8 Birchwood residents sue over legality of Eklutna casino, and tribal authority

Eight Birchwood residents are challenging a federal agency’s approval of a planned Eklutna tribal casino on the outskirts of Anchorage.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court, the plaintiffs argue the development could see increased traffic and noise in a quiet neighborhood in the Birchwood Spur Road area, and that the project could damage the Peters Creek salmon watershed.

The 34-page lawsuit goes further, challenging the Native Village of Eklutna’s authority to operate as a federally recognized tribe, which the tribe rejects.

For decades, village representatives have sought to build a casino on eight acres of Native land, known as the Ondola allotment.

The National Indian Gaming Commission approved the project in July, a reversal of the agency’s previous position. The Bureau of Indian Affairs still needs to give final permitting approval for the project to proceed. It would be the first casino of its kind in Alaska outside Southeast.

Village representatives started clearing wooded land in September to make way for the 50,000-foot facility.

Brian Holl said he lives around 200 yards from the site on nearby Alluvial Street, close to the seven other plaintiffs.

Holl and his neighbors’ concerns include the potential impacts of hundreds of cars driving down a quiet road, and an increase of crime, he said.

“Our big concern, of course, is that we believe the chairwoman of the National Indian Gaming Commission (Sharon Avery) had no legal authority to approve the Native Village of Eklutna in opening the casino on the Ondola allotment,” Holl said.

In February, Robert Anderson, lead attorney at the U.S. Department of the Interior, issued a legal opinion that expanded tribal jurisdiction in Alaska.

Tribal authority can now apply on land allotments given to individual Alaska Natives — in certain circumstances.

That meant the planned casino could go ahead.

Anchorage attorney Don Mitchell filed the Eklutna casino lawsuit. He asserts in the complaint that Anderson had worked for years behind the scenes to advance the project.

The lawsuit argues that means the Native Village of Eklutna should not have been recognized as a tribe in 1993.

“The members of defendant Native Village of Eklutna are not a federally recognized tribe whose governing body possesses powers of self-government,” the suit asserts.

As a result, the plaintiffs argue the National Indian Gaming Commission’s approval of the casino was invalid.

The litigation is “disappointing,” said Aaron Leggett, president of the Native Village of Eklutna, in a prepared statement.

“As we are still waiting to see an environmental assessment of the project from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, where the public will have the opportunity to comment,” he said. “To be clear, the basis of this lawsuit is that there are no Tribes in Alaska, and that concept has already been repeatedly rejected by the courts.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Interior declined to comment on the suit Tuesday. A National Indian Gaming Commission spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Mitchell declined to comment Tuesday.

‘Little bit contentious’

The long-sought project has proven divisive in the small Birchwood community.

Supporters have described the casino as a modest gaming hall that could bring in much-needed revenue for the Native Village of Eklutna.

In October, the Birchwood Community Council passed a motion opposing the project. The motion called on Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor to appeal its approval.

Debbie Ossiander, co-chair of the community council, said Taylor had not responded to the request.

She said the October community council meeting was “a little bit contentious” with the room almost evenly divided between supporters and opponents of the project.

Dan Amadon, who lives in nearby Eagle River, owns and rents out several garage condos adjacent to where the casino would be built.

He supports a casino being built in an area he says is industrialized, with an airport and a shooting range.

“When you work hard, and you live in Alaska and there’s not much to do, it’s a form of entertainment,” he said

Apart from crime and traffic concerns, Ossiander said some community members have been worried about the potential environmental impacts of the development.

“The site is almost immediately adjacent to Peters Creek — a spawning salmon stream. Every one out here is on a private well and septic. There’s some concern about the impact to the water table and runoff,” she said.

The state of Alaska had previously opposed the Native Village of Eklutna’s efforts to build a casino. A spokesperson for the Department of Law did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.