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An apparent stall in negotiations between D'Iberville casino developers and Secretary of State Eric Clark over a public tidelands lease has angered some South Mississippi lawmakers and raised strong talk around the Capitol of a legislative challenge to Clark's control over the public waterbottoms along the Coast.

"D'Iberville has worked for years and years and years for this project, and people have thrown up roadblock after roadblock," said Rep. Danny Guice, R-Ocean Springs. "Everybody else - all the experts - have given it the green light now, but the secretary of state doesn't like the plans, so he's holding it up.

"That's not his job. He has no expertise in this. He is meddling in areas of this project where he should not be... . We are taking steps to possibly correct this situation. Right now, we're looking at all our options."

Guice wouldn't elaborate on those options, but talk is rampant around the Capitol that legislation may be forthcoming to try to strip or limit Clark's control of tidelands leases, giving the authority to the Department of Marine Resources or some other agency. Passage of such a bill would be doubtful, but some surmise filing it could provide leverage to make Clark more malleable in tidelands negotiations with casinos.

Clark says he's just doing his job, trying to negotiate the best tidelands rent deal for the state and following the law. State law says its policy is "to favor the preservation of the natural state of the public trust tidelands and their ecosystems... except where a specific alteration would serve a higher public interest."

"I have an eight-year record of helping people develop other projects - Beau Rivage, Hard Rock," Clark said. "I favor this project. I want D'Iberville to have a casino, but my responsibility is to do it according to the law."

Clark said he has asked developers to rotate the buildings in their design so less would be built over water, reducing the tidelands affected to 15,000 square feet. Clark said this is the "baseline" he would like to set, and that the Grand in Biloxi took a similar amount of waterbottoms for its nongambling structures. Clark said the casino's gambling barge is required to be over water, but having nongambling structures take large amounts of tidelands sets a dangerous precedent.

"Everybody wants to push the envelope," Clark said. "If this project is allowed to go this far, then the next wants more. I've asked them to try to come within 15,000 square feet, and I said any more than that, and we would probably have to work out a surcharge on rent, some percentage more that they will have to pay."

Clark said he hasn't had much communication with the developers since he told them his wishes a few weeks ago. He said he has heard some of the rumblings about legislators considering a challenge of his authority, but he knows few details.

"These negotiations are always kind of tough," Clark said. "It's a mystery to me why this has become all that much a buzz at the Capitol."

But it has.

"I'm concerned that a potential development is needlessly being held up," said Rep. Michael Janus, R-Biloxi. "We need to get beyond the bickering here and get moving."

After years of work on the project, D'Iberville city leaders and legislators are apparently growing tired of delays.

"D'Iberville has worked on this for nearly 10 years," said Rep. Leonard Bentz, R-Biloxi. "Constituents favor it, and I'm going to fight for it 100 percent."

Bentz said he is uncertain whether he would support a challenge of Clark's tidelands power.

"As a freshman legislator, the last thing I would want to do is get in a fight with the secretary of state and get off on the wrong foot," Bentz said. "But if a compromise can't be found, and people of my district wanted me to, I'd have to consider it."

Lawyer Michael Cavanaugh, who represents the city of D'Iberville in its quest to get a casino, was at the Capitol one day last week but had little comment on the issue.

Sen. Tommy Gollott, D-Biloxi, himself an old hand at casino negotiations, picked up on the rift and met with Clark late last week. Gollott said he believes a compromise can be found and that Clark will be fair. He sounded doubtful whether there would be widespread support for any legislation to limit Clark's tidelands power.

"Whenever you go to take away authority from someone who's trying to take care of the thing he's charged with... It's probably always best to have an elected official in charge of something like that," Gollott said. "I'm going to do everything in my power to work this out so D'Iberville can have its first casino."

The thought of Clark losing control of tidelands leases frightens and angers environmentalists, who have often found an ally in Clark when seeking to limit casinos' impact on wetlands.

"Secretary Clark has a highly successful track record with public tidelands," said environmental lawyer Reilly Morse, who has represented groups opposed to the D'Iberville casino plans. "One disgruntled applicant does not make the case for an overhaul of what has been a highly successful stewardship of our resources. As a statewide elected official, Secretary Clark is not as susceptible to being captured by local development pressure or legislative pressure. He has shown a willingness to stand up to casinos to get the best deal for the Coast and the state."

Morse said agencies such as DMR are already too overburdened with their permitting and regulatory duties to take on negotiations of tidelands leases.

"I can't let this pass without pointing out that this is exactly the same thing (D'Iberville) did when the Coastal environmental impact study was approved... . They went to Congress to get our delegation to twist the arms of the Corps of Engineers."

Sen. Debbie Dawkins, D-Pass Christian and an ally of environmentalists, said people in D'Iberville "obviously want this casino project."

"My only concern is that it meet all the legal requirements," Dawkins said. "I would oppose taking tidelands away from Secretary Clark. He has done a very good job of protecting our natural resources, which sometimes on the Coast I think we forget are not just owned by us, but by all the people in Mississippi."

But Guice said, "Clark shouldn't be stepping on DMR, the Corps of Engineers and all the agencies with experts charged with analyzing these things. It's not his business. They just did an exhaustive, two-year environmental impact study that said there wasn't any problem. Why is it possible for one individual to hold up a project that will employ hundreds, if not thousands, of people and generate more tidelands funds for the state? This defies logic."