(Bloomberg) — A New York panel that will select as many as four sites for upstate casinos must weigh threats of lawsuits, claims of environmental hazards and even opposition from the descendants of Gilded Age railroad baron E.H. Harriman.

The committee is considering 16 bids, part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s plan to revive the region’s economy while adding $430 million to state and local coffers. The panel, which may announce the winning proposals as soon as this month, must consider local sentiment, environmental issues and legal challenges.

The biggest prize is the area closest to New York City and its 8.4 million residents, where Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Genting Bhd. are vying to build resorts in Orange County. The Harrimans, whose donated land created New York’s second-biggest state park, are fighting to stop both, including enforcing limits on deeds to block Caesars.

“The current Harriman family is intent on perpetuating their legacy of protecting and enhancing the environment in that section of the state,” said James Sweeney, an attorney for the Harrimans in Goshen, New York. “The family will march off to court to enforce the deed restrictions, and the siting board knows that.”

Atlantic City

Under a referendum approved by voters in 2013, the panel can hand out as many as four licenses across three regions, including the Orange County-Catskills area, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Manhattan. Among the criteria they will consider is the increasing saturation of the Northeast gambling market. In New Jersey, four of Atlantic City’s 12 casinos have shut this year.

It’s possible the panel could reject all of the proposals. Members won’t comment until after they’ve made their decisions, said Lee Park, a spokesman for the five-member board.

Cuomo, a 56-year-old Democrat, said at an Oct. 20 press briefing that he isn’t worried that opposition might derail two of the biggest proposals, Genting’s $1.5 billion resort and Caesars’ $880 million casino-hotel. Both are the type of large- scale casino development he says he wants for New York.

“We have some controversy about certain sites and we don’t even know that those sites will be selected,” Cuomo said. “They may have nothing to complain about because there may be no casino.”

Sweeney and Albert Butzel, a lawyer for the Sterling Forest Partnership, a group that opposes Kuala Lumpur-based Genting’s plan, said that by raising their concerns now, they seek to influence the board.

Delays Threatened

“If they should select this location, there’s going to be continued opposition,” Butzel said. “Our hope is the location board will recognize that and other factors like the environment and will go against the casino because the potential for delay is significant.”

The Harriman family already helped deliver a potential victory to the Sterling Forest Partnership. David Harriman Mortimer, the great grandson of E.H. Harriman, joined with fellow members of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission last month to deny Genting easements on park land for a New York State Thruway exit for its proposed resort in Tuxedo. The commission manages Harriman State Park and Sterling Forest State Park.

Drinking Water

Without the easement, Genting will need approvals from both the New York and New Jersey legislatures, said James Hall, the commission’s executive director. That probably won’t happen because the New Jersey Senate approved a resolution in September asking New York to reject Genting’s bid, saying it would threaten the Garden State’s drinking water.

Michael Levoff, a Genting spokesman, said New York already passed a law allowing the Thruway exit in the mid-1980s. Genting, Malaysia’s biggest casino operator, doesn’t need approval from the commission, which acted before the proposal had gone through a state-mandated environmental review, he said.

The resort would include a Renaissance fair and a ski area, and the company would build a water-filtration system, Levoff said. Genting is offering to pay a $450 million licensing fee, $380 million more than the minimum required by the state.

“Throughout this process, we have also worked to engage our detractors in constructive dialogue, committing to a variety of improvements to our site plans with their input,” Levoff said by e-mail. “Should we be lucky enough to receive a license, this collaboration will continue.”

Deeds Cited

E.H. Harriman, who died in 1909, took over the Union Pacific Railroad and expanded his rail holdings to the point where he dominated the industry, much the same way John D. Rockefeller did with oil.

The casino-hotel proposed by Las Vegas-based Caesars in Woodbury that his heirs are fighting is on land the railroad magnate once owned, Sweeney said. When it was sold, a restriction against building hotels on the property was placed on the deed.

Caesars has also leased about 11 acres for its project from the Norfolk Southern railroad, where it would build the hotel for the casino. Sweeney said that property also has a restriction on it requiring the railroad to return the land to the Harriman family if it’s not being used for rail transportation.

Mortimer, who manages the family’s land holdings, declined to comment through Sweeney, who said he speaks for the Harrimans.

Jan Jones Blackhurst, Caesars executive vice president for communications and government relations, said the family’s claims have no merit.

They “are simply noise from those who will say or do anything to oppose a casino under any circumstances,” Blackhurst said by e-mail. “There is no question that we have rights to build our project on this property.”

–With assistance from Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles and Allyson Versprille in New York.

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