Three tribes argue that Coquille tribe’s proposal for the Roxy Ann Lanes site on Highway 99 would cause irreparable harm to their well-being
By Rogue Valley Times staff
A U.S. district judge has denied a motion by regional tribes that would block federal officials from greenlighting a Coquille Indian Tribe casino in Medford.
The three tribes, located in Southern Oregon and Northern California, filed a lawsuit Dec. 23 that sought to obtain a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and members of the Biden administration, including Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. The tribes say the casino project should not be approved due to lack of consulting with the tribes and an invalid final environmental impact study.
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta denied the motion Thursday, according to online court records. Mehta, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, determined that the tribes must await a final decision by federal officials.
“On Nov. 22, 2024, Interior released a final environmental impact statement reviewing the Coquille’s application to take its land into trust, but the agency has yet to issue a Record of Decision that states whether it will grant the tribe’s request,” Mehta wrote. “Plaintiffs now seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that stays the FEIS and enjoins Interior from issuing an ROD, until the court reviews the lawfulness of the FEIS. … Because the FEIS is not a final agency action, the motion is denied.”
Alleging violations of the U.S. Constitution, the National Environmental Policy Act and tribal consultation policy, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians in Oregon and the Karuk Tribe and Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation in Northern California jointly filed the lawsuit in late December.
The three tribes argue that the proposal by the Coquille Indian Tribe based in North Bend on the Oregon Coast to establish a gaming facility in Medford — at the old location of Roxy Ann Lanes on Highway 99 — would cause irreparable harm to their economic, environmental, cultural and historic wellbeing.
“This legal action is our option of last resort after being denied repeated requests for consultation,” Carla Keene, chair of the Cow Creek Umpqua Tribe of Indians, said in quotes attributed to her in a release issued by the tribes in late December. “The administration has failed in their responsibility under its own executive order, NEPA rules and executive proclamation to consult with our tribes about a project that puts the interests of one tribe over many others.”
The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians said that the proposed casino “would cannibalize the gaming revenues that support tribal governmental services” in the region, negatively impacting revenues used to support services such as elder care, housing, food security and education.
According to the Cow Creek Tribe, the Medford casino would also reverse Oregon’s one-tribe, one-casino policy by allowing the first urban and off-reservation casino. Further, the tribe argues that it is more than 165 miles from the Coquille tribe’s ancestral homelands in North Bend.
“This is not the action we wanted to take — we want to work with the BIA and our other tribes, but without another option, we have a responsibility to our tribal members and their welfare to protect tribal sovereignty, ancestral land integrity and fairness for all tribes,” Keene said.
This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.
