Watch CARS’ video on the benefits of a Lewis County site.

Read the case for an alternate site.

Read a brief comparison of Clark County and Lewis County demographics.

Read an economic analysis of an alternate site.

"What's New" — CARS urges alternate site

Citizens Against Reservation Shopping is urging the Department of the Interior to consider a new direction for the proposed Cowlitz casino-resort:

Encourage the tribe to locate it in Lewis County.

This project—which would be the largest casino on the West Coast—would have severe negative impacts on Clark County’s healthy economy and on Interstate 5’s already jammed Columbia River Bridge. Plus, it would be outside the Cowlitz Tribe’s aboriginal homeland.

Lewis County, about 50 miles to the north, would be an excellent alternative. A casino in Lewis County:

• would provide much-needed jobs. The county’s unemployment rate was 8.0 percent in December 2006, while Clark County’s was 5.2 percent.
• would be in the heart of the tribe’s true aboriginal homeland.
• would be near the greatest concentration of Cowlitz Tribe members and would provide employment, services and cultural opportunities to the most members. (Page 33)
• would bring in three times as much revenue as the average Washington tribal casino, “earnings well above what are necessary to compensate the Cowlitz Indian Tribe for needs unmet by federal sources.” (Page 3)
• would be welcomed by at least one Lewis County mayor.

Moving this proposal to Lewis County makes sense for the tribe and for Lewis County.