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<br /> <br />8 <br /> <br />are unaffected by the bilL The Indian Intercourse Act of <br />1834 prohibits the conveyance of Indian land without Con- <br />gressional consent. The Committee's view is that the Inter- <br />course Act probably applies also to conveyances of water <br />rights. See New Mexico v. Aamodt, 537 F, 2d 1102, 1111 <br />(10th Cir. 1976), <br /> <br />The intention of the Committee amendment is for the <br />question of the marketability of Indian water rights to be <br />left to future litigation, Simply put, the bill as ordered re- <br />ported and its legislative history are neutral on the ques- <br />tion. The Committee does not intend for this amendment <br />to the bill as introduced to be construed to prohibit, either <br />, expressly or by implication, the sale, exchange, lease or <br />other disposition of water outside the State of Colorado, as <br />contemplated in the Agreement, Likewise, as previously <br />mentioned, by waiving the Indian Intercourse Act the <br />Committee does riot intend, either expressly or by implica- <br />tion, to authorize the sale, exchange, lease or other disposi- <br />tion of water outside the State of Colorado, <br /> <br />Committee Amendments Nos, 3-16, The remainder of the Com- <br />mittee amendments are technical in nature and are self-explanato- <br />ry. <br />The Energy and Natural Resources Committee's discussion of the <br />amendment made to subsection (c) of section 5 states that "subsec- <br />tion (c) provides that the water rights confirmed in the Agreement <br />will be governed solely as provided in the Agreement, and that the <br />claims with respect to Federal reserved rights will be extinguished <br />upon entry of the final consent decrees," <br />The explanatory provision of the Committee amendment would <br />indicate that any Federal reserved right would be extinguished <br />upon entry of the final consent decree, including, under the Energy <br />Committee's characterization of Indian reserved water rights as <br />Federal reserved water rights, the extinguishment of Indian re- <br />served water rights, While the members of the Select Committee do <br />not agree with the characterization of Indian reserved water rights <br />as being identical to Federal reserved water rights, any express as- <br />sertion as is contained in the explanation of the energy Committee <br />amendment to section 5(c) that such rights will be extinguished <br />upon entry of the final consent decree, would be totally inconsist- <br />ent with the understanding of the parties and all who have been <br />involved in the Congress' consideration of S, 1415, Le., that while <br />water is being used oil the tribes' reservations or once water has <br />ceased to be used off the reservation, the water has all the charac- <br />teristics that accord to an Indian water right when used on the res- <br />ervation, To represent that the tribes' claims based on their re- <br />served rights are extinguished upon entry of the final consent <br />decree, is to leave the tribes with no legal recourse should any of <br />the benefits contemplated for the tribes under the terms of the set- <br />tlement fail to be forthcoming, <br /> <br />The Select Committee on Indian Affairs stl'ongly <lisagreeswith <br />~ concel?ts ,e~bodied4n the, Et:l;ergy .and Natural Resources Co;m- <br />IDlttee'S disCUSSion of the Cornrmttee's amendlnent number 2 With <br /> <br />