ALBANY -- Gov. David Paterson and Sen. Charles Schumer on Monday promised to
Believing they've hit on a way to get the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to go along, the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans and Paterson signed a land claim settlement Monday morning. The Wisconsin-based tribe ended its claim to almost 24,000 acres in Madison County, and now wants the right to build a casino on 333 acres in Sullivan County in exchange.
The project requires federal government to place the 333 acres in trust for the tribe, allowing construction of a Las Vegas-style casino. The property in the Town of Thompson has been held the past 11 years by the tribe's casino team.
"I will use what clout I have in Washington to make them say yes," said Schumer, who joined Paterson at the afternoon announcement in Monticello. He said even though the Interior Department has blocked casino proposals outside of commuting distance from reservation territories, this deal is different because it ends litigation.
Robert Batson, a federal Indian law instructor at Albany Law School, said the plan is logical. "It's a legal strategy that should work," he said. "But you may be running into a culture at Interior that seems to not favor off-reservation casinos."
Paterson said the casino will be an economic engine to help fuel the state treasury. "We have got to find revenue; we are in a revenue crisis," he said.
The project has been in the planning stages for several years. The tribe and its partners Trading Cove Associates -- which helped develop Connecticut's Mohegan Sun casino -- have done environmental impact statements and lobbied in Albany and Washington for nearly a decade. It's the most mature of various gambling proposals for the Catskills.
The Legislature approved up to three Native American casinos in the Catskills in 2001 as part of a broad escalation of gambling in New York to improve state finances after the 9/11 attacks. A series of projects have advanced and failed for various reasons, including tribal politics, disagreements in the Legislature and federal Indian gaming policies.
The Stockbridge-Munsee signed a contract with the Paterson administration Monday afternoon that promises the state a cut of slot machine revenues. That cut starts at 18 percent and grows to 25 percent after five years, a formula similar to that found in deals signed by the Mohawk and Seneca tribes, which already have casinos.
"The last 10 years have been a roller coaster ride filled with high expectations and deep disappointment," Stockbridge leader Kim Vele said. "We need all of you to make sure that Washington knows that our settlement will lead to the economic revitalization of the Catskills, (and) will provide thousands of jobs in Sullivan County and millions of dollars in revenue to the state and local governments."
The project site is off Route 17 near Exit 107 in Bridgeville. Some environmental groups have objected to the project because the casino and an accompanying hotel would be near the Neversink River.
Leaders of the Oneida Indian Nation, which contested the Madison County land claim of Vele's tribe, complained that the "sham, 11th-hour" deal with Paterson was negotiated secretly. The Oneida run the oldest casino in New York, Turning Stone in Verona, which entered an agreement with the administration of former Gov. Mario Cuomo that allows it to escape revenue sharing.
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