Amador County – Plymouth City Council on Monday moved to seek an extension for comment on the Final Environmental Impact Statement for a casino in Plymouth. The Ione Band of Miwok Indians last week released its FEIS for its request for a fee to trust to create the casino, and City Attorney Mike Dean briefed the council in a special meeting Monday. Dean said the Final EIS (for state environmental law purposes) was essentially the Final Environmental Impact Report of the casino project. Dean said in brief look at the 1,500-page document, “we found we have a number of problems with it still.” Dean said the legal environment is different from when the documents were created. The document “talks about the authority of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take land into trust for this tribe.” Dean said the EIS fails to recognize or even acknowledge that the U.S. Secretary of the Interior 2 years ago decided that the Ione Band of Miwoks is not a landless tribe. Dean said the tribe must “at least acknowledge and explain how you get around these changes.” The city and Amador County also have adopted new General Plan documents, while old general plans are referenced in the EIS. Dean said the document continues to say relatively few development applications are pending before the city, “which is not true because there are several large applications pending.” He said “water assumptions in the FEIS continue to be insufficient,” and the FEIS failed to substantially address comments by the city or others on the project. Dean said an informal comment period expires September 13th, and BIA historically does not make extensions. The council voted 4-0 to send Mayor Patricia Fordyce, Councilman Jon Colburn and City Manager Dixon Flynn to speak or meet with Congressman Dan Lungren about what is going on with the fee-to-trust issue for the Ione Miwoks. They also voted to request an extension from the BIA for the comment period. Dean said after the 30-day period passed, there is no deadline for the Final EIS. Dean said: “you are at a point where if the city is concerned about the project, the city ought to respond, and that has to happen by the 13th.” He said the “BIA doesn’t have to do anything with it at any particular time,” and at any point it could approve the EIS and the project and issue a record of decision on the casino. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 06:46
Plymouth to Seek Extension on Comment for Miwok Casino FEIS
Amador County – Plymouth City Council on Monday moved to seek an extension for comment on the Final Environmental Impact Statement for a casino in Plymouth. The Ione Band of Miwok Indians last week released its FEIS for its request for a fee to trust to create the casino, and City Attorney Mike Dean briefed the council in a special meeting Monday. Dean said the Final EIS (for state environmental law purposes) was essentially the Final Environmental Impact Report of the casino project. Dean said in brief look at the 1,500-page document, “we found we have a number of problems with it still.” Dean said the legal environment is different from when the documents were created. The document “talks about the authority of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take land into trust for this tribe.” Dean said the EIS fails to recognize or even acknowledge that the U.S. Secretary of the Interior 2 years ago decided that the Ione Band of Miwoks is not a landless tribe. Dean said the tribe must “at least acknowledge and explain how you get around these changes.” The city and Amador County also have adopted new General Plan documents, while old general plans are referenced in the EIS. Dean said the document continues to say relatively few development applications are pending before the city, “which is not true because there are several large applications pending.” He said “water assumptions in the FEIS continue to be insufficient,” and the FEIS failed to substantially address comments by the city or others on the project. Dean said an informal comment period expires September 13th, and BIA historically does not make extensions. The council voted 4-0 to send Mayor Patricia Fordyce, Councilman Jon Colburn and City Manager Dixon Flynn to speak or meet with Congressman Dan Lungren about what is going on with the fee-to-trust issue for the Ione Miwoks. They also voted to request an extension from the BIA for the comment period. Dean said after the 30-day period passed, there is no deadline for the Final EIS. Dean said: “you are at a point where if the city is concerned about the project, the city ought to respond, and that has to happen by the 13th.” He said the “BIA doesn’t have to do anything with it at any particular time,” and at any point it could approve the EIS and the project and issue a record of decision on the casino. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Latest from
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