New Delhi, July 10 -- KENOSHA, Wis. - A proposed $360 million Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in southeastern Wisconsin has cleared a critical federal hurdle after the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs released a draft environmental assessment finding the project would have no significant impact on the surrounding area.

The assessment, published in March, evaluated air quality, water resources, traffic patterns, public services and biological resources at the site west of Interstate 94 in Kenosha. The bureau concluded that construction and operation of the resort would produce only insignificant effects across all categories, a finding that moves the long-delayed Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin's proposal into an active-processing phase withi...