The tribe, whose 2004 deal with the county was struck down three months ago, wanted to incorporate elements of that agreement into a revised gaming ordinance issued by a federal agency.

But George Skibine, a top official in the U.S. Interior Department, said the tribe's plan likely won't satisfy officials who will determine if the Cowlitz can build a huge casino resort two miles west of La Center.

Clark County Commissioner Marc Boldt also has criticized the tribe's proposal as a "circumvention of both federal and local processes."

All of which has clouded the short-term outlook for the $510 million casino project and made it unlikely there will be a decision in coming months.

Federal law requires the Bureau of Indian Affairs to examine the Cowlitz casino's potential impacts on the community. A preliminary version of the casino's final environmental impact statement repeatedly points to the now-defunct memorandum of understanding as the mechanism for addressing numerous impacts.

"We still have the preliminary final environmental impact statement under review," Skibine, director of the Interior Department's Office of Indian Gaming in Washington, D.C., said Wednesday. "The invalidation of the MOU has complicated our review of that document."

Agreement denounced

The county signed an agreement with the tribe more than three years ago, a deal that was roundly and repeatedly denounced by casino foes.

The MOU had provisions requiring the tribe to comply with county building and health codes, to build roads and intersections to keep traffic flowing, to pay for law enforcement and prosecution of misdemeanor crimes and to compensate the county and other local governments for lost property taxes.

It also required the tribe to contribute 2 percent of the casino's net gambling revenues to arts and education programs in Clark County and to provide $50,000 annually to a county-designated program to treat compulsive gambling.

The agreement contained a waiver of tribal sovereignty that would have allowed Clark County to sue to enforce those provisions. Without such a waiver, the Cowlitz Tribe, as a sovereign nation, is immune from a county lawsuit.

Feds don't like tribe's plan

The Cowlitz Tribe, in response to the MOU being declared invalid, proposed that the National Indian Gaming Commission fold its provisions into a revised gaming ordinance.

But Skibine said he's not convinced that approach "really binds the tribe to mitigation measures" because it would fall on the Bureau of Indian Affairs, not on Clark County, to enforce those measures.

"We've asked the tribe to take another look at finding a solution to that issue," he said. "They're still trying to come up with ideas."

Steve Horenstein, a Vancouver attorney representing Cowlitz casino developers, said there is emerging consensus that a federal agency should not be responsible for enforcing what the tribe and county agreed to in 2004.

"We're working on several ideas that would put the county where it needs to be, put the county in charge of enforcement," he said. "But none of them are quite ready for prime time yet."

County commissioners have taken the battle over the invalid MOU into Thurston County Superior Court. Horenstein said his clients believe the county ultimately will prevail and the MOU will be reinstated.

Boldt objects to plan

Boldt, in a Sept. 14 letter to the National Indian Gaming Commission, said Clark County objects to a federal agency assuming the role of interpreting and enforcing county laws and regulations.

"As far as we're concerned, the MOU inserted into a gaming ordinance should not be considered to be enforceable mitigation," he wrote.

The gaming commission, Boldt wrote, should either reject the tribe's request or defer action until after the county's appeal has been decided.

"The county's interests are better served by having no MOU in place than they would be by an uncertain and potentially ineffective federal effort," he wrote.

Update

Previously: In early July, the Cowlitz Tribe proposed folding provisions of the invalidated memorandum of understanding between the tribe and Clark County into a federal gaming ordinance.

What's new: George Skibine, a top Interior Department official, and Marc Boldt, a Clark County commissioner, say they aren't satisfied with that approach.

What's next: The National Indian Gaming Commission has until Oct. 8 to decide whether to amend the tribe's gaming ordinance.

For more Columbian coverage of the Cowlitz casino, including past stories, frequently asked questions and a collection of documents and Web links, go to:  www.columbian.com/news/casino