North Fork Rancheria Wins Against Corrupt Chukchansi Tribe Challenge

Efforts by the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians to build a casino and resort near Highway 99 in Madera County have cleared a legal challenge.

The California 3rd District Court of Appeal says California’s governor acted within his authority in concurring with a U.S. Department of the Interior decision that the Indian gaming establishment would not be detrimental to the surrounding community.

Another tribe, the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, which operates an established casino about 30 miles from the proposed gambling hall, had challenged the decision, contending the governor is a public agency subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, often known by its acronym, CEQA.  Click THESE LINKS BELOW for more on CHUKCHANSI

Morris Reid
editorial in the Fresno Bee 
Read Story for BIA quote here
 REGGIE LEWIS

“There is nothing in the explicit language of CEQA … that suggests the Legislature intended to encompass the Governor within the term “public agency” as defined in that statute,” the appellate court decision says. “The Governor is the chief executive officer of the state in whose person the supreme executive power of the state is constitutionally vested. In other words, the supreme executive power of the state is vested in the individual who is elected to hold the office of Governor, and it is that individual who is charged with the power to concur (or not) in the two-part determination made by the Secretary of the Interior.”