PLEASANT POINT – Will natural gas kill gambling?

Advocates of a tribal racetrack casino in Washington County hope not.

Although the two entities appear unrelated, they are connected because they are two economic development opportunities being advanced by the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

On Thursday, in a 4-3 vote, tribal officials decided to build a multi-million dollar liquefied natural gas terminal at Split Rock, near Route 190.

The tribe is expected to be paid $8 million a year for the land-lease agreement with Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC and the facility is expected to dump millions of dollars into Washington County’s economy during the construction phase and after.

But racino fans worry that passage of LNG could mean the death of a bill that is inching through the Legislature.

The bill would allow the tribe to operate as many as 1,500 slots at a racetrack to be built near its reservation in Washington County. One site being considered is Calais because it sits between the two reservations at Pleasant Point near Eastport and Indian Township near Princeton.

Calais City Manager Linda Pagels said Friday she hoped the Legislature would look at the county’s economic needs before favoring one project over another.

“Washington County needs economic development,” she said. “Who knows what the final outcome of LNG will be. … There’s a whole lot of hurdles.”

She also said Washington County needed jobs.

“[The racino] would provide service sector jobs which our people in this area are trained for,” she said. “We are losing jobs and we expect to lose more. We can’t afford to say no to any jobs.”

Assistant Calais City Manager Jim Porter said the racino also would help make the city a destination point. “It’s a key piece,” he said.

The bill’s architect, tribal state Rep. Fred Moore, said Friday he was aware of the potential backlash. He said he believed there were legislators who would try to capitalize on headlines about the LNG facility at Pleasant Point. “That’s a danger. That plays into the hands of persons who would be negatively predisposed to the idea anyway,” Moore said.

But he said he wasn’t worried because his bill not only would benefit the Passamaquoddy, but the Micmac, Maliseet and the Penobscot tribes if they choose to participate in the gaming operation.

“Keep in mind there are over 6,000 tribal members in this state. The racino legislation benefits all of them. The LNG proposal being considered by Pleasant Point is for Pleasant Point and that is not by any stretch of the imagination all the Indians of Maine. So the racino bill is a much more comprehensive economic development opportunity for Washington County and Native Americans in this state,” Moore said.

State Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Perry, said he also believed it was a stretch to tie the projects together.

“To suggest that one form of development in Washington County should preclude another is a very questionable strategy,” he said.

Raye agreed with Calais’ city manager that LNG faced a lot of hurdles.

“So I hope legislators wouldn’t think or come away with the impression that the LNG thing is a done deal now,” he said.

Rep. Anne Perry, D-Calais, said the racino bill was important because it benefited more than just the tribes. She said that built into the bill was money to support economic development and vocational education and to contribute to scholarship programs for students.

If the bill makes it through the House and Senate, there is one final wildcard, Gov. John Baldacci who has said he is opposed to casino gambling.

“He supports the slot machines that have yet to appear in Bangor, because the people have voted for it,” press secretary Lynn Kippax said Friday. “But the governor believes there are better ways to grow Maine’s economy and to grow Washington County’s economy than to include slot machine revenues in those equations.”

Asked if the governor might veto his bill, Moore said, “I am not going to try to second-guess him.”

One result of Moore’s bill has been an opposition movement led by the anti-gambling group Casinos No!, the Portland-based entity that raised $3 million to defeat an Indian casino proposal in 2003. Earlier this month the group sent a letter to members asking whether they would contribute to a campaign to repeal the law allowing slot machines at the state’s harness racing tracks.

“This is precisely what we were concerned about,” Casinos No! spokeswoman Val Landry said after the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee voted 9-2 to double the number of slots in the state to 3,000. “[Washington County] marks a major expansion of gambling.”

BDN reporter Jeff Tuttle contributed to this report.