Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tribal Water Rights Settlements topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs reviews five tribal water-rights settlement bills, including $5 billion Arizona package
Summary
A Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing opened with an overview of five bills aimed at resolving tribal water claims in Arizona and New Mexico, proposing land transfers, trust acquisitions, and mandatory federal funding authorizations ranging from about $224 million to $5 billion.
An unidentified committee speaker opened a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs legislative hearing and outlined five separate bills intended to resolve water rights claims for several tribes in Arizona and New Mexico.
The most costly measure outlined was S.4633, introduced by Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, which the speaker said would resolve water claims for the Navajo Nation, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes in Arizona's portion of the Colorado River Basin, authorize $5,000,000,000 in mandatory funding to implement the settlement, and establish a 5,400-acre reservation for the San Juan Southern Paiute tribe in Arizona.
The speaker said S.4643, introduced by Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray LujE1n, would resolve Zuni Tribe water rights in the Zuni River basin (New Mexico), authorize $685,000,000 in mandatory funding, and place about 4,800 acres around Zuni Salt Lake into trust to protect a site described in the hearing as having "great spiritual and cultural significance." The bill also would withdraw additional federal lands from future development, according to the speaker.
S.4705, the Yavapai-Apache Nation settlement (introduced by Senators Kelly and Sinema), was described as resolving claims in the Verde River watershed (part of the lower Colorado River basin in Arizona), authorizing $1,000,000,000 in mandatory funding, and authorizing a land exchange between the Yavapai Apache and the U.S. Forest Service in Arizona.
S.4998 (introduced by Senators Heinrich and LujE1n) was presented as resolving Navajo Nation water claims in the Rio San Jose Basin (New Mexico), authorizing nearly $224,000,000 in mandatory funding to implement the settlement, and authorizing expansion of the Navajo Gallup water supply project to serve Navajo communities outside its current service area.
The hearing also included a description of S.4444 (the Crow Revenue Act), which the speaker said was introduced by Senator Steve Daines and would transfer subsurface mineral interests held by the Hope Family Trust to the Crow Tribe and transfer certain federal surface and subsurface interests on Bureau of Land Management lands in the Bull Mountains outside the Crow reservation.
Committee staff welcomed witnesses and the chair turned the hearing to Vice Chair Murkowski for her opening remarks, which began at the conclusion of the introductory overview. The committee did not take votes or introduce formal amendments during the portion of the hearing captured in the transcript.
Next steps (as stated in the hearing): witnesses were invited to testify and the committee moved to take statements and questions on the bills during the scheduled hearing.
