Commissioners also noted that the study, prepared by Analytical Environmental Services of Sacramento, Calif., under the direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, ignores most of the county's previous concerns or comments.

The study evaluates five different alternatives, along with a no-build option. Its preferred plan is to build a $510 million casino complex on a 152-acre site west of La Center.

Commissioners, in comments mailed Monday to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said alternatives that include gambling do not promote tribal self-governance because the Cowlitz would contract with a partnership involving the Mohegan Tribe to build and manage the complex for seven years.

That contractual arrangement would take money away from the tribe and make the Cowlitz reliant on an outside organization for management of the tribe's primary asset, the county said.

One of the five options, a business park without any gambling, makes unrealistic assumptions and proposes "overbuilding in this market to an extent that no serious investor would entertain participation," the county said.

Commissioners requested a new alternative, one that provides a mix of uses, such as retail, office and light-development with a casino.

Phil Harju, vice chairman of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and its designated casino spokesman, said the county's comments about the Mohegan Tribe "underscores what I would describe as a fundamental misunderstanding of tribal government and Indian law."

"The fact that we have partnered with another well-established Indian tribe, and one that has expertise in gaming, I think is a positive for the Cowlitz people," he said.

Harju rejected the county's contention that the casino study is "inadequate" and said the document "addresses all of the issues raised by the county in a comprehensive matter."

How much weight the federal government will give the county's comments isn't known. Although federal officials will accept comments on the final environmental impact statement until Aug. 11, some Cowlitz officials have referred to the 10 weeks as a "waiting" period before a casino decision is announced.

The county's 32-page submittal makes the following comments or observations:

• The final casino study overestimates how much gambling revenue would be generated and underestimates the potential need for housing and social services for casino workers earning "wages near poverty level." It also "masks the practical necessity" for low-wage workers to move to Clark County to avoid commuting costs, which in turn could create a ripple effect for schools and social services that has not been adequately examined.

• The study fails to adequately analyze the transportation effects of the casino project. Study consultants chose to use examples from California that do not reflect Northwest conditions. The inadequacy of transportation analysis conceals the costs of potential road improvements and has a direct effect on the Cowlitz Tribe's goal for self-sufficiency.

• The study is "seriously deficient" in assessing what effect the Cowlitz casino would have on nearby La Center, which receives more than 60 percent of its tax revenue from four nontribal cardrooms. Even if the tribe provides compensation for lost gambling taxes, it won't be able to compensate for the loss of business sponsorships and leadership. "La Center, as a city, will be changed forever if the local businesses leave."

• The document fails to address cigarette smoking inside the project, an issue with both "economic competitiveness and air quality ramifications." State laws banning indoor smoking do not necessarily apply on an Indian reservation.

Harju objected to the county raising traffic concerns.

"I have to say it's hard to take criticisms about traffic from the county after they built the amphitheater," he said. "We're going to be spending probably millions of dollars to redo the interchange and roads there on Exit 16 so we will not have the traffic problems the county has."