A 400,000-square foot casino is scheduled to come to Vallejo, but not everyone believes the venue is coming up aces.
The United Auburn Indian Community filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday morning challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s January approval of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians’ casino project in Vallejo. The lawsuit argues that the approval violates multiple federal laws and regulations, including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Indian Reorganization Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.
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Meanwhile, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation and the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation — a gaming and a non-gaming tribe respectively — filed a companion lawsuit also seeking to overturn the U.S. Department of the Interior’s approval of the project.
The proposed casino project also includes the construction of 24 single-family residences, a tribal administration building, parking garage and a 45-acre biological preserve area on a 160-acre property located within and adjacent to the city boundary in Solano County, near the intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 37. The casino facility, at a cost of $700 million, would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The land will aim to serve as the cornerstone of the Tribe’s efforts to enhance economic self-sufficiency and foster community benefits. The development is projected to create thousands of jobs in construction and ongoing operations, paying hundreds of millions of dollars in wages.
However, the United Auburn Indian Community, which owns and operates Thunder Valley Casino Resort, contends that the U.S. Department of the Interior’s approval in January was rushed and politically motivated, occurring just days before the end of the Biden administration. The lawsuit further asserts that the department failed to properly consult with impacted tribal governments, a clear violation of long-standing federal policy.
Since 1991, the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians has repeatedly attempted to establish an off-reservation casino far from its aboriginal homelands in Lake County. After previous unsuccessful applications were rejected — first in Richmond in 2012 by the Obama administration and again in Vallejo in 2019 by the Trump administration — Scotts Valley sued the U.S. Department of the Interior. In early 2024, a federal judge ordered the Department to reconsider the application.
The United Auburn Indian Community also claims that the location “raises serious concerns about encroachment upon the ancestral lands of other tribes, environmental impact, increased congestion, the protection of tribal cultural resources, and the precedent of placing casinos in densely populated urban areas under questionable legal authority.”
“The approval of this casino is a blatant violation of federal law and sets a dangerous precedent for tribes that have followed the established rules for Indian gaming,” said John L. Williams, Chairman of the United Auburn Indian Community. “For decades, our tribe has worked to uphold the integrity of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and prevent opportunistic gaming proposals that ignore history and harm responsible tribal governments.”
Yocha Dehe Chairman Anthony Roberts agrees.
“It is heartbreaking that the Biden administration chose to spend its final days approving a mega-project on our sacred Patwin homelands without ever consulting our Tribe. This has left us no choice but to pursue legal action to protect our people, our homelands, and our rights,” said Roberts. “Our filing shows how former DOI officials acted recklessly and illegally in an effort to avoid federal laws which are in place to ensure transparency, fairness, and agency accountability.”
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While the current administration may reconsider the challenged approval —welcomed by Yocha Dehe and Kletsel Dehe — the imminent, acute harms to cultural resources on Patwin homelands, among other impacts, required the tribes to seek judicial relief in the meantime.
“This is about more than a casino, it’s about protecting the integrity of the land-into-trust process and ensuring decisions are made fairly, lawfully, and based on true historical ties,” said Charlie Wright, Chairman of the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation. “Our Tribe has always stood firm in defense of our lands and heritage, and this case is no different. Scotts Valley has no documented cultural connection to Vallejo, and allowing this approval to stand sets an ominous precedent that undermines Tribal sovereignty and weakens the foundation of federal-tribal land policy.”
The lawsuit from the United Auburn Indian Community focuses on legal violations such as:
- Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
- National Environmental Policy Act
- Indian Reorganization Act
- Administrative Procedure Act
- Failure to Consult with Impacted Tribes
“The approval of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians’ casino threatens not only our tribe but all tribes that have worked within the legal framework of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,” Williams said. “If this decision stands, it opens the floodgates for off-reservation casinos in communities that have no historical or cultural ties to the tribes seeking them.”
The United Auburn Indian Community has retained the respected law firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP to lead the litigation. The firm has successfully represented United Auburn Indian Community in previous legal matters.
“We are proud to represent the United Auburn Indian Community in vindicating its rights under federal law to participate meaningfully in this decision-making process. This a case where a flawed process led to a flawed decision — and that needs to be corrected,” Keker, Van Nest & Peters partner Elliot Peters said.
Chairman Shawn Davis of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians issued a statement Tuesday afternoon today regarding the lawsuit.
“This anti-competitive lawsuit was completely expected, and it doesn’t change our approach and commitment to the project,” Davis said. “We are moving forward in collaboration with the local community just as we have been.
“The specious arguments raised in the lawsuit mischaracterize both the facts and the law. To try to avoid fair competition, the plaintiff is throwing whatever they can at the wall with their court filing, but it won’t stick,” Davis continued. “We are confident that the Department of the Interior followed the law in its thorough review of our application and that our tribal land will remain in trust. We plan to join the United States in defending and upholding this decision.”
Two days after the U.S. Department of the Interiors’ approval, Vallejo City Manager Andrew Murray wrote on the city’s website that, “The City of Vallejo had no authority over the federal government’s decision regarding whether to assign trust status to the site, which is within the City’s boundary, nor will the City have any authority over the development that takes place on the site.”
Opinion in Vallejo has been split on the project. Former business owner Kimberly Pelham feels that that a casino has the potential to strengthen the local job market and pave the way for more lucrative roles.
“The city could lean into it,” Pelham said last month. “Imagine people coming across from the ferry, bringing their money, gambling for the night, and spending earnings at the restaurants there at the retail, Costco, and downtown businesses.”
Longtime Vallejo resident Jimmy Genn recalls the negative impact that the construction of a tribal casino had on his community growing up.
“The tribe says crime will not spill out in the surrounding areas. My hometown’s experience is that it does,” Genn said in February. “We will have no jurisdiction. The acreage becomes a sovereign nation. Casinos are more trouble in the surrounding areas than they are worth.”
Times-Herald reporter Sarah Rodriguez contributed to this article.