San Diego Union Tribune quick clips.  8-16-09        
JAMUL: A group of Jamul casino opponents has sued the California Department of Transportation in state court, saying that Caltrans' agreement to settle a lawsuit by an Indian tribe violates state environmental laws.

The Jamul Indian Village has sought for years to build a gambling hall on its 6-acre reservation on state Route 94. It sued Caltrans last year, accusing it of illegally threatening to block access to the highway.

The two sides settled their dispute with an agreement that Caltrans would give the tribe a permit for casino access if the tribe applied properly and agreed to deal with any harm its project caused.

But the agreement is a problem under the California Environmental Quality Act, Jamulians Against the Casino said in a lawsuit filed this week in Alameda County, where the group's lawyers are based.

“It renders CEQA a hollow exercise because it removes Caltrans' discretion to later deny the permit based upon the outcome of CEQA's environmental process,” the group claimed in the lawsuit.

Caltrans spokesman Edward Cartagena said he was unaware of the lawsuit and thus unable to comment on it.

— O.R.S.