YAKAMA NATION AGENCY, YAKAMA RESERVATION (November 23, 2024) – The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation is disappointed that in the final days of the Biden Administration, the Department of the Interior is moving recklessly on such important off-reservation gaming decisions that potentially impact all of Indian country. This destroys decades-long policy regarding Tribal gaming. Unchecked expansion of gaming will have serious consequences, forcing many Tribes to double down on gaming rather than develop new sources of revenue, such as responsible clean energy project and small business development.
In a statement, Yakama Nation Chairman Gerald Lewis said:
“We are disappointed that the Department of the Interior is continuing to ignore Tribes and their concerns relating to the proliferation of distant, off-reservation gaming facilities. We hope the Biden Administration’s decisions today are not an omen of what’s to come to Washington and Yakama Nation.
“Granting Colville their petition to establish and operate a casino in Pasco, over 150 miles south of their reservation, and within the boundaries of another Indian tribe’s legally defined Treaty Territory, would completely disregard local interests, Tribal interests, and Treaty rights.
“Since time immemorial, the Palouse Band of the Yakama Nation has called Pasco home. The Palouse are a named signatory to the Treaty with the Yakamas of June 9, 1855, along with thirteen other Tribes and Bands, who together reserved exclusive Treaty rights throughout the Pasco area.
“We don’t want bureaucrats in Washington, DC making hasty decisions that negatively impact the Treaty Territory of Yakama Nation in Washington state.”