01/27/2009

- Los Coyotes still hoping for Barstow casino

by Abby Sewell - Desert Dispatch

BARSTOW • At least one Indian tribe is still actively pursuing a casino in Barstow, but they may have a long road ahead of them.

The Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno tribe is still hopeful that the U.S. Department of the Interior will agree to put land in Barstow into federal trust to be used for a casino, said project spokesman Tom Shields, who works for developer BarWest, LLC. Placing the land in trust is a necessary step before the tribe, whose reservation is in San Diego County, can go forward with an off-reservation casino in Barstow.

The tribe submitted a revised application to put about 23 acres of land in Barstow into federal trust in May 2008, after being turned down in January 2008 due to new federal rules that state an off-reservation casino should be within commuting distance of the reservation. The next step in the process would be for the BIA to come out with a draft environmental impact statement, Shields said.

The interior department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs is currently reviewing the revised application, said spokeswoman Nedra Darling, but she could not give a timeline on when the review might be completed.