The tribe went on to say that it would immediately move towithdraw its pending lawsuit against Secretary of Interior DirkKempthorne, who last month denied the tribe's land-into-trustapplication that would have allowed construction to begin on theproject. The tribe will also withdraw all pending agreements beforethe National Indian Gaming Commission.

"We are angered and feel deeply betrayed by our gaming partners'decision to pursue a different project with a different partner,"the St. Regis Mohawks state. "This comes after more than 12 yearsof effort and commitment by the tribe and the company to bring aMohawk casino to the Catskills and marks a very sad day in thehistory of this project."

Earlier this week, Empire and Concord AssociatesLP, led by developer Louis R. Cappelli, reached anagreement for a hotel/resort gaming complex at the Concord Hotelless than three miles away in Kiamesha Lake. The agreement callsfor the current video gaming machines facility or "racino" as wellas the harness racing track to move to a 160-acre site on thegrounds of the Concord Hotel. Concord Associates is the owner ofthe famed Concord Hotel property. The plan also involves thedevelopment of approximately 1.5 million sf of gaming, hotel andentertainment space. As proposed, the project would feature a100,000-sf gaming facility that would house approximately 1,500video gaming machines, a convention center, a hotel, golf, retailstores, restaurants and family entertainment uses. The gamingfacility would be built inside what is currently projected to be a500-room hotel, although Empire-Concord could build as many as1,500 rooms.