Archived Water News Headlines | Native American Water Rights; Tribal Issues

The stories below were published in 2003 and 2004.  Links to the newspapers may have decayed over time.

Distribution bill for Western Shoshone is genocide | The fight for land and dignity (Indian Country Today, 3/19/04) - Western Shoshone Carrie Dann said a proposed U.S. distribution bill for payments of ancestral land is genocide and warned non-Indians that they would be the next ones that the United States strips of their rights.

Skagit River water pact needs OK from all parties (Skagit Valley Herald, 3/18/04) - Skagit County commissioners and officials from the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe Wednesday signed an agreement to end a three-year-old tussle over water from the Skagit River. But the agreement isn't binding without the signatures of at least two other agencies — the State of Washington's Department of Ecology and the Skagit Public Utility District. And, so far, the other groups aren't impressed. The state, in particular, won't sign off on any agreement until all parties are satisfied, including the skeptical Swinomish Tribe.

Hopis will march to protest wastewater on San Francisco Peaks (Gallup Independent, 3/18/04) - Since 1979, the Hopi people and the Hopi Tribal Council have adamantly opposed the continued development and expansion of the Arizona Snowbowl. The Cultural Preservation Office of the Hopi Tribe will sponsor a march in support of the Hopi/Tewa Save the Peaks Coalition's opposition to the use of reclaimed water for artificial snowmaking on the San Francisco Peaks

Tribes using influence in Congress to bypass local opposition (The San Diego Union-Tribune, 3/14/04) - When a Northern California tribe wanted help opening a casino on land 40 miles away from its reservation, it turned to a U.S. senator – from Colorado.

Scientists back Navajos fighting uranium mining (Indian Country Today, 3/12/04) - Navajos fighting proposed uranium mining in an area once devastated by a radioactive spill, were bolstered by scientists who criticized the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for approving new uranium mining that could result in the contamination of drinking water for 15,000 Navajos and ultimately lead to kidney failure.

Indians wrestle with reburying remains (The Salt Lake Tribune | AP, 3/1/04) - Far from any sacred ground, the skulls of ancient American Indians sit stacked inside an old, wooden vault. They were pilfered from their final resting places, their valuables stolen by looters looking for a big payday. It is a quandary for both authorities and tribes: Authorities want to return them, but tribes are sometimes reluctant to accept them. Indians never intended to rebury their dead, never contemplated such a thing. There are no rituals for it, no way of knowing who these people were or where they came from. Often, there is nowhere to bury them.

Hopi and Navajo, emerging generation of defenders | Black Mesa Water Coalition, sheltering identity (Indian Country Today, 2/24/04) - Young Hopi and Navajo adults stand against religious intolerance, cultural genocide and oppression.

Arizona tribes ready to boycott Flagstaff (Indian Country Today, 2/23/04) - Navajos announced at Flagstaff City Hall that they would organize an economic boycott of Flagstaff if the city proceeds with a plan to make snow of wastewater for a ski resort and dump it on sacred San Francisco Peaks.

Attorney: Casino can't pump water | Timbisha Shoshone tribe will have no special rights (The Desert Dispatch, 2/22/04)

Tribe issues water warning (The Bremerton, WA, Sun, 2/15/04) - Indian water rights could someday force residents to abandon their wells, a Suquamish tribal official warns.

Water users told accord is about money (Farmington Daily Times, 1/15/04) - The deadline for public comment on the 120-page Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement is January 15, and Indian and non-Indian users are scrambling to meet the deadline. The state of New Mexico is pushing forward for Congressional approval.

The Politics of Bringing Water to South Dakota's 'Indian Country' (Voice of America, 9/3/03) - Most Americans take a clean drink of water for granted, just a sink or water cooler away. But for some rural communities, especially Indian reservations, safe drinking water is often a luxury. Since 1988, the Oglala Sioux tribe of South Dakota has spearheaded a project to bring treated Missouri River water to eleven counties and three reservations. But as Brian Bull reports, project officials fear that politics will dam the pipeline in its final stages.

Report finds that Navajo landowners are underpaid for land rights (San Diego Union Tribune - 8/20/03) - A federal class action suit on behalf of an estimated 500,000 American Indians alleges the Interior Department failed to properly manage oil, gas, timber and grazing royalties for Indians; companies paid private landowners near the Navajo reservation in the Southwest nearly 20 times what Navajos got for the right to build pipelines across their land.

Burned by the Ore (UN Observer, 8/18/03) - Cold war uranium mines left Navajo and other Indians with towns of widows and radioactive water.

Numerous sacred sites at risk - Human remains looted and sold (Indian Country Today, 8/5/03) - Development, raising and lowering water levels in reservoirs created by large hydro-electric dams, clear cutting and other actions threaten ancient villages, burial grounds and sacred sites.

Zuni Salt Lake Saved from Coal Development

PHOENIX, Arizona, August 8. 2003 (ENS) - In what environmentalists are calling "an astounding victory for environmental protection and preservation of sacred sites," a utility based in Phoenix has abandoned plans to develop the proposed Fence Lake coal strip mine in western New Mexico.

The Salt River Project (SRP) announced on Monday that the utility will relinquish permits and coal leases acquired for the mine, which would have provided electricity for SRP's customers in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

SRP's Board of Directors decided that current coal prices on the open market make it favorable for the utility to purchase coal rather than operate its own mine.

"The coal market is very competitive at this time," said David Areghini, SRP's associate general manager of Power, Construction & Engineering. "We believe SRP's customers will not only save money but that environmental and operational benefits will be realized by entering into a new coal contract now instead of opening Fence Lake."

In order to suppress fugitive dust emissions, the Fence Lake mine would have required the pumping of millions of gallons of water from aquifers connected to the ecologically unique and fragile Zuni Salt Lake, a central religious and culture site for the Zuni Pueblo and many other Southwestern tribes, says the Tucson based Center for Biological Diversity which has been fighting to save Zuni Salt Lake.

Hydrological studies conducted by the federal government and others have found that such pumping would pose grave risks to the Salt Lake, which averages only three to five feet in depth.

The mine would have wiped out thousands of acres of remote grasslands inhabited by golden eagles, prairie dogs, and endangered pronghorn.

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) joined with the Pueblo of Zuni in the mid-1990s to challenge the original state permit granted to operate the mine. In 2001, CBD again joined with the Pueblo of Zuni in challenging the state's renewal of SRP's mining permit. The challenge objected to a federal environmental analysis concluding that the mine would have no impact on the Zuni Salt Lake.

In 2001, CBD joined with the Pueblo of Zuni and other conservation and advocacy organizations to form the Zuni Salt Lake Coalition, a sustained campaign to stop the Fence Lake Coal mine which had garnered support from thousands of people across the world.

The coalition held 24 hour prayer runs around SRP headquarters, organized marches and rallies, pursued legal actions against the mine, and helped secure political pressure to stop SRP's mine. The ZSLC also includes Citizens Coal Council, Sierra Club, Water Information Network, Tona Tierra, Seventh Generation Fund and others.

"SRP's decision to abandon its plans to develop the Fence Lake Mine is an astounding testament to the power of unity among diverse interests, and to the incredible will of the Zuni people," said Brian Segee, southwest public lands director.

"Fence Lake exemplifies all that is wrong with the Bush administration's so-called energy policy," said Segee, "which promotes the continued exploitation of fossil fuel sources regardless of the damage inflicted upon critical environmental areas or sacred sites such as Zuni Salt Lake."

(c) 2003 - Environmental News Service - reprint permission granted

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Salt River Project

Pueblo of Zuni

Navajos sue U.S. over water from the Colorado River (The Arizona Republic - 03/17/03) - The Navajo Nation has sued the federal government over the tribe's claims to Colorado River water, a move that could unravel dozens of agreements between Arizona, Nevada, California and other Indian tribes.

Senate approves measure on water rights for Zunis (Arizona Central - 03/15/03) - The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a bill to settle claims by the Zuni Tribe over water rights to its religious lands in northeastern Arizona.

Tribal summit details case for sacred lands (The Arizona Republic - 03/10/03) - Is Yucca Mountain in Nevada sacred ground or a nuclear dumping ground? Does the Salt River Project's mining plan at Zuni Salt Lake desecrate a deity near the Arizona-New Mexico border?

Wildfire disaster shakes Apache’s economy - Federal aid promised by Bush is slow to arrive (Indian Country Today, 01/29/03) - As the Rodeo-Chedeski in Arizona wildfire devastated the homeland of the White Mountain Apache Tribe last summer, President Bush toured nearby and promised emergency federal aid for the tribe. The tribe’s Fort Apache Reservation remains in dire economic shape, and the federal aid has still not arrived, bogged down in paperwork and a dispute over tribal sovereignty.