In a newly published rule, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has set a 25-mile zone surrounding current reservation headquarters beyond which the federal agency won't authorize new casinos on newly acquired tribal land.

The department in January rejected a 2004 request by Jemez Pueblo to establish reservation land and build a casino in Southern New Mexico, near Anthony, almost 300 miles from the Northern New Mexico pueblo. The department said the distant casino would either fail to attract tribal members as employees, or draw them away from their traditional homeland to work at the casino.

The New Mexico Indian Gaming Association, whose membership includes 11 tribes in the state, opposed Jemez Pueblo's move to establish a casino distant from the reservation.

The final rule, which follows a series of interim "checklists" published by the BIA since 1994, was intended to resolve questions about when tribes can qualify for exceptions from the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The 1988 law spells out terms under which tribes may operate casinos and prohibits in most cases new casinos built on lands newly defined as reservation, or "trust," land after the law was passed.

Exceptions in the 1988 act, however, allowed the secretary of the interior to authorize tribes to open new casinos away from historic reservation lands if, after consulting local and tribal officials and a state's governor, the BIA determines a casino would be in the best interest of the tribe and wouldn't be detrimental to the community where the casino would open.

The final BIA rule published on May 20 followed several lengthy comment periods and five revised interim rules published since 1994. While the new rule appears to limit new casinos to a zone within 25 miles of the "tribe's headquarters" it also sets out new exceptions.

Tribes may now seek reservation status and permission to operate casinos on newly acquired land away from an existing reservation if they can show a significant number of tribal members live nearby, if the tribe can demonstrate a current connection to the land or if other tribal-government facilities have been located on the land for at least two years before a new reservation-land application is filed.

The new rule does not affect other businesses tribes can operate on newly acquired reservation land, which would be beyond the authority granted the Department of Interior under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, according to notes published with the final rule.

Contact David Collins at 986-3064 or dcollins@sfnewmexican.com.