House Bill Grandfathers Existing Reservation Shopping Applications

The House Resources Committee voted 27-9 Wednesday to halt further development of off-reservation gambling. The bill would eliminate an exception to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that allows tribes to build off-reservation with the approval of the Interior secretary and the state's governor.

Legislation advanced in Congress Wednesday would block Indian tribes from building casinos off their reservations, but contains a "grandfather clause" that could help the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs push their proposal for a casino in the Columbia River Gorge.

The tribe has propose building a casino on industrial land in Cascade Locks, just east of Portland in the gorge, rather than on reservation land in the remote high desert of Central Oregon.

Tribes that submitted their applications by last March - including Warm Springs - would be allowed to proceed under a grandfather clause inserted in the bill.

The Warm Springs tribes recently gave a name to their proposed casino - the "Bridge of the Gods Casino and Resort" at Cascade Locks. But that same week, a top Interior Department official decided the tribe must fully evaluate an alternative site, a potential glitch that could delay the project by a year or more.

Ron Suppah, the tribal chairman said that "in the near future," the proposed casino "will deliver 1,700 jobs, education scholarships for Oregon students and a better future for our tribe, for the families living in and near Cascade Locks and all Oregonians."