Arizona Water Settlements
Act | Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights
Settlement Act | Appropriations for Native American
Programs | Indian Arts and Crafts Act
The enactment of the Arizona Water Settlements
Act, which I introduced, capped 15 years of hard work by dozens
of parties in Arizona to amicably resolve a long list of disputes
that affect their very livelihoods. This bill, which became law
in December of 2004, settles the water-rights claims of the Gila
River Indian Community and the Tohono O’odham Nation.
“It didn’t come easy. Years of
negotiation turned into decades. There were so many pieces that
had to mesh that frustration levels ebbed and flowed. Through
it all, the interests stayed at the table to work out a fair
and just settlement of Native American claims, and no one was
more integral to the final package than Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl.”
Editorial, the Arizona Republic, November 21, 2004
The legislation provides significant funding to
enable both tribes to build water infrastructure to meet reservation
needs. In fact, all tribes in Arizona that can utilize Central
Arizona Project water will benefit from the new law, since it
creates a fund to pay the yearly operation and maintenance costs
for the water delivered to tribes through 2045. The law also sets
aside more than $250 million that tribes may use to settle their
water-rights claims in the future.
The act enables Indian tribes to use water rights
that thus far have existed only on paper. In addition, it brings
long-sought certainty to cities and communities as they plan their
growth and development and is a major component of a long-term
water plan for Arizona. The new law also resolves a longstanding
dispute between the state of Arizona and the federal government
over nearly $2 billion in repayments for construction of the Central
Arizona Project. Consequently, the people of Arizona will benefit
from the legislation.
The settlement marks a milestone in Arizona’s
history and could ultimately prove as important to the state’s
future as the authorization of the Central Arizona Project itself.
Legislation I introduced to settle the Zuni Tribe’s
claims to water on its religious lands in northeastern Arizona
became law in June of 2003. It is a settlement that honors the
Zunis’ religious beliefs, settles its longstanding claims,
and protects rural communities’ access to water. By resolving
this decades-long dispute, the law saves all parties – including
the tribe and the state of Arizona – the expense of a protracted
legal battle.
The law settles competing water-rights claims by
small, non-Indian communities and the Zuni Indian Tribe with respect
to “the Zuni Heaven Reservation” created by Congress
in 1984. Since the late 19th century, communities upstream from
the Reservation had fully appropriated all the water available,
leading to the conflicting claims.
To avoid litigation, all of the parties involved
– including the federal government and the state of Arizona
– sought a legislative solution. Specifically, the settlement
provides the Zuni Tribe with the financial resources to acquire
water rights in the Little Colorado River basin and to restore
the riparian environment that existed previously on the Zuni Reservation.
In return, the Zuni agreed to waive future claims to water rights,
accept current water uses by non-Indians, and recognize many future
water uses by local water users and communities.
A total of $26.5 million is being used to settle
claims, implement the agreement, and restore Zuni Reservation
land. The bulk of that money – $19.25 million – comes
from the federal government.
I helped secure federal funding for projects that
Indian Tribes in Arizona considered critical for improving their
quality of life in health care, education, water, and environmental
management, including the following:
For Fiscal Year 2006 (current year):
• $5,444,000 to complete the implementation
of the Zuni Water Settlement;
• $3,878,000 for a health center in Kayenta Township,
a political subdivision of the Navajo Nation;
• $6,139,000 for an Indian health center on the San Carlos
Apache Indian Reservation;
• $8 million for the Indian Medical Center in Phoenix;
and
• Nearly $2 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
which will support Tribally Controlled Community Colleges, other
education grants and law enforcement.
For Fiscal Year 2005:
• $1 million for planning and design of
the San Carlos and Kayenta health-care clinics;
• $4 million for design of the southeast and southwest
clinics of the Phoenix Indian Medical Center;
• $19.4 million for the Red Mesa Health Center; and
• $14 million for the Zuni Tribe Water Rights Development
Fund, to be used consistent with the underlying authorizing
legislation.
• The FY2005 spending legislation also included a provision
I authored to include Tohono O’odham Community College
among those tribal colleges that may obtain federal funds under
the Tribally Controlled Colleges Act – an important benchmark
for the college as it arrives on the tribal higher education
scene.
For Fiscal Year 2004:
• Funding to enable the White Mountain Apache
Tribe to complete its Forest Management Plan associated with
NEPA requirements;
• Funding for Indian education, including $354.3 million
for the Indian School Equalization Program, $46.2 million for
administrative cost grants, and $38.6 million for student transportation;
• $500,000 for the Navajo Health Foundation, Sage Memorial
Hospital;
• $19.6 million for construction of the Pinon Health Clinic;
• $30 million for construction of the Red Mesa Health
Center;
• Funding for the White Mountain Apache Tribe to rehabilitate
and improve the Alchesay-Williams Creek National Fish Hatchery;
and
• Funding to implement the Zuni Water Settlement, allowing
the Tribe to acquire water rights from willing sellers in the
Little Colorado River basin to implement the settlement, and
for other uses authorized by the settlement fund.
For Fiscal Year 2003:
• $500,000 for the Center for Forensic Science
in Indian Country;
• $16.4 million for Ft. Defiance Hospital;
• Funding for enforcement of the Indian Arts and Crafts
Act;
• $33.6 million for the Kayenta Boarding School;
• $22.5 million for the Low Mountain Boarding School;
• $16 million for the Pinon Health Clinic;
• $7.7 million for construction of the Red Mesa Health
Center; and
• $21.2 million for the Wide Ruins Boarding School.
For information about the
Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which I wrote with Senator Ben
Nighthorse Campbell while both of us served in the House of Representatives,
click on the link or visit the Consumer Protection Center of my
web site.
