Maine: When Gambling Owns Government

It doesn't matter what state. People lose their voice when the Gambling Industry moves in.

Massachusetts says it all!

Maine casino future in doubt after permit ruling
July 23, 2012

PORTLAND, Maine — The immediate future of Maine's newest casino is in doubt.

Department of Environmental Protection officials and the Attorney General's Office were meeting Monday and discussing what course of action to take after a judge nullified a development permit for the Oxford Casino less than two months after the casino opened in the western Maine town of Oxford.

In a 10-page decision, Justice Michaela Murphy agreed with the Androscoggin River Alliance, which argued the DEP wrongly granted the permit last year after considering just the first phase of the three-phase project. Murphy ordered that the permit application be sent back to the DEP for further consideration.

Attorney Stephen Hinchman, who represents the alliance, said Murphy's decision vacates the casino owner's development permit. Without a permit, the casino — which opened June 5 — isn't licensed to operate and must close, he said.

"They went forward at their own risk and now they're going to have to pay the price," Hinchman told The Associated Press. "It was a gamble. It was a bad gamble."

David Van Slyke, an attorney representing casino owner BB Development LLC, disagreed that the casino has to shut down. The ruling, he said, deals only with the technical aspects of one permit.

He told the Sun Journal of Lewiston, which first reported the court ruling on Monday, that he and his client were evaluating Murphy's ruling.

"We disagree with the decision both legally and factually and, obviously, we're still evaluating it at this time," he said.

Maine voters approved the casino in a statewide vote in November 2010. In March 2011, the DEP approved BB Development's application for the first phase of the casino project. The following month, the Androscoggin River Alliance and a group of 18 year-round and seasonal residents appealed the decision to the Board of Environmental Protection, arguing that the DEP did not consider all three phases of the development as required by law in granting the permit for the first phase.

After the BEP denied the appeal, the alliance last August filed a lawsuit challenging the decision.

Murphy's decision was signed last Wednesday and delivered to parties in the suit over the weekend.

Hinchman said the casino's location, on top of a hill, doesn't have adequate sewage facilities to handle any expanded development and jeopardizes groundwater supplies and surrounding ponds and streams.

"We've always said this was the wrong place for a development of this magnitude. It didn't matter if it was a hospital, a church, a school or a casino, this is the wrong place for development," he said. "Because the department and the board never looked at the impact of full build-out, they never answered the question of can this site sustain the level of sewage disposal when the project tripled at full build-out."

DEP Commissioner Patricia Aho was meeting Monday morning with staff from the Attorney's General Office to determine what Murphy's ruling means and what the next steps might be, said DEP spokeswoman Samantha DePoy-Warren.

Patrick Fleming, executive director of the Maine Gambling Control Board, said the board will probably follow the lead of the DEP.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57477879/maine-casino-future-in-doubt-after-permit-ruling/?tag=socsh