Base expansion Scoping workshop in Wonder Valley

Residents concerned about the expansion plans of the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center into Wonder Valley will be meeting to continue organizing a response on Saturday, January 3, 9 a.m., at the Wonder Valley Community Church, 82575 Amboy Road. Anyone interested in taking part is invited.

A special Scoping workshop will be held from 9 to 10 a.m. to help residents participate in the important Scoping process. Scoping is part of the environmental analysis required by law and allows stakeholders to state the issues they feel the analysis must address. (Learn more about the process here.)

At 10 a.m., following the Scoping workshop, the group will look at creating a name and a Mission and breaking into committees to address the issues.

Learn more in the Desert Trail.

The Trail also had an extensive report on the initial Dec. 20 meeting of the nascent Wonder Valley group.


MORE INFO ON THESE ISSUES: On the Land Use/Development and Communities pages of the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Marine Base, Wonder Valley, Twentynine Palms.

Wonder Valley mobilizes in response to Base expansion plans

Wonder Valley is beginning to mobilize in the face of MCAGCC expansion plans. Per the Desert Trail:

Citizens concerned about expansion plans of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center will meet to explore the issues and consider options from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 20 at Wonder Valley Community Church, 82575 Amboy Road at Kuhn’s Road. It is the intention to organize a committee to address the expansion and its potential impacts on east Basin communities. Anyone interested in taking part is invited. For more information, call 367-7608.

The Combat Center has begun the environmental study process for the expansion, where it will compare possible combinations and alternatives to meet its expansion objectives. The study areas include over 300,000 acres of federal land and more than 70,000 acres of private lands, including to the west, south, and east of the current base boundaries. In Wonder Valley, the potential expansion lands include everything north of Poleline Road.The eastern study area extends all the way east to the Old Woman Mountains and north up to National Trails Highway, including Amboy Road, Amboy Crater, Bristol Dry Lake and several mining and farming enterprises.

The National Wilderness Areas are not included in the study zones.

“There are many questions to be answered,”said Chris Carraher, a Wonder Valley resident and one of the organizers of the meeting. “The people in Wonder Valley could be severely impacted by the expansion plans.”

An on-line discussion group about the Base expansion can be found here.

MORE INFO ON THESE ISSUES: On the Land Use/Development and Communities pages of the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Johnson Valley, Marine Base, Wonder Valley, Twentynine Palms.

Coverage of Marine expansion scoping meetings

Last week's scoping meetings for the Marine Base expansion proposal is covered in the Desert Trail as well as the Press-Enterprise. The P-E covered the Victorville meeting:

Off-roading enthusiasts and military officials appeared to be on a collision course Thursday at a meeting hosted by the Marine Corps, which plans a major expansion of its training center at Twentynine Palms.

The Marines shared five expansion scenarios for enlarging the center, but the one that works best for maneuvers and live-fire training takes in all or part of the Johnson Valley, a 189,000-acre mecca for off-roaders in the San Bernardino County desert southeast of Barstow.

The revelation didn't go over well with many of the 167 people, most of them off-roaders, who attended the meeting in a hotel conference room.

[snip]

Officials determined the Johnson Valley is best for live-fire exercises and maneuvering because it provides a natural extension of training corridors on the base, [Lt. Col. James] McArthur said.

The "open house" format of the meeting was controversial. Again per the P-E:

Meeting participants were asked to make their comments in writing at several tables or to speak to a court reporter, who would create a transcript.

Marie Brashear, a rock collector from Lucerne Valley, said the comment format was self-serving for the military.

"The only purpose is to defuse and disarm people who may be opposed to the expansion," she said.

Helen Baker, director of the Partnership for Johnson Valley, said she liked the format because it prevents a few vocal people from taking over.

MORE INFO ON THESE ISSUES: On the Land Use/Development and Communities pages of the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Johnson Valley, Marine Base, Wonder Valley, Twentynine Palms.

Visualizing the energy impact

Coyote Crossing has a nice post summarizing the size of the impact on the Mojave should the numerous solar and wind proposals now before the BLM come to pass. Most useful is the BLM map showing the location of proposed projects.

Note the overlap of energy projects in some places with the study areas proposed for the Marine Base expansion. At this week's Base expansion scoping meeting, it was clarified that the "segregation" enacted by the Marine Corps has preempted those projects. The Base will get "first dibs", even though those energy proposals had already been submitted.


MORE INFO ON THESE TOPICS: On the Energy page of the MBCA Website. Previous posts: Energy, Johnson Valley, Marine Base, Wonder Valley, Twentynine Palms.

Marine Base expansion: New discussion group

Dear desert neighbors,

As you may know, the Twentynine Palms Marine Base (MCAGCC) is planning to expand. The expansion could involve as many as 400,000 acres, including private as well as federal lands. Areas under consideration include lands to the west, east, and south of present MCAGCC boundaries. There could be many potential effects on Morongo Basin residents.

As part of the environmental review process (NEPA), there will be public Scoping meetings this coming week, including December 3 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Twentynine Junior High School, Hay's Gym, 5798 Utah Trail.

Because this is such a large and complex issue, involving many stakeholders and agendas, a new Google Group has been formed for local residents to inform one another on the issues. You are invited to join the Group and add to the discussion (see instructions below). There is no cost, and members can easily set when or if they want to receive email updates or just visit the site at their leisure. Also, anyone may simply view the Group posts and pages without joining.

Group Home page: http://groups.google.com/group/desertneighbors.

To join: From home page click on "Join this group" in the Sidebar. If you do not yet have a Google account you will be directed how to join.

To view more information on the expansion plans, including links and maps, as well as how to participate in the Scoping process, go to the Group Home page and click on "Pages" in the Sidebar.

I sincerely hope you will consider joining the Google Group, so that we may all learn from one another in the face of this major impact on the Morongo Basin.

Best wishes,

Chris Carraher
Communications Director
Morongo Basin Conservation Association


MORE INFO ON THESE ISSUES: On the Land Use/Development and Communities pages of the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Johnson Valley, Marine Base, Wonder Valley, Twentynine Palms.

Renewable energy subject of Executive Order, will impact local area

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed an Executive Order to streamline California's renewable energy project approval process and increase the state's Renewable Energy Standard to 33 percent renewable power by 2020, according to a State press release.

"I am proposing we set the most aggressive target in the nation for renewable energy-33 percent by the year 2020-that's a third of our energy from sources like solar, wind and geothermal," Governor Schwarzenegger said. "But we won't meet that goal doing business as usual, where environmental regulations are holding up environmental progress in some cases. This executive order will clear the red tape for renewable projects and streamline the permitting and siting of new plants and transmission lines. With this investment in renewable energy projects, California has a bright energy future ahead that will help us fight climate change while driving our state's green economy."

[snip]

In addition to the EO announced today, the [California Energy Commission], [Department of Fish and Game], U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a coordinated approach with our federal partners in the expedited permitting process. This coordinated approach will significantly reduce the time and expense for developing renewable energy on federally-owned California land, including the priority Mojave and Colorado Desert regions.

According to a related article in The Desert Sun, Twentynine Palms has been identified as a key area for California's wind and solar development in the newly released draft plan of the Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative.

Imagine a sea of glass lining the 60-mile stretch of Interstate 10 from the edge of Joshua Tree National Park to Blythe.

That's what's being envisioned in a statewide renewable energy plan that identifies sections of Palm Springs, Twentynine Palms and eastern Riverside County as key for California's solar and wind development.

MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: On the Energy page of the MBCA Website. Previous posts: Energy.

29 Palms moves forward with General Plan update

The City Council of Twentynine Palms has given "unanimous approval to move forward with a comprehensive update of the city’s General Plan."

[Hogle-Ireland consultant Nelson] Miller’s recommendations, which were later turned into a motion by Councilman Joel Klink, included directing city staff to initiate a comprehensive update of the General Plan, and requesting Hogle-Ireland to prepare for City Council consideration a proposal to update the plan and prepare an environmental impact report to address implementation and coordination of programs already engaged in by the city.

Referring to initial research conducted by City Manager Michael Tree, Miller said the cost of typical general plan updates throughout California have averaged $1.2 million.

Miller then indicated that the Twentynine Palms update would probably come in “somewhere under a million,” considering that “much of the work is already done,” including the forthcoming Parks and Recreation Master Plan, and recent work by consultant Frank Spevecek and consulting firm RSG related to reviewing the vision and build-out population of the General Plan, identification of natural resources to be protected, and input from community workshops and a survey conducted in May 2008.

Read the rest in the Desert Trail.

To learn more about the General Plan process and how you may take part, see the How Planning Systems Work page on our Website, or visit A Citizen's Guide to Planning.


MORE INFO ON THESE ISSUES: On the Land Use/Development and Communities pages of the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Twentynine Palms.

County postpones recommendation on Marine Base expansion

San Bernardino County Supervisors last week postponed discussion of a resolution by Sup. Brad Mitzelfelt (1st District) of a proposal that the Marine Base expand preferentially to the east, rather than the west, and "in support of maintaining the status of the BLM Johnson Valley Open Area and maintaining all current uses therein.”

The matter was "indefinitely postponed until a later meeting, as county officials would like to further examine the consequences of backing an eastern expansion plan," per the Lucerne Valley Leader as posted on The Guzzler.

“I have expressed my concern with expansion into the Johnson Valley open area. But the eastern expansion currently could very likely close Amboy Road, which is a very significant highway. That is very worrisome to me and I think we need to address that as well in our position. As a former Marine, I'm very familiar with the type of training they do there. They do need more space, but we do need to study the impact on our constituents,” Mitzelfelt said at Tuesday’s meeting.

David Zook, spokesman for Mitzelfelt said that the Supervisor still believes that an eastward move away from Johnson and Lucerne Valleys is the way to go, but the county as a whole has not decided on a position.

[snip]

"Johnson Valley is ... providing economic benefits to the surrounding communities and opportunities for off-highway vehicle enthusiasts and many others to enjoy recreation in the desert,” the recommendation said. “Additionally, Johnson Valley is a popular site for photography and filming of movies, commercials and other productions which generates additional economic benefits.”

As to the push to move east, the report goes on to say that they are “mostly unpopulated, are not heavily used for recreation, and have been used in the past for military training. They do not have surrounding communities as is the case in the Johnson Valley, and they would provided a viable alternative to the original proposal.”

Now, looking at possibly having to close Amboy Road, which leads to Interstate 40, officials are saying they need more time to secure their position.“

Obviously we need to study a little bit more,” Mitzelfelt concluded.

Read more analysis of the issue and the County's response here.

In further coverage of last week's public information meeting in Twentynine Palms on the expansion, the Press-Enterprise states that desert residents said they fear the Marines Corps plans will "take their homes, curtail their off-road recreation and destroy wildlife habitat."

The article quotes Wonder Valley artist Thom Merrick: "It's like living next to a giant that knows no end to its hunger."

[MBCA Boardmember] D-Anne Albers, who lives in Wonder Valley and works with Defenders of Wildlife environmental group, said the expansion area includes prime desert tortoise habitat north of Johnson Valley and bighorn sheep habitat east of the training center.

"The expansion could take territory the animals need at a time when desert wildlife habitat elsewhere is being claimed for solar and wind projects, Albers said."It would be very bad. The desert is just getting eaten up."

An earlier article in the Press-Enterprise quotes a study published this month by a North Carolina State University professor: "The military's contention that the training grounds are needed for national security isn't necessarily a slam-dunk justification."

"The government can no longer rely solely on the 'war on terrorism' and 'national security' as arguments to maintain a crisis situation where local people willingly sacrifice protection of their 'homeland,'" Kenneth Zagacki said in a university news release.

The study examined how the U.S. Navy abandoned plans this year to acquire more than 30,000 acres for a landing field in rural North Carolina -- land the Navy had been saying for five years was needed for national security, Zagacki said.

Residents there opposed the expansion and put the Navy in an "awkward position" by arguing that the landing field would destroy the very homeland the military was trying to protect, wrote Zagacki, a professor of rhetoric, in his study published in the Southern Communications Journal.

MORE INFO ON THESE ISSUES: On the Land Use/Development and Communities pages of the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Johnson Valley, Marine Base, Wonder Valley, Twentynine Palms.

More opportunities to meet the candidates

The Desert Trail posts a question-and-answer with the candidates for the Twentynine Palms City Council in its last edition before next Tuesday's election.

As well, the Trail covers last week's forum for candidates for the Copper Mountain College Board of Trustees.

And a reminder: You can read the words of candidates for these and three additional local races in the MBCA 2008 Candidates Virtual Forum on our Website, answering questions on conservation issues as submitted by you, our members.

Base expansion study area includes private property in 29 and Wonder Valley

The Hi-Desert Star covers the Base expansion public information meeting held Oct. 23 in Twentynine Palms in this article.

“As this process goes on, it’s important to know what the stakeholders’ concerns are and as they look at proposed parcels, what they think the impacts will be,” [Lt. Col. James McArthur] said.

“It’s important for us to sit down at the table and answer people’s questions,” he added. “We’re eager to work with the community on this."

The project is still in the study stage as an environmental impact report is constructed. Formal public meetings for the EIS process will be held in December. McArthur expects the entire process will take at most two years.

The environmental report, which will identify several alternatives to expand the Marine base or abandon the project, will be given to the Secretary of the Interior.

Ultimately, the expansion will be approved or denied by the United States Congress and then signed by the president of the United States.

Of note, the map on view at the meeting made it clear that Twentynine Palms would be affected. The expansion study area in Wonder Valley and Twentynine Palms would include the entire area of land north of Poleline Road between the Cleghorn Lakes National Wilderness Area on the east and the current Base southern tip on the west, including private residences.

Larry Johnston drove from Upland to Thursday’s meeting because he and his family own property on land in the Wonder Valley area that falls within the expansion proposal.“I’m very concerned,” said Johnston.

“My dad homesteaded five acres up here probably 50 years ago.” Now, he said, Johnston, his siblings and their cousins all own homesteads on adjoining properties there. “We’ve been coming up here since we were kids.”

Read more about expansion plans, with links to maps, in this previous post.


MORE INFO ON THESE ISSUES: On the Land Use/Development and Communities pages of the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Johnson Valley, Marine Base, Wonder Valley.

More candidates forums

More opportunities this week to learn where the candidates stand:

• A Joshua Basin Water District Candidates Forum will to be held at the Coyote Corner stage on Saturday, Oct. 25 at 11 a.m., sponsored by the Joshua Tree Highlands Owners Association. CORRECTION: APPARENTLY THIS INFORMATION WAS INCORRECT AND THERE WILL BE NO JBWD FORUM ON SATURDAY.
• Candidates for the Copper Mountain Community College board of trustees will appear at a forum sponsored by the Associated Students of Copper Mountain College at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27 in Room 11 at the Joshua Tree Campus on Rotary Way north of Twentynine Palms Highway. More coverage in the Desert Trail.
• All four official candidates for the Twentynine Palms City Council spoke at a breakfast meeting of the Twentyine Palms Kiwanis Club on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Read what they had to say in the Desert Trail.

As well, you can read the candidates' own words on conservation issues on the MBCA 2008 Candidates Virtual Forum.

Twentynine Palms Candidates Forum

A write-in candidate has brought to five the number running for two seats on the Twentynine Palms City Council. Chris Verbel and the other four candidates appeared at a Chamber of Commerce forum on Wednesday. Read coverage in the Desert Trail.

Learn more about the views of the candidates of five local races in their own words on the MBCA 2008 Candidates Virtual Forum.

MBCA 2008 Candidates Virtual Forum now on-line

Below is an announcement of the MBCA 2008 Candidates Virtual Forum and our new Website. We thank all our members who sent in questions for the candidates; we hope the answers will help you make a more informed choice in the local races this November. We also appreciate the candidates who took the time to participate.

We encourage you to check out the rest of our newly revised Website, especially the recently added Communities and Take Action sections. We thank Cyberspike, our Web designer, for the terrific work, and we also especially thank former Boardmember Lesley Thornburg for pioneering our original Website.

Don't forget to vote!

Voters curious about the local candidates in November’s election now have a new source of information. The Morongo Basin Conservation Association has posted a Candidates Virtual Forum on their newly revised Website at www.mbconservation.org.

The electronic Forum covers five local races: The Joshua Basin and Hi-Desert Water boards, the Yucca Valley Town Council, the Twentynine Palms City Council, and the Copper Mountain College Board of Trustees.

“We asked our members to submit the questions they’d like to ask the candidates, then we edited and compiled a separate list for each race which we sent to all the candidates,” said MBCA Communications Director Chris Carraher. “Not all the candidates responded, but we really appreciate the ones who took the time to reach out to the voters this way. MBCA firmly believes that an informed electorate is key to our mission of promoting the economic and environmental welfare of the Morongo Basin.”

The Virtual Forum is only one feature of MBCA’s completely revised Website. Visitors will also find a variety of resources on issues and the communities of the Morongo Basin. Active in the Basin since 1969, MBCA brings a depth of experience and a Basin-wide scope to this move into the digital future.

Besides information on the organization and its history, visitors will find resources on such local issues as clear-cutting, invasive mustard, water and air quality, night sky, and land use and development.

“On our Communities pages you’ll find links, information, and the latest developments for wherever you live in the Basin,” said Carraher. “And in our Action section you’ll find the tools you need to get moving and start making an effective difference.”

One key addition to the Website is the regularly updated MBCA blog, where users can get the latest news on conservation issues across the Basin. But the site also features in-depth articles, such as “Urban Growth and Carrying Capacity in the Morongo Basin”, a new MBCA position paper by journalist and MBCA Boardmember Mark Wheeler.

Carraher invites Basin residents to visit the 2008 Virtual Candidates Forum and to return to the MBCA Website and blog often at www.mbconservation.org.

Public meetings confirmed on Marine Corps expansion

The Bureau of Land Managment and the U.S. Marine Corps have announced the details of two public meetings in Twentynine Palms and Victorville to "inform the public about the legislative withdrawal process for consideration of the proposal to expand the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center."

The proposal seeks to withdraw approximately 366,000 acres of federal public land and, if eventually acquired, approximately 72,000 acres of non-federally owned property within the proposed withdrawal area.

In Twentynine Palms two meetings will be held on Thursday, October 23, at the Twentynine Palms Junior High School gym at 5798 Utah Trail. Additional meetings will be held on October 24 in Victorville.

Two meeting times are scheduled at each location from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. (CORRECTION: THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE MEETING IN TWENTYNINE PALMS, AND IT WILL RUN FROM 4 TO 9 P.M. - ED.) to provide the public the broadest opportunities to attend, according to Roxie Trost, BLM Barstow Field Manager.

A notice published Monday, Sept. 15 segregated the public lands involved for two years, making them unavailable for settlement, sale and location of claims under the mining laws. However, the lands remain open to public access and recreation use. A 90-day comment period will closes Dec. 15.The notice, available online at www.blm.gov/ca, also explains the withdrawal process.

Read more in the Desert Trail.


MORE INFO ON THESE ISSUES: On the Land Use/Development and Communities pages of the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Johnson Valley, Marine Base, Wonder Valley.

Candidates forum for 29 Palms City Council on Oct. 8

All four candidates for the Twentynine Palms City Council will participate in a forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, to take place next Wednesday, Oct. 8.

Audience members will participate in the forum by submitting questions which will be posed to candidates in the space between opening and closing statements. Questions will be placed in a box and then drawn and answered one at a time by each candidate. Candidates will have one minute to
answer each question which will then be placed back in the box.

The forum will be videotaped and can be viewed on Time Warner Cable Channel 10 at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 18 and 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 25.

The event will run 6 to 9 p.m. in the community hall at Little Church of the Desert, El Paseo Drive at Ocotillo Avenue.

Read more about the forum and the candidates in the Desert Trail.

Virtual Candidates Forum: Your questions invited!

Who will decide your future? Shouldn't you have a say?

A variety of candidates has filed for vacancies on the Town and City Councils of Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms, as well as the boards of the Hi-Desert and Joshua Basin Water Districts and the Copper Mountain Community College District. Who wins will have a significant impact on the future of our lives and homes and the health of this beautiful land we share. Shouldn't you be part of the equation?

To make the best choice, you need to know where the candidates stand. If you've ever wished you could quiz them on the issues important to you, here's your chance. MBCA will be submitting a list of questions to the candidates for the open positions, and their answers will be posted on our Website and publicized for review by the voters. In putting together our list of questions, we'd like YOUR ideas on what we should ask them in our Virtual Forum.

Please send your Candidate Questions to us at info@mbconservation.org, and please include which Town or City Council, Water Board, or College Board race your question is meant for. We will review the questions and come up with a list for each race that we feel will best test the candidates on their positions on issues of concern to MBCA and its members.

Please send your Questions to us by September 1, 2008. We look forward to hearing from you! And - don't forget to register to vote!

Endangered Tortoise found on proposed Casino site

Few are surprised that the endangered Desert Tortoise has been found to be inhabiting the site of the proposed NuWu Casino and RV Resort at Adobe and Baseline, bordering Joshua Tree National Park. The discovery will require extension of the environmental assessment (pdf) for the project and push back the planned opening date 30 to 60 days, according to Rod Wilson, spokesman for the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians.

He said Tuesday, July 15 that sometime next week the tribe is expected to have a finalized version of a wildlife habitat conservation plan, not only for desert tortoises but for any other endangered animals and plants found at the site.

Protocols for tortoises, he said, will include the placement of fencing to protect the animals and establishment of a location on the 160-acre site for tortoises that have to be relocated because of construction.

The protocol, he said, is based on one created by Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree for its construction plans.

Read the rest in the Desert Trail.


FOR MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: See the Desert Tortoise page on the MBCA Website. Previous blog posts: Casino.

Wildlife in the desert's beds and backyards

A black bear has wandered its way through Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree and into Twentynine Palms, the first one spotted so far east in the Basin in years. It's believed to be a 2-year old from the Big Bear area, according to this account in the Desert Trail. State Fish and Game and the National Park are taking an observational stance for now, unless the bear starts to make a nuisance of itself.

And in other summer wildlife news, the Hi-Desert Star gives the low-down on how to handle the not-so-welcome visitor, the kissing bug.

UPDATE: The bear has been hanging out at the Twentynine Palms Inn and shows no signs of leaving the area. People have unfortunately started to feed it, pretty well guaranteeing its doom. According to Saturday's Star, "Morongo Basin sheriff’s Capt. Donnie Miller said Friday afternoon he was waiting for a game warden from Fish and Game to arrive Twentynine Palms to assess the situation." (06/28/2008)

UPDATE #2: The bear was "tranquilized, tagged and crated at 7:42 p.m. Wednesday by Jeff Villapique, a Fish and Game wildlife biologist based in Big Bear", and later released into the San Gorgonio Mountains. Read the story in The Desert Trail. (07/03/2008)


MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: On the Wildlife page of the MBCA Website, including referrals for issues with both wild and domestic animals.

"Planned Development Districts" in 29 on agenda

At the regular Twentynine Palms City Council meeting on Tuesday the agenda includes a:

"Discussion on Amending the Twentynine Palms Municipal Code to establish Chapter 19.25 of the Development Code, Planned Development Districts. RECOMMENDATION: Discuss the Planned Development District concept, take public comment and provide direction to staff.

Also on the agenda is a presentation by the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians on their Gaming Project.

Tuesday, June 24, 6 p.m., at 6136 Adobe Road in Twentynine Palms.

Tortoises on Casino property

Tribal officials responded to concerns about tortoise populations on the land slated for construction of a casino and RV park at the intersection of Baseline and Adobe Roads in Twentynine Palms, bordering the National Park.

Following a study which found no tortoises on the site and comments by neighbors of the site that tortoises can be found on the property, [tribal spokesman Rod] Wilson said tribal officials committed to conducting another study.

The article in the Desert Trail further details recent community concerns and the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indian's plans concerning the Environmental Assessment (pdf). Grand opening is still scheduled for March 2009.