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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The Menominee tribe has proposed a casino in | ||||||
| 3 | Kenosha, Wisconsin, that will be an $808 million facility with | ||||||
| 4 | 3,200 gambling positions; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, A large portion of the casino's customers will be | ||||||
| 6 | Lake County residents, but all of the tax revenue, jobs, and | ||||||
| 7 | other benefits from the casino will inure to the benefit of | ||||||
| 8 | Kenosha, Kenosha County, and Wisconsin; and | ||||||
| 9 | WHEREAS, The Menominee have indicated that they will | ||||||
| 10 | employ, on a priority basis, Kenosha and Southeastern Wisconsin | ||||||
| 11 | citizens, leaving out hard-working Illinois residents; and
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| 12 | WHEREAS, The social costs from problem gambling will fall | ||||||
| 13 | very heavily on those Illinois communities closest to the | ||||||
| 14 | casino, but no funds will be made available to the State of | ||||||
| 15 | Illinois or local governments in Illinois to address the impact | ||||||
| 16 | of problem gambling; the result will be that Illinois citizens | ||||||
| 17 | will be compelled to pay for problems caused by a Wisconsin | ||||||
| 18 | casino; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, The Menominee Tribe expects gamblers at the | ||||||
| 20 | casino, most of whom will be from Illinois, to lose over $400 | ||||||
| 21 | million a year; and | ||||||
| 22 | WHEREAS, When Illinois citizens gamble with their | ||||||
| 23 | discretionary dollars, they will have less money to spend on | ||||||
| 24 | dining, entertainment, shopping, and sporting events in Lake | ||||||
| 25 | County and elsewhere in Illinois; this casino will adversely | ||||||
| 26 | affect the livelihood of countless small businesses in | ||||||
| 27 | Illinois; and
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| 28 | WHEREAS, The casino project will greatly increase traffic | ||||||
| 29 | on our already heavily traveled Illinois roads; this will have | ||||||
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| 1 | the greatest adverse affect on the environment of Lake County | ||||||
| 2 | through increased air emissions and water runoff; and
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| 3 | WHEREAS, While these impacts will undoubtedly take place, | ||||||
| 4 | the Bureau of Indian Affairs chose first in its scoping | ||||||
| 5 | document and in its Draft Environmental Impact Statement to | ||||||
| 6 | totally ignore these serious negative impacts on the Illinois | ||||||
| 7 | communities near the casino; in fact, the Draft Environmental | ||||||
| 8 | Impact Statement does not even discuss these negative impacts; | ||||||
| 9 | not only is this wrong, but this approach violates the Bureau | ||||||
| 10 | of Indian Affair's own policies; and | ||||||
| 11 | WHEREAS, Under Part 2 of the Bureau of Indian Affair's | ||||||
| 12 | Checklist for Gaming Acquisitions (Section 20(b)(1)(A), found | ||||||
| 13 | at page 7, issued in March of 2005), units of local government | ||||||
| 14 | located within 10 miles of the proposed gaming establishment | ||||||
| 15 | are to be included in the analysis of significant detriments | ||||||
| 16 | that may be incurred by local governments; Lake County and many | ||||||
| 17 | of its communities are a mere 6 miles from the site of the | ||||||
| 18 | proposed Menominee Casino; therefore, be it
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| 19 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 20 | NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 21 | the members of the House of Representatives respectfully urge | ||||||
| 22 | that the Menominee Draft Environmental Impact Statement be | ||||||
| 23 | revised to include northern Illinois and that a public hearing | ||||||
| 24 | be held in Illinois to assess the impact on Illinois of this | ||||||
| 25 | proposed project; and be it further
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| 26 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 27 | presented to the Menominee Tribe, the members of the Illinois | ||||||
| 28 | Congressional Delegation, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs as | ||||||
| 29 | an expression of our concerns.
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