The CTUIR Treaty of 1855 identifies the CTUIR aboriginal lands, or “ceded lands,” that include southcentral Washington surrounding the proposed Pasco gaming site. The CTUIR aboriginal lands lie to the west, east and south of the Pasco site, and those lands’ boundary is 3.7 miles from the proposed casino location.

The Pasco site is165 miles from the Colville tribal headquarters in Nespelem, Washington. The proposed casino will not provide job opportunities to Colville members because of the distance from the Colville reservation. The Colville Tribe already operates three casinos on its reservation that provide employment and gaming revenue for the Colville Tribe.

The proposed casino would also have a substantial and adverse effects on the CTUIR’s economy, and the employment, governmental programs and services supported by that economy.

The CTUIR owns and operates the Wildhorse Resort & Casino on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton. The Tri-Cities area, which includes Pasco, is the largest urban area being served by Wildhorse.

Wildhorse employs approximately 1,060 people and provides family level wages and benefits. It is also the largest source of tribal funds that support the governmental programs and services provided by the CTUIR. The proposed Colville casino would seriously reduce Wildhorse revenues and employment and a corresponding reduction in the funding for essential governmental services to our tribal community.

A Colville casino in Pasco would also reduce Wildhorse Foundation grants to charities in the Wildhorse market area, which includes the Tri-Cities. Under its gaming compact with Oregon, the CTUIR dedicates 3% of its net gaming revenue to provide grants to charitable organizations in four Oregon counties and three Washington counties, including Franklin County where Pasco is.

Furthermore, the CTUIR questions the cultural premise of the Colville fee-to-trust application claiming the Pasco site is needed “to reestablish a trust land base in the traditional territories of the Colville Tribe’s constituent tribes, which include, among others, the Palus.”

The Palouse Tribes’ chiefs and headmen were signatories to the Yakama Treaty of 1855. An April 8, 1872, executive order establishing the Colville reservation states the reservation was established for the “following bands of Indians in Washington Territory, not parties to any treaty” and lists eight bands, none of which are the Palouse.

The U.S. government through its Bureau of Indian Affairs owes a trust responsibility to the CTUIR and needs to ensure a Colville casino located more than 100 miles from the Colville reservation does not adversely affect the economic interests of the CTUIR, especially when the Colville Tribe has the casinos and other assets available to it.

The BIA has failed to respond to the CTUIR’s comments on the Colville Tribe’s fee-to-trust application and CTUIR’s demand that the BIA recognize the CTUIR as a “nearby Indian tribe” under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

Because the CTUIR has trust land within 25 miles of the proposed casino site, the CTUIR has standing as a nearby Indian tribe. In addition, the Umatilla Indian Reservation is the closest Indian reservation to the proposed site at 42.9 miles, while the Colville reservation is 112 miles away.

The BIA cannot honor its trust obligations to the CTUIR by approving an off-reservation casino for the Colville Tribe that will have a devastating impact on the CTUIR economy, our government and the services we offer our tribal community.

Therefore, the CTUIR strenuously opposes the Colville Tribe’s fee-to-trust application for a casino and hotel development. Colville doesn’t need another casino — especially one that would have such devastating impacts to the CTUIR and Yakama Nation.