RUMFORD - Nearly three months after he stepped away from a campaign aimed at bringing a privately-run casino to Oxford County, Rumford attorney Seth Carey has returned to the campaign trail, he said Monday.

"It's still my baby and I've sacrificed a lot for it. I will see it to the end," he said.

Carey said he planned to hit the campaign trail with other volunteers in a biodiesel truck that is being outfitted with a billboard. He will go to fairs, concerts and other activities around the state promoting the casino while handing out information on the benefits of siting it in Oxford County.

"My vision is to have the No. 1 environmentally, ecologically friendly resort in the country. It will use alternative resources and respect our history, heritage and environment and showcase the many activities in Western Maine," Carey said.

Carey will bring his plans for the casino, as well as a possible biodiesel project, before the newly formed Rumford Economic Development Committee on Wednesday, he said.

In April, Carey resigned from the campaign and also resigned from his post as president of Evergreen Mountain Enterprises, LLC, the company Carey formed to run the casino if it is approved by Maine voters in November.

In a prepared statement issued in April, Carey said he worried personal issues and legal matters could become a distraction to the referendum effort. A simple assault charge against Carey was dropped soon after it was issued by summons but a series of complaints against Carey's professional conduct as an attorney have yet to be resolved.

Carey said Monday he remained the owner of Evergreen Mountain and the campaign, and company spokeswoman Pat LaMarche said Carey was the largest shareholder of the company and remained an individual with "a big vested interest" in the project.

"He's anxious to make sure it's successful," LaMarche said.

LaMarche said Monday that negotiations with potential investors in the project remain on-going but they, like voters, want more information, including which community in Oxford County might host a casino.

"While he is not the president, he is still the founder and therefore has to be key to these discussions," LaMarche said. "He has stepped down as president but still cares deeply what the result at the end of the day will be. He owns the controlling interest of it and as such it's very important to him to get the answers that investors need."

Dennis Bailey, executive director of CasinosNo!, the statewide political action committee formed to defeat casino referendums, said Monday he wasn't surprised that Carey was again active with the campaign.

"I don't think he ever stopped being involved," Bailey said. "Whatever his title is doesn't really matter; he's still the face of the campaign. He may not hold a title but he's still out there visibly working on the casino."

Bailey agrees investors for the casino and the campaign are a necessity, but finding them with Carey on board could prove difficult. "It's probably just conjecture on my part, but I assume he wants to maintain control and that's probably a sticking point for any investor that wants to come in."

Bailey said his organization was doing organizational and polling work. Whether investors for Carey's casino emerge and who they are would be factor in coming months, he said.

Carey has said his primary motivation for a casino is to bring economic development to a part of Maine in desperate need of it. The legislation that sets up the casino, if approved by voters in the fall, would return 39 percent of its profits to the state and local government agencies. The hosting town would receive 1 percent and the county 2 percent of casino profits under the legislation.

Carey said Monday the resort he envisions would also bring 1,000 good-paying jobs to the region.

LaMarche said she has been in negotiations with potential investors for months and she believes waiting until investors are lined up, giving them a say in selecting a new president for the project, could be a bargaining chip with undecided voters.

"The announcement will come before Sept. 4," LaMarche promised Monday afternoon.

Finding a site for the casino remains a top priority, she said.

Officials from many Oxford County towns as well as all chambers of commerce that include an Oxford County town have been contacted about the project, she said.

"And we're still listening to people's feedback," she said.

Meanwhile, Rumford officials have not given their official support for the project, interim Town Manager Len Greaney said.

Before doing that, selectmen want people to complete a survey on whether they want a casino constructed within 15 to 20 miles of the town.

"We want a sense from the community before selectmen decide whether to support it," Greaney said.

He said he hopes a subcommittee of the Economic Development Committee will create a survey that will ask if there is casino support and if the town should spend money to help promote passage of the referendum.

That survey should be circulated within two weeks so selectmen can take action on whether to support the casino push at one of the board's August meetings, Greaney said.