Interior Department Rejects Trust Land For Anthony Casino

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Jemez Pueblo’s bid to build a casino nearly 300 miles away in southern New Mexico has been quashed.

The U.S. Interior Department has rejected the tribe’s bid for land near Anthony. The agency says the proposed trust land is too far away to provide jobs to members of the pueblo northwest of Albuquerque.

The decision means the pueblo cannot build the casino. The tribe applied on December 23rd, 2004, for nearly 79 acres off Interstate 10 to be taken into trust for the pueblo to build a resort and casino.

Santa Fe developer Gerald Peters would have been an investor. Jemez sought the property because the pueblo is too far from major population centers and faced too much competition from established Indian casinos.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)