Laserfiche WebLink
<br />0;)2930 <br /> <br />Subcommittee: Karl Dreher (Chair -ID), Don Macintyre (MT), Roland Westergard (NY), Chuck DuMaIS <br />(NM), Norman Johnson (UT) <br /> <br />2. AD HOC GROUP ON RESERVED INDIAN WATER RIGHTS <br /> <br />Work to date: The Ad Hoc Group on Reserved Indian Water Rights was formed in response to an <br />initiative undertaken in the early 1980s by the Westem Regional Council (WRC), a group of large business <br />interests in the West. Recognizing the potential dislocation of existing non-Indian uses that Indian water <br />rights could affect, WRC developed proposed legislation to quantify Indian water rights. They then took <br />this bill to Morris Udall of Arizona for consideration. He told them if they expected any success in this <br />endeavor, they would need to talk with the Tribes. The Tribes opposed the legislation, but from these <br />discussions arose an interest in beginning a dialogue with the Tribes about what would be an acceptable <br />approach. <br /> <br />In the course of these discussions, it was generally agreed that there was a need for quantification, but that <br />negotiated settlements were preferable to litigation, and that such settlements should be encouraged and <br />facilitated by the federal government, particularly the Department of the Interior. The Ad Hoc Group has <br />actively promoted negotiated settlements since 1982 and is comprised of representatives from the WGA, <br />WRC, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) , the Council of Energy Resource Tribes, and the <br />National Congress of American Indians, and the WSWC. <br /> <br />Several settlements were approved by the Congress in the late 1980s and the early 90s, but the process <br />slowed considerably for a number of reasons, including issues of funding. <br /> <br />In 1998, Interior Secretary Babbitt testified before the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Committee <br />and made a commitment to look at new funding mechanisms for settlements, and thereafter created the <br />Tribal Task Force on Funding. <br /> <br />In 1999 and 2000, the Ad Hoc Group sponsored workshops in Washington D.C. for Congressional staff <br />and legislative aides, seeking to re-educate Congress on the importance of negotiated Indian reserved rights <br />settlements. The Ad Hoc Group also proposed the idea of mandatory funding of negotiated settlements and <br />discussed this with key administration officials late in the year. <br /> <br />The Ad Hoc Group briefed members of Congress in April and July 2001 on the issue of possible funding <br />solutions. During the April congressional workshop, Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico announced that <br />he would introduce legislation to provide a budgetary mechanism to ensure the availability of funds to <br />fulfill the federal goverrunent's obligation to negotiated Indian land and water settlements. The bill has <br />been introduced, and if successful, it would adjust the budget cap for discretionary spending limits for an <br />appropriation that funds federal commitments under the negotiated settlements of Indian land water rights. <br /> <br />2002: The Reserved Rights Subcommittee, working with WGA staff, will oversee Council participation <br />in activities to gather support for the Domenici amendment. The subcommittee will work closely with <br />Governors Hull (AZ) and Kitzhaber (OR), who are the WGA co-leaders of the initiative. These activities <br />will likely include meetings of the Ad Hoc Group with key Congressional committee staff and members <br />of the new Administration. The Subcommittee will attempt to secure the passage of the Domenici <br />amendment to achieve this goal. <br /> <br />2 <br />