Serious Risk: Navajo Nation Water Rights

SERIOUS RISK OF NAVAJO NATION WATER RIGHTS
Article and photo by Calvin Johnson, Navajo, Leupp, Arizona

NAVAJO NATION COUNCIL DELEGATES: DO NOT WAIVE THE TREATIES OF 1849, 1868 AND THE WINTERS DOCTRINE
For the past few years, The Navajo Nation Government has been working on the Arizona Water Settlement for the Little Colorado River and the Lower Basin of the main stem Colorado River .

Recently, Council Delegates and local leaders have been pushing for voters to approve resolutions in support of this settlement.

On September 17, 2010 Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan announced a Special Session, set for September 29, 2010 at the Navajo Nation Council Chambers. The session is to start at 10 a.m. (DST) with water rights settlement as an action item listed under new business. The agenda lists Council Delegate George Arthur (T'iistoh Bikaad/San Juan/Nenanezad), the current chairman of the Resources Committee, as the sponsor of Legislation No. 0422-10 “Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement legislation” and per Office of the Speaker press release states the settlement “would settle the Navajo Nation’s and Hopi Tribe’s water rights claims in the lower basin of the Colorado River and Little Colorado River system.”

Preliminarily and from a grassroots point of view, the supposed Arizona water settlement is a huge scam and we as indigenous people who have been here for many generations will be losing our basic water rights for the sake of money, power and control.

Recently at Tolani Lake Chapter meeting, Delegate Leonard Chee stated to the public that it was “the fault of the people that the Navajo Nation will be only receiving 45,000 acre-feet/year total from the C-aquifer”. It was “they who were saying NO to water." Well, with all due respect if Mr. Chee took the time to read all the agreements/settlement and spoke to activist who understand water rights, he would have read that Navajo water is NOT FOR ALL THE NAVAJO PEOPLE.

Back in 2007, I wrote a statement about the infamous Mohave Generating Station negotiation agreement titled “Mohave Mediation Memorandum of Recommended Non-Economic Terms." In that agreement, the $600 million dollar lawsuit brought against the Federal Government would have been dismissed in exchange for giving away C-Aquifer water to the “Blackmesa Project." In the same agreement, we as a Nation would have waived and released any and all Claims against APS, Southern California Edison, Salt River Project, Nevada Power, Tucson Electric Power and LADWP, waived of certain natural resources damages claims, waived sovereign immunity. With the Arizona water settlement, we will have the same terms because the Treaties of 1849, 1868 and the Winters Doctrine (Winters v. United States, 1908) guarantees the Navajo People water rights to the Little Colorado River and the Lower Basin of the main stem Colorado River.

In order for Navajo Nation to approve the Arizona Water Settlement for the Little Colorado River and the Lower Basin of the main stem Colorado River, the Navajo Nation must waive our rights to water such as the Winters Doctrine. I want to emphasis again, that the Treaties of 1849, 1868, and the Winters Doctrine entitles all the Navajo People as a nation water rights whether it’s brown, clear or underground.

Additional serious and grave concerns regarding the Little Colorado River and the Lower Basin of the main stem Colorado River Settlement are the lucrative terms such as:

• Allowing of non-Indian users to pump unlimited amounts of C-aquifer water from wells beyond 18 miles south of the Navajo Nation boundary;

• Allowing of non-Indian users unlimited amounts of C-aquifer water 18 miles south of the Navajo Nation boundary –even though excessive pumping will reduce flows in the River and may bring more salty water to Navajo wells .

• Allowing of non-Indian water users to pump as much “underground flow” as they want without regard for impact on Navajo use of same aquifers.

• Waiving all Navajo priority and reserved water rights to the Little Colorado and Colorado Rivers for other uses forever .

To all farmers, ranchers, sheep herders, elders, youth, the great people of the Navajo Nation please call the speaker’s office at (928) 871-7160 or the Navajo Nation Council’s Office at (928) 871-6380 and urge your local leaders, delegates to VOTE NO on the Arizona Water Settlement for the Little Colorado River and the Lower Basin of the main stem Colorado River.

The Navajo Nation leaders should be fighting and defending the Treaties of 1849, 1868 and the Winters Doctrine. Every drop of what belongs to Navajo is will deserved, not by giving it away to greedy corporations or entities who in return do not help our nation. Also, a clarification of Mr. Chee’s accusation of the residents of Canyon Diablo who were saying no water for Peabody was due to the fact that impacted residents were not to receive a single drop of water even if the pipeline was directly in front of their homes. Same goes for the Dilkon Water Project: Water will be piped to Dilkon but impacted residents living in front or directly of the line will NOT receive any water. Would you say yes to such a project if you were not to get water for 15 years down the road?

Calvin Johnson
Leupp, AZ
caljohnson2006@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: The opinion expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions officially of my employer or the Leupp Schools Inc., its employees, staff and/or its board.
Calvin Johnson
PO Box 5527
Leupp, AZ 86035



Also see: Secret negotiations exposed on Navajo water rights
Navajos urge Navajo Nation Council to vote 'No' on Sept. 29 to this settlement of Navajo water rights, a giveaway of Navajo water rightshttp://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/09/secret-negotiations-released-on-navajo.html
Download or print this document:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/37688923/Navajo-water-rights-give-away-exposed

Reporter: CNN Censored US War Crime in Iraq

Reporter: CNN Refused to Air Footage of US War Crime in Iraq
Democracy Now
A prominent Australian war correspondent has revealed the news giant CNN refused to air footage of an apparent war crime by US troops in Iraq. In an interview with the Australian network ABC, Michael Ware says he witnessed a US soldier fatally shooting an Iraqi teenager in the back of the head. The boy then lay dying for twenty minutes. Ware says CNN decided the footage was too graphic for broadcast. He’s been unable to release it because CNN owns the tapes.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/21/headlines/reporter_cnn_refused_to_air_footage_of_us_war_crime_in_iraq

Evo Morales and Palestinian Authorities in New York: The Right to Water

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Bolivian President Evo Morales and Palestinian Authorities will speak in New York on Wednesday, on "The Right to Water for Occupied Palestine," as President Morales presses the nations of the world to guarantee the right to water for humanity.

The right to water is one of the fundamental rights stated in the declarations produced by those attending the World Peoples' Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in April. Of the 35,000 people attending, the majority were Indigenous Peoples.

President Morales has carried those concepts to the United Nations, as the governments of the world prepare to negotiate at the UN Climate Conference in Cancun, Nov. 29—Dec. 10.

President Morales announced today that he would join high-level Palestinian Authorities in New York to speak on the Right to Water, while in New York for the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Continuing to speak out for the rights of nature, President Morales' address at a gathering on Tuesday is, “Nature is not for sale: The Rights of Mother Earth."

In Cochabamba in April, Morales demonstrated his message of living well and living free from the disposable plastic and Styrofoam items that pollute the earth. Morales invited the foreign press to accompany him for a soccer game and traditional feast in the mountains of Bolivia. After playing soccer, Morales joined news reporters for a feast of locally grown potatoes, corn and beans, and fresh fish, all served on locally made clay plates.

Since then, Morales has been successful in carrying the standards formulated in Cochabamba to the United Nations and initiating change.

In July, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution submitted by Bolivia declaring that the right of access to water and sanitation is an essential human right, without which other human rights cannot be fully enjoyed.

Native American delegations from the United States and Canada are now preparing to join Indigenous Peoples from around the world for the UN Climate Summit in Cancun in November, pressing for the protection of the land, forests and oceans, while upholding the Rights of Mother Earth and exposing the scams of the carbon credit market.

As President Morales and Palestinian Authorities speak out on the right to water in New York, Navajos continue their battle against secret negotiations by the Navajo Nation government for the sale of their ancestral water rights, vital for future generations.

President Morales announced the following key elements within the declarations of Cochabamba are now in the United Nations documents for climate change negotiations:

50% reduction of greenhouse gasses emission by developed countries for second period of commitments from the Kyoto Protocol years 2013 to 2017.

Stabilize the rise of temperature to 1 C and 300 parts for million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

To guarantee an equitable distribution of atmospheric space, taking into account the climate debt of emissions by developed countries for developing countries.

Full respect for the Human Rights and the inherent rights of indigenous peoples, women, children and migrants.

Full recognition to the United Nations Declaration on of Indigenous Peoples Rights.

Recognition and defense of the rights of Mother Earth to ensure harmony with nature.

Guarantee the fulfillment of the commitments from the developed countries though the building of an International Court of Climate Justice.

Rejection to the new mechanisms of carbon markets that transfer the responsibility of the reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases from developed countries to developing countries.

Promotion of measures that change the consumption patterns of the developed countries.

Adoption of necessary measures in all relevant forums to be excluded from the protection of the intellectual property rights to technologies and ecologically sustainable useful to mitigate climate change.

Developed countries will allocate 6% of their national gross product to actions relatives to Climate Change.

Integrated management of forest, to mitigation and adaptation, without market mechanics and ensuring the full participation of indigenous peoples and local communities.

Prohibition the conversion of natural forest for plantations, since the monoculture plantations are not forest, instead should encourage the protection and conservation of natural forests.

Coopted by Homeland Security: Native Americans call for boycott of the University of Arizona

The University of Arizona in Tucson is funded and coopted by Homeland Security as abuse of Indigenous Peoples continues at the border

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

TUCSON -- Native Americans are calling for a boycott of the University of Arizona for profiteering at the border, as the university continues to be funded and coopted by Homeland Security. The University of Arizona's most recent cash from the militarization of the border comes in the form of $500,000 to evaluate the effectiveness of Border Patrol checkpoints and their impact on nearby communities.
Native Americans say the US military, federal agents and US spy operations have no place on university campuses.
The University of Arizona's National Center for Border Security and Immigration opened in September of 2008 with funding from the Department of Homeland Security. The operation is co-led by the UA and the University of Texas-El Paso, which will also get $500,000 to study checkpoints.
The US has already reported that the checkpoints have not proven to be efficient or effective. The militarization of the border has resulted in the increased targeting of people of color by border agents, including Native Americans who live in their homelands.
The border hysteria and new passport laws means that Indigenous Peoples are subjected to abuse from border agents and police as they travel in their homelands, from the Kumeyaay in Calif., to the Cocopah and Tohono O'odham in Arizona and the Ysleta del Sur and Lipan Apache in Texas. Yaqui, O'otham, Apache and Yavapai also have communities in the US and Mexico and are subjected to abuse by border agents during family visits and while traveling to ceremonies.
The latest funding comes as the University of Arizona continuous to engage in global cyber spy activity, increases the climate of racism by targeting people of color during classroom spy instruction, receives Department of Defense funding, and increasingly has Homeland Security agents on campus.

Previous article: The University of Arizona just got a lot creepier
Classroom spy training targets people of color as university celebrates its global cyber spy:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/05/university-of-arizona-just-got-lot.html