Arizona Water Settlements
Act | Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights
Settlement Act | Fort McDowell Indian Community
Water Rights Settlement Revision Act of 2006 | Native
American Programs |
Indian Arts and Crafts Act
The enactment of the Arizona Water Settlements Act
capped 15 years of hard work by dozens of parties in Arizona that
worked together to resolve amicably a long list of disputes. This
bill, which I sponsored and 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 the needs
of their reservations. 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 to settle tribal 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. The law also resolves a long-standing
dispute between the state of Arizona and the federal government
over nearly $2 billion in repayments for construction of the Central
Arizona Project. Consequently, all of 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 long-standing 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 conflicting claims.
To avoid litigation, all of the parties involved
– including the federal government and the state of Arizona
– sought a legislative settlement. 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 sponsored legislation along with Senator McCain
that forgives a federal long-term, no-interest loan made to the
Ft. McDowell Yavapai Nation. In return, the U.S. government would
not have to conduct environmental mitigation on the Nation’s
reservation as required by the Fort McDowell Indian Community
Water Rights Settlement Act of 1990.
The 2006 Act, which was signed into law in November
2006, brings to a close the final stages of implementation of
the tribe’s important water settlement. It also shows how
the federal government and Native American tribes can work together
to reach a solution that benefits both parties.
As part of the federal government’s trust
responsibility to Native Americans, I helped to secure federal
funding for projects that Indian tribes in Arizona considered
critical for improving their quality of life in the areas of health
care, education, water, and environmental management, including
the following:
For Fiscal Year 2008:
• $94,000 for the San Carlos Apache Tribe
Methamphetamine Enforcement and Clean-Up Initiative;
• $94,000 for the San Carlos Apache Tribe for a law enforcement
technology grant; and
• $197,000 for the San Carlos Irrigation and Drainage
District to design and construct various projects in connection
with the Gila River Indian Water Settlement.
For Fiscal Year 2006:
• $5,444,000 to complete the implementation
of the Zuni Water Settlement;
• $3,878,000 for a health center in Kayenta;
• $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 information about the
Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which I wrote with Senator Ben
Nighthorse Campbell, click on the link above or visit the Consumer
Protection Center of my web site.
