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April 18th Update - NOA of the Draft EIS

Mission Statement

“Concerned Citizens for Public Awareness mission is to protect the future of Plymouth by ensuring that the City Council negotiates our fair share through a Municipal Services Agreement (MSA)
with the Ione band of Miwok Indians”.

Who We Are

Concerned Citizens for Public Awareness is a grassroots organization composed of local citizens who live and work in and around Plymouth.

We do NOT support a CASINO coming to Plymouth, but choose to face a reality that a casino might come.

Because of this, we want to see that the City of Plymouth receives their fair share from a potential casino. We believe that an MSA is the only way to protect the future of Plymouth. We understand that an MSA ensures that the tribe will pay for the services the city will provide as well as the negative impacts a potential casino might bring to the town of Plymouth.

We believe that Plymouth is at risk by not negotiating an MSA.
If a casino comes, where will Plymouth be in five years without an MSA?

Entering into an MSA will not hurt the City of Plymouth, nor will it help the tribe. Having and MSA can be likened to buying insurance for the city. If we all knew there was a potential flood coming in the next few years, we would protect ourselves with flood insurance. The city should negotiate the same insurance if the potential casino does come. An MSA insures that Plymouth gets its fair share for the impacts of the casino.

It has been said that an MSA would be used by the tribe as a sign of “support” from the city and the community.
This is NOT true. Research shows that the city can explicitly state that this in no way shows support for the casino project.

What does the city and community have to lose by negotiating our fair share? 
THE FACTS

In 2004, the city of Plymouth signed an MSA with the tribe.This MSA was ruled invalid by the California courts based on the grounds that CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) was not appropriately applied to parts of the document.
It was not illegal for the City to negotiate the MSA. 
The Ione Band of Miwok Indians is a federally recognized tribe.
Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs

The tribe received a “land’s opinion” that exempts them from the two-part determination process. The National Indian Gaming Commission's website lists the Plymouth Parcel as eligible for gaming should it be taken into trust.


This website also offers copies of the opinion letters signed by the Department of the Interior Officials

National Indian Gaming Commision - Indian Land Opinions

The tribe’s application to take land into trust continues to move forward. Despite all lawsuits filed and pending, the tribe’s application is still being processed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of the Interior. 

The tribe informed the Plymouth City Council and the Amador Board of Supervisors that their Draft Environmental Impact Study (EIS) had been submitted to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  In that letter, the tribe also gave a rough timeline for this process.

Below is an exceprt from that letter
“Next Steps”

Draft EIS is sent to Central BIA and Washington BIA to be published in the Federal Register.

This generally takes a minimum of 30 Days from delivery to publication.

Draft EIS is open for public comment:

45 day public comment period from the time of publication in the federal register

1 public comment hearing will be held in Plymouth during the 45 day period

Public comment period may be extended for a maximum of 45 additional days

Public comments are incorporated in to the Draft EIS

Draft EIS with incorporated public comments becomes the final EIS and is submitted to the BIA. There is 1 day to submit the final EIS.

Secretary of the Interior issues Record of Decision. This generally takes 90 days to issue a Record of Decision.

The tribe chose to do a more extensive environmental document instead of the bare minimum. What does this mean? By doing an EIS instead of an Environmental Assessment (EA), they will have to mitigate for their impacts.
This could call for a onetime payment to mitigate their project. An MSA would call for a 20 year agreement ensuring that ongoing payments are made to the City for their continual impacts.

No court case today has stopped a federally recognized tribe following the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act from building a casino.