U.S. Water News Online
WASHINGTON -- A long-standing water dispute in New Mexico's San Juan Basin appears to be inching toward a resolution, with two key Republicans agreeing to work on a settlement.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne pledged to work with New Mexico, although he did not agree to back a 2005 settlement with the Navajo Nation that would cost the federal government almost $1 billion over 20 years.
And Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who last year declined to back a settlement bill by Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman, said he would work this year with Bingaman on revised legislation.
But it will be slow going, Domenici cautioned in a statement.
"As it stands, the federal budget simply cannot accommodate the New Mexico settlements," Domenici said.
Three water disputes are pending in New Mexico. In the largest, the state and the Navajo Nation signed a settlement in April 2005 that called for a pipeline to serve the Gallup and Navajo communities.
Bingaman and Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., have introduced bills that would make the settlement final.
The agreement is estimated to cost between $800 million and $900 million over 20 years, with the state paying about $65 million. It would give the Navajo Nation rights to about 56 percent of the projected water in the San Juan River Basin available for use in New Mexico.
More than 70,000 people live without running water on the Navajo Nation, the country's largest American Indian reservation.
But Domenici and the federal government have been slow to get behind the proposal, in part because of the cost.
The pledges by Kempthorne and Domenici represent a significant step forward. Domenici said he believes the Bush administration won't resolve the dispute without federal legislation.
Bingaman said he needs the Interior Department's blessing to pass the bill. He pressed Kempthorne about the legislation during a Senate hearing on the department's budget.
New Mexicans are growing impatient that the department won't back the Navajo settlement even though it has signed onto other expensive water settlements in Arizona and California, Bingaman said.
"I guess I'm concerned we have something of a double standard going on here," he said.
Kempthorne said the department is juggling 19 pending Indian water rights disputes. An environmental study due in March will help officials make progress on the Navajo settlement, he said.
In the examples Bingaman cited, Congress had enacted legislation, then the funding followed, Kempthorne explained.
Frustrated, Bingaman told him: "That's what we're trying to do here. We're trying to enact the legislation. We just want your support."
Kempthorne didn't promise to back the legislation. But he promised to keep working with the state. "We, too, would like to see resolution," he said.
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