Navajo Water Rights Task Force Responds to Little Colorado River Settlement Terms

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WINDOW ROCK, ARIZONA – On November 28, the Naa'bik'iyati' Committee approved a letter by Navajo Nation Council Speaker Johnny Naize, on behalf of the Water Rights Task Force responding to the Department of the Interior's Core Positions for a Near Term Settlement with a vote of fourteen supporting and zero opposing - the committee will continue to maintain its position outlined in "Position Statement of the Navajo Nation on Comprehensive Water Rights Settlements" (resolution NABIN-87-12).

View of the Little Colorado River

The letter responds to the Department of the Interior's Core Positions for a Near Term Settlement, which resulted from the position statement the Nation presented to Department of the Interior during a November 14 meeting organized by the Department.

“The Navajo Nation appreciates your efforts to move a settlement of the claims of the Nation and the Hopi Tribe in the Little Colorado River basin,”

Speaker Naize stated in his letter to Interior Secretary Salazar.

“Following our meeting with you and other Interior officials in Washington two weeks ago, and with further clarification of the Federal proposal provided by Deputy Hayes and others in telephone conference held on November 26, the Nation has determined that it is in the best interest of the Nation to stand on the Position Statement (resolution NABIN-87-12) adopted by the Naa'bik'iyati' Committee of the Navajo Nation Council as it concerns a settlement of the Little Colorado River basin claims.”

Speaker Naize also expressed appreciation to the department for supporting the following terms:

Delivery of 6,411 AFY of CAP to eastern Arizona Navajo communities through the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project without conditions, and specifically deleting requirements for:

the extension of the Navajo Generating Station plant site lease and other related agreements, and
that the Nation lease additional coal to Peabody. The Nation also seeks the support of the Department for acquiring a water supply that is not subject to shortages.

Allow for the delivery of the 6,411 AFY of CAP water to the Navajo Nation upon the effective date of this LCR settlement.
Contain provisions reserving CAP water for a future Lower Colorado River settlement (22,598 AFY for Navajo).
Retain the Secretary's authority to take land into trust.
Eliminate provisions requiring Navajo Nation to waive claims for injury to water quality
Contain the following provisions relating to springs supplied by non-N-aquifer water:

The United States, through USGS, will expand its spring monitoring program described in Section 6.2 of the settlement to include Hopi springs whose water supplies derive from sources other than the N-Aquifer;
The new bill would contain a provision requiring discussions among the Tribes and the United States regarding protections, to the extent feasible, for springs supplied by water outside the N-Aquifer in a future Lower Colorado River water settlement.

The Department will consult with the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe on sacred sites.

Seven additional positions advocated for by the Nation were not accepted by the Department of the Interior - to which Speaker Naize asked the United States to "schedule a meeting with the Arizona parties to advocate for a settlement of the Tribes' Little Colorado River claims that could be moved during the lame duck session."

The Nation also asked to be a part of discussions on the following issues not accepted by the Department of the Interior:

a numerical quantification of the Navajo Nation's water rights to the mainstream of the Little Colorado River, including instream flow rights
the ability to make priority calls
federal funding for watershed restoration, conservation, and water project for washes and tributaries
the ability of the Navajo Nation to market its water rights outside of the Navajo Reservation
mandatory funding so that funds are available upon enactment
construction of water delivery projects to begin upon the appropriation of funds and
limiting the Navajo Nation's waivers of claims to the claims of the Navajo Nation and not the claims of members of the Nation.

“Despite the Department's belief that these issues cannot be resolved quickly, the Nation would like the opportunity to meet with the Arizona negotiating parties to hear directly from them on each of the Nation's positions,”

Speaker Naize said in his letter.

“The Nation seeks the support of the United States as the Nation's trustee in any such negotiations for the positions outline above. If a settlement cannot be reached in the near term, the Navajo Nation will reassess its settlement position.”

Speaker Naize expressed his appreciation on behalf of the Nation for the Department of the Interior's senior officials' involvement and for their commitment to reach a settlement of the Little Colorado River basin on fair and equitable terms.

The Naa'bik'iyati' Water Rights Task Force is comprised of Speaker Johnny Naize and Council Delegates Katherine Benally, Elmer Begay, Joshua Lavar Butler, LoRenzo Bates, Jonathan Nez, Walter Phelps, Alton Joe Shepherd, and Dwight Witherspoon.

The advisory group to the Naa'bik'iyati' Water Rights Task Force, as stated in the enacting resolution of the task force, consists of Rita Gilmore, Nicole Horseherder, Ann Marie Chischilly, Byron Huskon, Jack Utter, and Thomas Walker.

posted November 30, 2012 7:50 am est