WSP08807 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

27 But do these statements amount to congressional intent to quantify Navajo Winters claims? First, they are contradictory on the size of Indian claims and ambiguous on the geographical extent of the limitation. Reynolds's statement suggests, as section 12(a) does, that Winters claims under the two projects (NIIP and San Juan-Chama) are limited to New Mexico's and Arizona's entitlements, which, under contemporary estimates, exceeded the allocation for NllP alone. Aspinall's statement, to which Mecham assented, limits the Indian claim to NIIP's allocation. But it implies (as does Reynolds's statement) that all Indian claims in New Mexico are folded into NIIP. This ignores the potential claims of the Jicarilla Apache, east and north of the Navajo Reservation but touching tributaries to the San Juan, as well as the many Pueblo tribes along the Rio Grande.71 Surely it is not possible to quantify the Winters claims of Indians absent from the negotiation and never mentioned by any party. Thus, as clear as these statements are in their reference to limitation of Indian water claims, it is hard to conclude that they limit Navajo Winters claims to the NllP allocation. Another difficulty with the statements is their status as expressions of individual state. rather than federal views. Is it possible to take as an expression of congressional intent, meaning the intent of congress as a whole, the view of state-level 7'The Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation touches the Navajo River, a tributary to the San Juan. See. e.~., Automobile Club of Southern California, Map of Indian Country in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado (1989). Under Winters. the tribe has claims. They are at issue in two pending cases, New Mexico v. United States. Civ. No. 75.184, and Jicarilla Apache Tribe v. United States. No. CN-82-1327-C (D.N.M., filed Nov. 12, 1982). See also Whiteing, supra. note 28. Water claims of the numerous Rio Grande Pueblos are complex. ~ Getches and Wilkinson,.SJ.lJ2m note 3 at 662 and C. DuMars, M. O'leary, and A Utton, Pueblo Indian Water Ri~hts (1984).