BOULDER, Colo. – The Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribes were congratulated at the 44th annual Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment Conference at the University of Colorado for their ability to work together to achieve an historic Arizona water rights settlement.
“No one ever thought that in 2024 that the Hopi, the San Juan Southern Paiute and Navajo are going to come together and actually agree on something,” Navajo Nation President said here Thursday. “We did it. We did it because we realize that we share that space together and we realize that there’s a lot of intermarriage. We make up the whole part of Northern Arizona and we might as well make sure we come together and really build a future for our communities because that’s what’s important as all tribal leaders.”
The President told the session participants that the Navajo Nation settlement portion grants it 44,700 acre feet of water, which is 90% of Arizona’s Upper Basin allocation, and $5 billion to build infrastructure to deliver that water to Navajo chapters throughout the Nation.
“For the past two days, I was in Washington,” he said. “II took my favorite red eye from Phoenix to DC where I made my rounds. We have an opportunity to secure our future to that be able to make sure that we can build that infrastructure, we can build out the economy. Not only does it benefit the Navajo but the Hopi and the San Juan Southern Paiute. But it benefits the state of Arizona, the great United States of America and everything in between.”
President Nygren said he met with most of the Arizona congressional delegation over the past two days and that they expressed excitement to him about the settlement.
“We’re very confident on the Senate side,” the President said. “We’re trying to build that same confidence on the House side and will really try to continue to push that through.”
Water & Tribes Initiative session moderator Daryl Vigil acknowledged the long water rights work and knowledge of Bidtah Becker, chief legal counsel in the Office of the President and Vice President, Jason John, director of the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources and Dr. Crystal Tulley-Cordova, chief hydrologist in the Navajo Department of Water Resources.
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