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Bush administration blamed for casino delays5 October 2007WASHINGTON, DC -- As reported by the Sacramento Bee: "A Madera County tribe's plans for a new casino have been frustrated by the Bush administration's "gross incompetence" in handling Indian business affairs, a key senator charged Thursday. "The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians and other tribes nationwide have been waiting months, if not years, for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make crucial decisions. The bureaucratic delays are costing money and undermining morale, senators and tribal leaders agreed during a hearing designed to pressure the administration. "'The delays are just not acceptable,' said Sen. Byron Dorgan, the North Dakota Democrat who chairs the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. 'It seems like gross incompetence to me.' "Dorgan's anger may be good news for North Fork Rancheria leaders, who want to build a casino north of the city of Madera. The tribe first needs the Bush administration to publish a draft environmental study, which has languished on a shelf for the past nine months. "...The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians likewise has been waiting since early September 2006 for its environmental study regarding a proposed casino in New York state to be published. The delay is unfathomable, Stockbridge-Munsee tribal leader Robert Chicks said..." |