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<br />34 <br /> <br />seems to go beyond the reference to legislative history that strict construction allows <br /> <br />to find congressional intent. And the tortuous journey through the legislative record <br /> <br />required for the shortage-sharing provision to mean quantification almost necessarily <br /> <br />contradicts the standard of clarity and plainess. If the record is read nonetheless to <br /> <br />exhibit congressional intent to quantify Navajo Winters rights, that intent would be <br />implied, and then only obscurely implied.sa <br /> <br />Also, the set of facts required for sharing shortages to equal quantification--indeed, <br /> <br />,o~ <br />,-<- <br />~~. <br />;;.. <br /> <br />>, <br />.,~ <br /> <br />the entire environment surrounding the Navajo decision to share shortages--was the <br /> <br /> <br />work of the state of New Mexico. The junior priority for industrial users was created <br /> <br />,,~, <br /> <br />by the State Engineer, following the law of ~ew Mexico. The late Steven Reynolds <br /> <br />said in a 1988 interview that the shortage-sharing provision was Paul Jones's idea. <br /> <br />Jones "saw the need for M&I development," Reynolds said, "to really create jobs and <br /> <br /> <br />an economy.'.a9 The late priority date on a water claim filed by El Paso Natural Gas <br /> <br /> <br />for .a coal gasification project on the reservation in the late fifties spurred Jones to <br /> <br /> <br />propose the sharing of shortages, according to Reynolds.go But Reynolds himself <br /> <br /> <br />assigned the late priority to the c1aim--admittedly, according to New Mexico state law. <br /> <br /> <br />"'-1'- <br /> <br />salt is possible to reach the conclusion of implied intent using strict construction. <br />"Courts applying a rule of strict construction will proceed to intepret the statute, often <br />resorting to extrinsic inteTFretational aids, to determine whether the legislature intended <br />to reach the right or power. Thus a court guided by the rule of strict construction may <br />find an implied legislative intent." Wilkinson and Volkman, j1ijIDl note 50 at 646-647. <br /> <br />89Interview with Steven Reynolds, State Engineer of New Mexico, in Santa Fe, New <br />Mexico (June 18, 1988). <br /> <br />gold. <br />