Page 11 - the NOISE June 2012

rado and Colorado Rivers and would have brought running water to a majority of Navajos in the reservation’s outlining ar- eas.
The current Little Colorado agreement only covers the one river, offering relatively little of the infrastructure that would have brought water past areas lining the Little Colorado, and the wording of the bill is struc- tured so that settlements to legal claims to existing water rights — or rights given in the course of other past agreements — are to be postponed and/or nullified indefinitely.
Opponents of the deal say the tribe is be- ing tricked into buying a watered-down ver- sion of the 2010 proposal. Says Mr. McDon- ald: “This is nothing more than a bait and switch, a trick to steal Navajo water. We’re not only selling out ourselves and our claims to Navajo water but we are making the same decision for future generations, our children and grandchildren.”
Those claims are merely “water on paper,” empty decrees and verdicts that state the nation should govern the water, but with no real results except legal battles that languish in the courts for years, says Mr. Hale, adding,
“this quantifies the amount of water the Na- vajo have rights to.”
Another troubling stipulation for the agreement’s opponents is one that allocates 6,114 acre-feet of Colorado River water on the condition the Navajo renew leases for the Navajo Generating Station — owned joint- ly by the US Bureau of Reclamation, the Salt River Project, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, Arizona Public Service, Ne- vada Energy, and Tucson Electric — and Pea- body Coal, whose lease of Navajo coal-rich land at Kayenta Mine allows it to dig up the fuel for NGS.
Messrs. Nuvamsa and MacDonald both say private enterprises do not belong in a federal water-rights agreement. “NGS has no place in a federal agreement,” Mr. Nuvamsa maintains.
“Those provisions have absolutely nothing to do with an Indian water-rights settlement. But that’s what Kyl wants.”
Despite his support for the agreement, Mr. Hale also finds the NGS-Peabody clauses dis- turbing. “I think its really none of the United States government’s business, it will get done on due course. It’s not the federal gov- ernment’s place to say whether we should renew the lease or not, it should be a Navajo decision.”
Mr. Zah states the Shelly administration “does not fret” over the NGS-Peabody inclu- sion due to the corporations’ regular em- ployment of members of the Navajo Nation,
plagued by unemployment rates as high as 45%. “We have a thousand Navajo people who owe their jobs to that power plant ... they have good paying jobs.”
A study published in February by the Seid- man Research Institute found that 83% of the 538 regular NGS workers are Navajo. The study also finds that 93% of Kayenta Mine’s union workers are Navajo. State tax revenues from the mine total $679 million, the study reports.
Ticking clock
Perhaps most troubling to opponents of the agreement is the tight timeline on which the tribal governments are required to ap- prove the measure. “That’s kicker part, and we’ve faced a lot of criticism in this because if we want these things, we need to get our support for this ratified as soon as possible because the window in Congress is closing,” Mr. Zah says.
“They’re trying to force us into giving up our civil rights before we even know what exactly is in this document,” MacDonald says.
But the U.S. political climate is in a “sensi-
tive state,” leaving a short opportunity to pass the legislation, supporters of the agree- ment say. Mr. Kyl, the second-highest rank- ing member of the Senate is the only federal representative with “enough political power” and a personal intent to “push Native Ameri- can water issues through to the President’s desk,” supporters say.
Mr. Kyl, who retires next year, introduced the agreement to the Senate in February be- fore it was released to the Navajo, and to the public at large, and if Mr. Zah had had his way, the agreement would have been approved by the Navajo Council the week of June 11th.
“There is no one else in Washington who is interested in [Native American] water issues,” contends Mr. Zah.
losing RespecT
On top of its connection to the land and its water and other resources, the Navajo have strong beliefs in mutual respect and accep- tance of others and their beliefs and opinions.
Mr. Zah says he was disturbed when the administration and Tribal Council held public meetings and opponents of the agreement were raucous. He said he witnessed some of them screaming, even using obscenities, at tribal leaders during public meetings and at Messrs. Kyl and McCain during an appear- ance on the reservation in late April.
“If we are talking traditional values, we are a peaceful people, we’re an accepting people
... I have never seen my people openly verbal- ly assault a leader like that,” Mr. Zah says. “At the end of the day I was sad.”
Security has also been heightened for the proceedings.
Mr. MacDonald also has experienced the volatility of the issue. He says on June 11 that three white men, one in a suit and two in ca- sual dress came to his property in a car and threatened him through his son-in-law, who scared the intruders off by grabbing a large piece of wood and shaking it to the sky. Mr. MacDonald says he does not get too both- ered by threats, adding, “I have been through many of theses things including an attempt to assassinate me.”
Even Mr. Zah finds himself pointing a fin- ger directly at the MacDonald administration that served 1970-1988. “He had a chance to do the same thing we’re doing, right now, maybe even better terms 20 years ago,” argu- ing that if the tribe does not ratify the agree- ment, Navajo water rights will remain in legal limbo in the courts, soon to be decided by the Arizona Supreme Court. “Would we get 73% from the state?” he queries.
Mr. MacDonald may regard Mr. Zah as be- ing rhetorical, but the seasoned leader, who still holds a loyal contingency of supporters, thinks it would be more progressive for the Navajo to finance and build its own $200 million system. He says it would be a boon by creating jobs and setting a course of self- reliance and self-determination for the na- tion, which he says holds billions of dollars in assets it could use as collateral. “We finance $200 million dollar casinos, we can finance a water system for people without giving away one drop of water,” Mr. MacDonald says.
The proposal became open to committee action in Congress on June 15, the same day the Hopi Tribal Council voted 11-4 to halt ne- gotiations until further notice.
| Daniel Quigley is a writer & editor currently working out of his garage in Tempe. danielquigley1@gmail.com
| Brando Wilhelm is a native of the Colorado Plateau, whose featured painting, On the Steps of Congress has toured the national museum cir- cuit. artrevolution33@hotmail.com
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news magazine • JULY 2012 • 11