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<br />36 <br /> <br />great ambiguity exists over the size of the Navajo water claim, quantified or not; that <br /> <br />in 1970, an imponant congressional player in NIIP's authorization publicly appeared to <br />doubt that NIIP had limited Navajo water rights for all time; and that recognized <br /> <br />settlements of Indian Winters claims achieve quantification with unambiguous, <br /> <br />straightforward language, which contrasts sharply with the language available in the <br /> <br />NIIP record. Each of these issues is discussed in the following section. <br /> <br />Ari\lments Aiainst Ouantification <br /> <br />k';: <br />?,". <br />~:... <br /> <br />Under the rule aniculated in QiQn, for Congress to abrogate a treaty right, it must <br /> <br />,<;.~ <br /> <br />'<. <br /> <br />have "actually considered the conflict between its intended action on the one hand <br />and Indian treaty rights on the other, and chose to resolve that conflict by abrogating <br />the treaty.,,92 But from a close reading of the legislative record, it is not clear that <br /> <br />,. <br /> <br />,.. <br /> <br />;~:~: <br /> <br />Congress had any notion of what Winters claims were, much less that by authorizing <br /> <br />(;':~ <br /> <br />NIIP it would be canceling a significant ponion of the tribe's Winters claims. <br /> <br />'.-', <br /> <br />For example, the state of New Mexico put together an imponant document in the <br /> <br /> <br />early 1950's setting out options and equities involved in the development of the San <br /> <br /> <br />Juan River. In that document, New Mexico states that is "has never acceded" to BIA <br /> <br />and tribal interpretations of "the so-called Winters case," an interpretation that is not <br /> <br /> <br />specified. New Mexico's position is that only "due process of law" can determine <br /> <br /> <br />Indian rights, "whatever they may be," but that "this situation need not hinder or <br /> <br /> <br />impede the orderly development of the water resources of the San Juan River in this <br /> <br />, <br />'-_'I <br /> <br />92QiQn, 476 U.S. 734 at 739-40. <br />