along Interstate 85 in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Cleveland County officials quickly endorsed the plans. But Governor Pat McCrory, over 100 North Carolina General Assembly members and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) opposed it. The Catawba submitted the required acquisition application to the United States Department of the Interior (DOI) in August 2013, seeking to have the US place this property of in trust, but their application was denied in March 2018. In September, the Catawba submitted a new application under the discretionary process; they also pursued a Congressional route. Senate bill 790, introduced by South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, with support of North Carolina senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, would have authorized the DOI to take the land into trust for gaming, but the bill died in committee. On March 13, 2020, the DOI announced its decision to approve the 2018 discretionary application and place the land in North Carolina in trust. On March 17, the EBCI filed a federal suit challenging the DOI decision in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. AS is customary, the suit names the DOI, the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, Secretary David Bernhardt, and several other department officials. In addition, the Catawba filed a motion to intervene to join the defendants. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma filed a motion to support the EBCI; both motions were approved. In May 2020, the EBCI filed an amended complaint in its federal lawsuit, saying that the DOI's approval of the trust land resulted from a scheme by casino developer Wallace Cheves. He was said to have persuaded the Catawba to lend their name to the scheme, and had a history of criminal and civil enforcement actions against him and his companies for illegal gambling. It said that the DOI disregarded early consultation with the EBCI and skipped an Environmental Impact Assessment. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma also filed an amended complaint, seeking to protect cultural artifacts on their ancestral land where the casino is planned. On January 24, 2021, Governor Roy Cooper signed a revenue-sharing compact with the Catawba Nation, which allows for Class III gaming and wagering on sports and horse racing; the compact is similar to the one signed between the state and the EBCI. On March 19, a letter from Darryl LaCounte, Acting Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, notified the Catawba Nation and Governor