The Final Environmental Impact Statement for the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians' proposed $350 million casino and hotel project on 305 acres at Avenue 17 and Highway 99 is available at northforkeis.com.

The massive report, more than 6,500 pages that begins with a 14-page table of contents, is contained in five binders, and is also available at the libraries in Madera and Chowchilla.

Elaine Bethel-Fink, tribal council chairperson, said the final EIS was the result of a rigorous process; the tribe has been waiting a year and a half for the report.

The report contains the public comments on the draft EIS as well as alternatives to the project, environmental consequences and mitigation measures pertaining to water, air quality, agricultural resources, wastewater, roads and traffic, noise, fire personnel, biological and land resources, hazardous waste, visual aesthetics and public services.

Now that the EIS has been released, Bethel-Fink said the next step is the Record of Decision, in which the Bureau of Indian Affairs will state the proposed action on the property. That will be the final step in the National Environmental Policy Act process. It will come at the same time as the Bureau of Indian Affairs approves the application to take the land into trust.

"Further steps with the state and federal government will be necessary including approval of the compact the tribe worked out with the governor," Bethel-Fink said.

According to the Associated Press, the land is now controlled by Station Casinos after a federal bankruptcy judge gave approval to company founders Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta to keep most of their company, including 11 Nevada casinos and the Madera project.

Judge Gregg Zive approved a $772 million bid from the founders and their lenders.

"We are thankful the judge accepted the auction bid so Station can move forward," Bethel-Fink said. "We originally selected Station as our partner because of the company's expertise, strong financial position and their commitment to the communities where it operates. We still have confidence in Station as our partner."

Bethel, who has served as the 1,800-member tribe's chairperson for eight years, is optimistic about the project. "Our project will continue to move forward to bring thousands of jobs and economic stimulus to the region. We look forward to continuing to work closely with local, state and federal governments to ensure the best possible project for the tribe, Madera County and the surrounding area."

The project includes a 200-room hotel, pool, spa, 72,000 square feet of gaming, 11,000 square feet of bingo space, three restaurants in addition to a food court and three bars, along with retail and banquet space.

The facility will have 4,500 parking spaces with 2,000 of them in a multi-level parking structure.

About 1,300 full-time and 300 part-time employees will be hired to work at the casino-hotel.

Other development alternatives analyzed in the report include a reduced-size casino, non-gaming development on the site and a smaller casino on an alternative 80-acre site in North Fork.

Opposition to the project, which was first announced in March 2004, has come from the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino in Coarsegold, Madera County Farm Bureau, some religious organizations, individuals and some state and federal politicians.

"The project undercuts the public policy passed by California voters with Proposition 1A and Proposition 5 by taking Indian gaming off of Indian lands," said Joe Alberta, tribal community representative for Chukchansi.

Chukchansi has been aggressive in opposing the project, and although many feel it is about direct competition the North Fork casino would give Chukchansi Gold, along with drawing employees away, Alberta says the opposition is based on the North Fork tribe making new rules in the middle of the game that create a dramatically unfair situation for all the tribes that pursued gaming properly and according to the spirit and intentions of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

"This project is one of the most egregious cases of 'reservation shopping' in the country right now," Alberta said. "Reservation shopping is where you have non-Indians, in this case a Las Vegas family-owned company, finance tribes in order to move them far from their existing recognized lands and closer to urban areas to obtain greater profits."

Alberta also said the Environmental Impact Statement has been released pursuant to the administrative process and has not dramatically improved the likelihood of the project being approved.

"In addition, Department of Interior released a policy in July stating it would require government-to-government consultation with tribes across the country before making off-reservation determinations," Alberta said. "Therefore, no determinations should be considered until these consultations are complete, which are currently scheduled to conclude in late November."

Alberta said data used in the report is outdated. "The report fails to properly address the information required under the National Environmental Policy Act and arguably negates the validity of the report."

The farm bureau is concerned that building the casino four miles north of Madera would overtax the region's depleted water supplies.

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, in a letter to the governor in 2008, said she did not support the expansion of gaming to off-reservation sites and that opening that door would set a dangerous precedent for the future of California.

Bethel-Fink said people who oppose the casino because it is off-reservation have ignored the fact that North Fork tribal lands are small, remote, environmentally unsuitable and owned by individuals and not by the tribe. "The governor, the county and the local community all agree that the tiny town of North Fork is not suited for commercial development of a casino," Bethel-Fink said, adding that off-reservation casinos are allowed by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act under specific situations, such as those facing the North Fork Mono tribe.

"Out of the millions of acres of aboriginal tribal lands, our tribe, the fifth largest in California, does not own a single acre of land that can be used for gaming," Bethel-Fink said. "Acquisition of the Madera site would help remedy that injustice by providing the tribe the land to pursue economic development. Any newly acquired lands would become official tribal reservation land, similar to how cities annex land from counties. "

Bethel-Fink contends the Valley project would be on land that tribal ancestors historically used. She said the current administration has slowed down the federal process, but she and the tribal council will continue efforts to see the project become reality.