No promises the Chumash aren’t clearing out its reservation housing for yet another expansion of the their casino complex, which already floods a town of 4,400 residents with traffic from 9,000 outside visitors daily. No limits on how much the tribe can draw from the region’s main aquifer underlying Camp 4.
No county property taxes, only a paltry annual fee. No detailed national or California environmental review. It then used the pending bill to muscle the Santa Barbara County supervisors into dropping their lawsuit and going along with a deal so one-sided as to be absurd: The tribe won’t build a casino at Camp 4, but it can proceed with its housing and community center plans without any more local input. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale), whose district is 430 miles north of the valley, to introduce a bill “affirming” the BIA’s decision and, more importantly, blocking all legal challenges.
