Amador County – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that an appeal has been denied on a federal waste discharge permit for the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk, with the permit going fully into effect for the tribe in its bid to build a casino on Coal Mine Road.

The Environmental Appeals Board of the U.S. EPA in Washington D.C. made the decision Sept. 6, and notified the Buena Vista Rancheria’s Chairwoman Rhonda Morningstar Pope of the ruling in a letter Oct. 5. John Tinger, permits officer for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permits Office, said in the letter that “all conditions for the NPDES permit renewal for the Buena Vista Rancheria issued June 25, 2010 are final and effective.”

The EPA Appeal Board’s ruling, in a “summary of decision” said the “Board concludes that petitioners” Glen Villa, Amador County, Friends of Amador County and the Ione Band of Miwok Indians “have not demonstrated that their petitions warrant review on any of the grounds presented. Petitioners have not shown” that “the Region (office) clearly erred or abused its discretion” in “issuing the permit, establishing the NPDES permit conditions” or “complying with the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act.”

The ruling noted that the Ione Miwok Band had filed its appeal more than 30 days after the permit was issued. The ruling said that during a public hearing, people commented that historic resources were not evaluated. The ruling noted that Regional officials held “four separate meetings and a site visit to the tribe’s proposed site for the casino and wastewater treatment facility so that parties could view the exact locations of the proposed project.” The Region consulted with representatives from the California State Historic Preservation Office, Buena Vista Tribe, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Amador County, the Ione Band, and the Jackson Rancheria of Miwok Indians.

The ruling said the Regional office determined “that two cultural resources located in the area of potential effects were historic properties eligible for inclusion in the National Register, namely the Buena Vista Peaks” and the “Upusuni Village.”

The ruling noted that impacts were determined to affect those two cultural resources, and the tribe made changes to the plans to minimize impacts. The changes were part of a “Historic Properties Treatment Plan,” which was left confidential and omitted from public record due to the sensitive nature of locations of historic resources. The ruling noted that the EPA Appeal Board “will not consider the substance of the HPTP in its decision.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.