OCR Text |
Show 4 Versa! Exffett wd-do- scerbr n. v. isss Four projects put on SFC waiting list KWEiaaffiawramffiiTOiTRWiJDmmimiTinniniitiinniiiraiuufflnniiiil jmwem Western Resources WRAP-U- P Four more tar sands projects have been added to The U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corporation list now totaling 10 tiimiiminimuuituiiiiitmiiiiiiJtiiiiniiimHjiiimmiimiimiiiniHiiHtttittiiiiiiutiuiiiiiuiiiimiiHuimrmti vying for financial backing from the Western states push Indian water settlements By Helene C. Moo berg Vernal Express Washington Correspondent Washington Western states and industries are leading the drive to get Indian water rights controversies settled by negotiators and legislation so that water rights within each state can be quantified. The drive is not coming from the Indians, who rarely see the urgency of quantifying their water rights. Many Indian tribes are fearful and ap-prebensive about negotiations. They have an institutional memory of broken Franklin treaties, Ducheneaux, counsel on Indian Affairs . for the House Interior Committee and I a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe of South Dakota, told Western Resources Wrap-u(WRW) on Sept. 3. It is a particular concern to ! Native Americans at this time because not enough money has been provided by the Administration and Congress to give them the kind of expert support ' they need to quantify present and future uses of water, he said. Nevertheless, the drive to settle Indian water rights claims by negotiation is picking up steam. At least two ' major workshops have been held in re-- ' cent years on Indian wa ter policy and negotiations of Indian water rights claims, the first sponsored by the American Indian Lawyer Training Program of Oakland in 1981, and the second by the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Reserved Water chaired by Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., in 1384. The Wallop workshop was devoted X entirely to the issue. Wallop explained the push behind the workshop on June 19, 1984. As the demand on limited water resources increases in this country, controversy attaches to . Indian water rights as to the quantity and priority. This is particularly true in the West. Because Indian tribes have a governmental status under American law. they assert both jurisdictional and proprietary rights to water. In doing so, Indians as everyone else compete with different constituencies in carrying out these two roles. As owners of property interests in water, the Indian people have primarily been establishing their claims to water in ' n water competition with users, such as agricultural districts, cities, industrial corporations and states, he said. Litigation has proved to be a slow and costly method of quantifying n water rights to Indian and alike, Wallop pointed out. Due to the n water growing concern of of water state holders, managers right ' and industries seek certainty regarding their water ownership or pro- , prietary rights. Equitable alternatives are being sought to litigation. That is - why some three years ago the Western Regional Council and the Western Governors Association moved to initiate an dialogue with ,. leading Indian groups. The hope was , that through this dialogue creative ' - solutions might be found, he said. p " non-India- non-India- non-India- g TRIBES TRYING NEGOTIATIONS ' SHOULD MOVE NOW, SMITH ADVISED Several speakers workshops, usually . ' . ; : . . ' . - , - at these strongly urged that negotiation be tried as an alternative to litigation. Backing negotiations at the 1981 workshop was Kenneth L. Smith, a tribal leader from the Warm Springs reservation in Oregon, then Assistant Secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs. He urged tribes not only to consider negotiations, but to do so pronto. I . recognize that there can be lots of pro-out that in blems working negotiations are not sellouts. ..Nonetheless, I think the negotiated settlements generally have a better chance of producing real, wet water for a reservation. Thats the only kind of water that is really useful, Smith stated. "I think that the time element is im- portant. The claims on water are going to increase with each passing year. One hundred years ago, the person who recognized the precious value of water in the West was a person destin--- " ed to be rich. Ten years ago. the de-- , mand for water was not nearly so pressing as it is today. Ten years from now, the need for water will be im- mensely greater. I am aware, of course, that the increasing need for water by other entities does not affect the legal rights of tribes. But realistically we know it has as very definite practical effect. Right 'low, according to our calculations, the Central Arizona tribes have potential rights to most of the water there is in Central Arizona. But we know that this is not going to turn off the taps in the in Phoenix or homes of Tucson. I think there are good reasons for the tribes to work for agreements and settlements is quickly as possible to turn paper water into wet water, producing benefits for their reserva s , ,- - i tions,'' Smith stated. And he added, Since I favor negotiated settlements. I am willing to accept quantification. I know that there are tribes and individuals who d want to cling to the position. However, I believe that quantification is inevitable. Through litigation or through negotiation, Indian tribes are going to hqve to quantify their water rights. The tremendous economic pressure of water will force d the end of rights. Consequently, my recommendation is that tribes focus on maximizing w hat they can get in the quantification process, Smith adivsed his largely Indian, mainly legal audience. Quantification is necessary to plan for the future. State Engineer S.E. Reynolds of N'ex Mexico told the Wallop workshop in 1984. Quantification of all water rights, including Indian water rights, is essential to the wise use and management of the resources of the Western states. ..Such quantification becomes critical as water uses approach the limit of the supply. Quantification of Indian rights surely is as important to Indians as to both need to be able to contemplate and plan for the future. he said. It is vitally important in New Mexico. he pointed out, where in 1980 the Indian population was 8.2 percent of the total state population, where Indian lands comprised 9.4 percent of the state's total area, and where about 20 percent of the state's renewable water supply was committed to use on Indian lands. Speaking for the Western Regional Council, an organization of 50 basic busineses in the Rocky Mountain States. Ralph F. Cox. chairman of the Council's committee on Indian reserved water rights, strongly recommended quantification of Indian water rights through negotiation at the Wallop workshop in 1984. There are now more than 50 lawsuits pending" over Indian water rights claims, making it impossible for users, potential users, state administrators and federal agencies to determine the quantity of water available for existing or new uses. ..The Western Regional Council... believes there is an urgent need to settle the problem. The controversy has become more acute recently) and inhibits the efficient management of scarce resources, including the development of Western coal, oil shale, and oil and gas in the Overthrust Belt extending from Montana to the Mexican border, be warned. The most desirable manner of resolving these disputes is through negotiation and the Council supports such an objective," said Cox, a top official of the Atlantic Richfield Company fARCO). open-ende- open-ende- s; corporation. The four tar sands projects are the CEMECH project in Logan County. the International Kentucky, Hydrocarbons project proposed for Sunnyside, Utah, the PR Springs project Dear Vernal and the Sunnyside Project in Carbon County. Under the terms of the Tar Sands Solicitation, the corporation is expected to select one or more projects for financial assistance negotiations approximately 45 days after the Aug 30 deadline for submission of project proposals. Projects selected will then have 60 days to obtain full project equity before negotiations begin. Projects selected will have 60 da .vs to obtain full project equity-befornegotiations begin. The corporation will consider requests for ioan and or price guarantee assistance. Tuesday the SFC considered financial assistance for the Forest Hill heavy oil project in Texas, the key terms of assistance for the Union Oil Parachute Creek shale oil project in Colorado and was updated on the status of negotiation with the Seep Ridge Project in Utah. All three projects have been promised assistance from the board by a Sept. 13 deadline. The Seep Ridge Project near Vernal was promised a maximum of $184 million in price and loan guarantees e NEGOTIATIONS BENEFIT, preschool class. Classes are morning Home turned preschool "The Young Peoples Academy" may be a different name for a preschool, but there are several unique features about this preschool. Yes, the school is in a home, however, no one lives in the home. It has been converted solely for the purpose of the preschool. in limbo. ALL A preand held daily for school was held class before just kindergarten started this fall. director of the Young Peoples Academy, stands with her assistant, Richelle Gentry, right, and the students of her KATHI MASHBURN, left, WORK IF Kathi Mashburn, director of the school and former kindergarten SAY NEGOTIATORS that preschools are more popular because parents feel their children should have more opportunities. We now teach in preschools what children learned in kindergarten. The preschool also offers computer assisted learning, where students can learn numbers, colors, and letsaid teacher, becoming ters. the preschool setting. She from teaching kindergarten because I want to offer the little people more opportunity to explore. in transfered Much of what the children learn in the school follows the exploring ideal, with projects where the student can touch; finger painting and writing their names in jello. This is Mrs. Mashburn's first year Negotiations work only if all parties to the dispute benefit; they also are productive only if the parties work toward solutions of problems and cut the rhetoric, negotiators say. The Indian speakers at the workshops 1 Keep any other important coping skill. teacher or friend of the family. your child in sight at all repeatedly emphasized that the tribal 7. Listen attentively when your is away child when times; to your 4. children never Teach your membership must agree to the from you, know whom he or she is child talks about a man or woman go anywhere with anyone who negotiations, not just the leaders, if with and where. she met in your absence. or he word. code know a family doesnt settlements by negotiations are to be 8. Teach your child its OK to run 2. Teach your child not to wander child full Teach 5. his name, your successful. off. to avoid lonely places. away or scream if someone is makyour full name, address and teleof chairman former Loble. Henry 3. Establish strict procedures for ing him or her do something he Make he knows number. sure phone the Montana Reserved Water Rights picking your child up at school, at doesn't want to do. how to make local and long distance 9. Have photos taken four times Compact Commission, told the 1961 a friends, after a movie, etc. Dont calls. a can child Even small phone a workshop the commission had negotialet your child accept rides from anyyear; (particularly with very learn to dial 911 for help. with three of the seven tions one with whom you havent made young children); make note of 6. Tell your child about the abIndian tribes in Montana, those living birthmarks and other distinguisheven if duction problem in a calm and simprevious arrangements on the Fort Peck. Fort Belknap and ing features. they say they're a policeman, if as were you ple way teaching Northern Cheyenne reservations, while they had been terminated by the Flathead Indians. The ni:e thing about the negotiation method t is that it is flexible. Loble stated. Rather than discussing fine legal points, the negotiators try to decide how much land the parties have, ho much water they need, how it can be developed, and their plans for the f iture. Then w e see if we can't sit dovn and write a compact that will permit both Indians to take care of those and matters. We try to ascertain the facts without philoscphical policv arguments," he said. Assistant Interior Secretary William P. Horn, who beaded the Interior Department negotiation team as a deputy under secretary for two years, told WRW on Sept. 3 a major reason why most recent negotiations have Federal pays you been successful is that heres an idea HIGH plus BONUS interest. whose time has come. Litigation doesn't bring wet water to reservations. Negotiation can. In Arizona we piggybacked the settlements at onto the Central Pagago and Arizona Project CAP). CAP was being built anyway, so that cut down on the cost of the delivery systems to the reservations. Child abduction prevention tips non-India- SEVERAL APPARENT SUCCESSES, A COUPLE OF FAILURES The negotiations which have been conducted on Indian water rights claims since 1981. mainly at the direction of the U.S. Department of Interior and the Department of Justice and a special negotiating team in Montana, appear to be relatively successful, several attorneys and negotiators representing all sides have told WRW during the past month. There have been failures. Negotiations were conduced on the water rights claimed by the Papago n tribe and Indians and the reservation in Arizona, and legislation implementing them was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Reagan in 1982 and 1984. Negotiations were also concluded on the water rights claims of the Indians on the Fort Peck reservation in Montana in April, and this agreement can be largely implemented by the courts. They are near conclusion on the Ak-Chi- Indian-owne- Pyramid Lake d in Nevada. They are moving ahead on a settlement of the water rights claimed by the Southern Utes of Colorado and the Ute Mountain Utes of Colorado and New Mexico, now that Congress has voted new-stamoney to build the Animas-LaPlatwater project in big both states for Indian and water users. A settlement through ongoing negotiations is now expected by the end of the year on the water rights claims of five small bands of Mission Indians in Southern California near San Diego. (RE the Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Colorado-NeMexico and California negotiations and settlements.) Negotiations primarily between the state of Montana and the Flathead tribe of Montana were not successful. The tribe terminated negotiations in 1981 and went back to court. The state of Utah conducted negotiations for two decades with the Ute Indians on the Uintah and Ouray resera-tion- s in Eastern Utah over water diversions via the Bonneville unit of the Central Utah project from the Colorado River Basin to Salt Lake City and the Jordan Valley. The state thought it had an agreement, but the tribes have never approved it, so it is rt a non-India- n Deseret rates Ak-Chi- n The U S. Supreme Court SCOTl'S held in 1908 in the landmark case of Winters v. the United States that Indians have rights to water on their reservations in the amount needed to satisfy their present and future needs to irrigate reservation lands. Under the Winters doctrine, the Indians' water rights date back to the time when their reservations were established, so most Indian water rights predate all other water rights in the same area. In Arizona v. California SCOTUS held in 1963 the five Indian tribes located on the Lower Colorado River were entitled to reserved water rights sufficient to irrigate all of their practicable OPEN YOUR DFS CERTIFICATE TODAY! FSLIC Feta Savings & Loar Insurance Corp irrigable acreage. Your many cases the tribes claim huge quantiteis of water under their Winters rights. In our negotiations at Papago, Fort Peck and with the Mis- Savings Insured to 3 XXI OOO In sion tribes in California, we have tried to persuade the tribes to take less water, and, as a quid pro quo. to them to use their water for purposes in addition to irrigation, ine cluding selling some water This gives them a source of income to help them develop their resources, Horn told WRW. It could water also be a godsend to water conusers holding long-tertracts with Indians during times of shortage because they would have an assured supply of water, Horn stated The Arizona and Fort Peck set tlements were generous to try' to persuade others to come to the negotiating table," he said. n Offer may be withdrawn at any time. Substantial interest penalty for early withdrawal on all certificate accounts. DESERET FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION 4 SOUTH MAIN SIREE1SAIT LAKE CITY.UHH JU PROVO SOUTH DAVIS SPANISH FORK VFRNAL OREM COTTONWOOD HEBER CITY COALVILLE EAST MILLCREEK FOOTHILL ROOSEVELT KAMAS 1 4-- |