Feds reject proposed Beloit tribal casino
BELOIT, Wis. (AP) – An application to develop a tribal casino at Beloit has been denied by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, marking the second time in a week that the federal government rejected proposals for off-reservation gambling projects in southern Wisconsin.
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and state Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, issued statements expressing disappointment at the decision announced Tuesday on the Beloit casino. They also said they hope that the incoming Obama administration, due to take office next Tuesday, will reverse the decision.
The Bad River and St. Croix Chippewa bands of northern Wisconsin made the application to develop a casino complex in Beloit.
Tribal spokesman Joe Hunt said the tribes still have hope that the project will go forward. He cited an ongoing lawsuit and the possibility that the administration of President-elect Barack Obama will see things differently.
Baldwin criticized Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, whose agency oversees the BIA, contending “he has made a decision based not on law, but on his own personal bias.”
Last week, the government rejected the Menominee tribe’s proposal to build a casino and entertainment center at the Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha. The tribe said it would vigorously pursue its lawsuit against the department over its policy in deciding whether to grant applications for off-reservation gambling developments.
The legal challenge is aimed at the rules that the Interior Department issued last year that make it more difficult to win approval of an off-reservation casino the farther it is from the reservation.
The St. Croix band also focused on those rules in the lawsuit it filed last month in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on behalf of itself and the Bad River band.
U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and state Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, issued statements expressing disappointment at the decision announced Tuesday on the Beloit casino. They also said they hope that the incoming Obama administration, due to take office next Tuesday, will reverse the decision.
The Bad River and St. Croix Chippewa bands of northern Wisconsin made the application to develop a casino complex in Beloit.
Tribal spokesman Joe Hunt said the tribes still have hope that the project will go forward. He cited an ongoing lawsuit and the possibility that the administration of President-elect Barack Obama will see things differently.
Baldwin criticized Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, whose agency oversees the BIA, contending “he has made a decision based not on law, but on his own personal bias.”
Last week, the government rejected the Menominee tribe’s proposal to build a casino and entertainment center at the Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha. The tribe said it would vigorously pursue its lawsuit against the department over its policy in deciding whether to grant applications for off-reservation gambling developments.
The legal challenge is aimed at the rules that the Interior Department issued last year that make it more difficult to win approval of an off-reservation casino the farther it is from the reservation.
The St. Croix band also focused on those rules in the lawsuit it filed last month in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on behalf of itself and the Bad River band.
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