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WASHINGTON, DC — Today the United States Department of the Interior released a revised scoping report on the proposed development of a gambling casino complex in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The scoping report now includes an on-reservation alternative along Highway 26 near the community of Warm Springs. The decision is in response to the urging of Congressman David Wu and many others in Oregon who believe the Gorge is not an appropriate site and have demanded that the environmental analysis include non-Gorge alternatives.
"The Interior Department has made the right decision for the Columbia River Gorge, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation and the people of Oregon," said Congressman Wu. "Much is at stake and doing what is right cannot be short of a full analysis of all potential sites."
In February and March, Congressman Wu wrote to the Interior Department and participated in two Congressional hearings to ask that alternatives outside the Columbia River Gorge be explored in the environmental analysis.
During those hearings, Interior Department officials committed to Congressman Wu to look into whether or not alternatives were appropriately addressed during the scoping process for preparing the environmental analysis.
The Interior Department and Congressman Wu also reached common ground last year when he called for an environmental analysis before the Tribal-State Compact signed by Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation be approved. At that time, the Interior Department rejected the Compact and began the scoping report process, the first step of an environmental analysis.
Congressman Wu continued, "There is a right way and a wrong way to make a decision of this magnitude. The disapproval of the original scoping report, just like the disapproval of the Compact, will provide everyone with more information as Oregonians ask themselves what kind of state they wish to be."
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A casino of this magnitude will bring over three million non-Gorge related visitors and an additional million cars per year, exacerbating traffic, pollution, and risks to endangered species in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.
State and Federal agencies have already determined that air quality in the Columbia River Gorge is significantly degraded and that visibility is impaired 95% of the time within this National Scenic Area. Also, according to the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, this area suffers acid rain and fog as severe as what falls in industrial cities such as Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and New York.
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