U.S. Senate OKs Bill to Reimburse Tribe for Land Lost to Salton Sea
The U.S. Senate on Monday approved a bill to authorize $14 million for the Torres-Martinez Band of Desert Cahuilla Indians to replace tribal land lost when the Salton Sea was created by mistake nearly 100 years ago.
Purchase of the land--more than 11,000 acres--will allow the 600-member tribe to open a casino near Interstate 10 in eastern Riverside County. President Clinton has said he will sign the bill, which was adopted on a voice vote, said a spokesman for the bill’s author, Rep. Mary Bono (R-Palm Springs).
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Dec. 27, 2000 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday December 27, 2000 Home Edition Part A Part A Page 3 Metro Desk 1 inches; 26 words Type of Material: Correction
Salton Sea--A Dec. 12 story about a bill reimbursing the Torres-Martinez Band of Desert Cahuilla Indians for lost land misstated the year that flooding created the Salton Sea. It was 1905.
Bono said the bill ends “nearly a century of injustice and more than 15 years of litigation.”
Of the $14 million, $10 million will come from the federal government and $4 million from a settlement between the Indian tribe and the Imperial Irrigation District and Coachella Valley Water District.
The tribe lost half of its reservation when the Colorado River flowed north and filled an ancient salt sink now known as the Salton Sea from 1906 to 1909.
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