The U.S. Department of the Interior signed a record of decision Jan. 10, the final step in a lengthy approval process, greenlighting the development of the Coquille Indian Tribe’s proposed casino in Medford.
“Today the Biden Administration sent a clear message: it stands with Indian Country and intends to honor its commitments to tribal sovereignty,” Brenda Meade, chair of the Coquille Tribe, said in a statement. “Waiting almost 13 years for an environmental review process to review two acres was a ridiculous weaponization of the federal National Environmental Policy Act process used to punish the Coquille Tribe for taking a legal course of action to provide for its own citizens after termination.”
