U.S. Interior Department Sued Over Decision Approving Sonoma County Tribal Casino

Posted on: February 21, 2025, 12:26h. 

Last updated on: February 21, 2025, 12:28h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • The Interior Department has been sued by a federally recognized tribe
  • Graton Rancheria alleges the federal agency wrongfully took a rival tribe’s land into trust
  • The Koi Nation want to build a casino near Windsor

The United States Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs have been sued by a tribe in Northern California over the federal agencies’ decision to take land owned by the Koi Nation into the federal trust.

Interior Department Koi Nation Shiloh Graton
A rendering of the entrance of the Shiloh Casino & Resort in Northern California. A rival tribal continues to challenge whether the Koi Nation’s land near Windsor should have been accepted into the federal trust by the U.S. Interior Department and its Bureau of Indian Affairs. (Image: Koi Nation)

The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria owns and operates the Graton Resort & Casino in Rohnert Park. The property is roughly 10 miles south of where the Koi Nation was cleared to construct a tribal resort off E. Shiloh Rd. near Windsor.

The Koi Nation, which only gained federal recognition in 2000 though the tribe contends its ancestors have ties to Sonoma County dating back more than a century, has partnered with the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and its Global Gaming Solutions to develop and operate a $600 million undertaking called Shiloh Casino & Resort. The project includes a 400-room hotel and casino floor with 2,500 slot machines and 100 live dealer table games.

In a federal lawsuit filed Feb. 14 in Northern California’s U.S. District Court, Graton Rancheria attorneys allege that the DOI erred in deeming the Koi’s 68 acres of land as sovereign.

The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria continues to fight to reverse the previous Interior Department’s rushed, illegal approval of the Koi Nations’ proposed casino on our tribe’s sacred ancestral lands,” said Graton Chairman Greg Sarris.

The federal Indian Affairs Bureau signed off on the land application just days before President Donald Trump reassumed the White House and a new Interior Department was ushered in, with former Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum now at the helm after replacing Democrat Deb Haaland.

New Allegation 

In its 2025 filing, Graton attorneys raised an additional claim on how the DOI wrongly deemed the land as sovereign territory. The complaint questions whether Bureau of Indian Education Director Tony Dearman had the authority to sign the documents that formally placed the Koi land into trust.

Typically, the assistant secretary of Indian Affairs signs a land-into-trust application once approved. Bryan Newland, the current BIA assistant secretary, recused himself from the matter because he formerly worked in a legal capacity on the case before joining the federal Interior Department.

Newland’s recusal pushed the signing responsibility to BIA Principal Deputy Wizipan Garriott. But he left the agency on Jan. 10 ahead of the Trump administration taking over. Kathryn Isom-Clause, who assumed Garriott’s duties, additionally recused herself, which put the issue before Dearman.

“The Federated Graton Rancheria is informed and believes, and on that basis alleges, that Bureau of Indian Education Director Dearman did not receive a valid and timely delegation of authority pursuant to a Departmental Manual release to sign the Record of Decision or the Decision Letter under the National Environmental Policy Act, Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and Indian Reorganization Act and that these documents and the land into trust decision and conveyance are therefore invalid,” the complaint alleges.

The Koi Nation released a statement on Graton’s latest lawsuit saying it is “aware” of the litigation and “looks forward” to the federal government’s response.

Tribal Lawsuit Contests Historical Ties

The Graton Rancheria Indians previously and continue to accuse the Koi Nation of “reservation shopping” — the act of claiming ancestral ties to a more desirable market for a resort and gaming than the tribe’s true homeland.

Graton has alleged that the Koi Nation’s historical origins are more than 30 air miles northeast in the remote Clear Lake area. Early accounts of the Koi, which means “people of water,” reported that the tribe occupied small islands on Clear Lake.

Graton’s previous complaint alleged that the Shiloh land was never inhabited by the Koi people and was likelier occupied by the Southern Pomo tribes, with which it is associated.