A u g u st 3 0 ,2 0 0 7
Spilyay T y m o o , W a rm Springs, O re g o n
Page 14-
Judge: state must ensure
salmon can navigate culverts
Leslie Mitts/Spilÿay
Anona Francis, Niyallee Cochran, Annalise Whipple and Soraya Mendez (from left)
perform at the Seventh Anniversary Celebration at High Lookee Lodge.
More News from I n4 ¡9n Country
Court sides with state in fight over gamling
AUSTIN (AP) — A federal appeals court dealt
a blow to expanding gambling at an Indian ca
sino in Texas, ruling Monday that federal rules
undermine the state's power to restrict gaming.
Texas officials have been fighting for several
years with the U;§, Interior Department over the
Kickapoo tribe's plan to offer Las Vegas-style
gambling at its casino at Eagle Pass on the bor
der with Mexico.
Earlier this year, the department gave the tribe
preliminary approval to expand its offerings from
poker and bingo to a range of games including
blackjack, kenp, roplette and off-track pari-mutuel
betting on horses or .dogs.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney
General Greg Abbott, both Republicans, had criti
cized the agency's decision, noting that the state's
legal challenge to federal authority was pending
before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeals court sided with the state, ruling
the agency's permitting process violates the In
dian Gaming Regulatory Act, which gives states
significant power to restrict Indian gaming.
- - Under the federal act, a tribe can offer the same
games permitted in the state. Texas operates a
lottery and has legalized pari-mutuel betting on
horses and dogs. The Interior Department's pre
liminary approval letter said the state's definition
of a lottery is broad enough to include traditional
casino-style games except slot machines.
Cornyn, who fought to close Indian casinos
when fie was Texas attorney general, said states
should have more say in decisions about gam
bling within their borders.
“For years, Texas citizens and their elected rep-;
resentatives have rejected casino-style gaming in
the state; The Department of the Interior thought
it knew better than the citizens of the Texas and
tried to overrule their judgment,” Comyn said.
“These decisions should be madehy elected rep
resentatives, not federal bureaucrats.”
The Kickapoo tribe has been trying to expand
its gaining operations for more than a decade. It
is the only Texas tribe allowed to run even a lim
ited casino.
-------------------------- i
(AP) — Washington state
must ensure that culverts under
its roads don't block migrating
sMmon, aYederal judge ruled last
week in siding with American
Indian tribes who complained
that dilapidated or poorly de
signed structures blocked about
250 miles of streams.
The Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs participated in
the case, submitting arguments
supporting the Washington
tribes.
The tribes said the problem
limited how many salmon they
could catch.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo
Martinez isaid that treaties grant
the tribes the right not only to
fish, but to Catch fish, and the
state has a duty not to diminish
salmon runs with culverts that
block their passage.
Martinez set a hearing for
September tp discuss how the
state will comply with his rul
ing.
Seattle attorney John Sledd,
who represents half of the 20
tribes in the case, said the final
word on the ruling's significance
would come after a remedy is
decided. “
Still, Sledd said, the affirma
tion of treaty rights was a vic
tory that tribal leaders have
sought for decades.
“Obviously it's a vindication
that the treaty means some
thing,” Sledd said. “We can't re
peat the conduct of the last Cen
tury with regard to salmon and
fisheries, so there are going to
have to be some changes made.”'
The 20 tribes went to court
over the culverts — tunnels, usu
ally pipes,- built to let streams
flow under roads — in 2001,
opening a “subproceeding” to
the 1974 federal case that af
firmed the tribes' treaty fishing
rights.
That case, known as the
Boldt decision, recognized that
a series of 1855 treaties gave
tribes the right to their fair share
of harvestable salmon runs. The
courts have Continued to moni
tor issues related to tribal fish
ing-
State Transportation Depart
ment spokesman Lloyd Brown
said officials have identified
about 1,670 culverts that block
the fish.
Existing plans call for replac
ing some of the culvqris over
the next 12 years at a cost of
$69 million, with other passages
replaced when the state does
road construction or majnte-
riance.
In May, the state Transpor
tation Department said itv had
spent more than $45 million
since 1991 to identify and fix
barriers in fish streams. -
“It's disappointing, but the
case is still being reviewed,” said
Holly Armstrong, Gov. Chris
Gregoire's spokeswoman. “We
believe there's a good culvert
program, and that will be ex-
plained to the court” •
Gregoire, who was attorney
general when the case began,
joined then-Gov. Gary Locke in
/ criticizing the tribes for bring
ing the subproceeding, saying it
would lead to enormous litiga
tion costs and that the state's
existing plan for replacing the
culverts was good enough..
i When they filed the culvert
case in 2001, the tribes wanted
all the culverts fixed in fiVe years'
The tribes now favor a 2016
deadline _ the same deadline
faced by the state Department
of Natural Resources for fixing
fish obstructions on state for
est roads, Sledd said.
Sledd said Martinez's logic
could theoretically be applied to
dams that block streams where
tribes haye fishing rights, but
he's not holding his breath for a
judge to make such a ruling.
"The devil's in the details,"
Sledd said. "We've been saying
all along that whether you vio
lated the treaty and what kind
of injunctive relief you get are
different things.1'
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