Letters | GreenView line
GreenView line
Editor,
As a retired ironworker, I would like to say that more than ever, the reality of natural gas service to the Navajo homes and communities is closer than many realize.
As the proposed GreenView natural gas line continues to move forward and is built across the Navajo Nation, communities may eventually see lateral lines constructed to tap into the main pipeline. These laterals would mostly be built and managed by the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority and serve Navajo communities. The natural gas would come from the San Juan Basin where hundreds of Navajos currently work in the oil and gas fields.
Many ask why NTUA did not build natural gas lines in the past. The simple reason is cost. It costs approximately $10 million per mile to construct a natural gas pipeline. For NTUA to build a main trunk line like the one GreenView is proposing, it would need between $350-$400 million readily available. The federal government has never been willing to invest that level of funding for a tribe to construct a natural gas trunk line. Therefore, it is far more cost-effective for NTUA to build lateral lines to communities and individual homes rather than constructing the main trunk line itself – like the main water trunk line built between Gallup and Farmington.
A lateral line is usually a 3/4-inch natural gas pipeline, which is significantly cheaper and easier to install than a 42-inch main trunk line.
Construction of the main pipeline will likely take about two years and could employ hundreds of skilled Navajo workers. Once lateral lines are in place, hundreds of Navajo homes could have access to natural gas for heating and cooking.
Many energy companies strive to be good neighbors by allowing or supporting these lateral connections for rural communities throughout the country. Across the Midwest, many rural towns have natural gas access because companies opened their main lines to local communities in this way.
As this type of development continues, the days of Navajo homes and communities relying on wood fires for cooking and heating are becoming fewer. I am pleased something positive is in the works.
Gary White
Upper Fruitland, N.M.
Back to k’é
Editor,
Yá’át’ééh! I was pleased to see in the Navajo Times Jan. 15 report on the Title 26 hearing that, for the first time in the paper, Office of Navajo Government Development Executive Director Harrison Tsosie made clear that the current effort to reform Navajo government, facilitated by the office and launched by the Commission on Navajo Government Development, was developed with as representative an input as possible from the people. He said the process produced an initial proposed constitution for consideration at numerous local meetings, so Diné citizens could say what they agree with and what they want changed.
I write as someone who supports traditional Indigenous values and who has long supported Indian Nations efforts to return tribal governance to functioning according to participatory values. I have also reported on those efforts. I collaborated with the office when it first worked to develop decentralization of government functions to the chapters.
I have been concerned that the current constitutional reform effort has not received enough publicity. It has also not always been clear what the commission and office have done to ensure the proposal comes from the people. I went to the commission website to learn more at https://ongd.navajo-nsn.gov/. In reviewing the materials there, I saw that the 11 members of the commission were appointed to be broadly representative, including a Navajo traditional practitioner. I also learned the proposed constitution was developed from the results of a survey intended to reflect, as representatively as possible, what Navajo Nation citizens want.
As I understand it, the survey was undertaken following a meeting of the regional agencies, with many chapters represented, where participants agreed Navajo government needs major improvement. Current commission members were joined by past commission members, including two Navajo traditional practitioners, in turning survey results into the draft constitution proposal.
I hope many Diné will contribute their views at the local meetings, so that when the proposed constitution is finalized and the process begins in May to initiate a referendum to be voted on in November, the result will truly reflect the will of the Navajo people.
It is for the Diné to decide what their government will be. With a long experience observing participatory and tribal governance, I offer a few questions that may be worth considering.
First, does the five-day comment period required after initial passage of legislation, before the Council gives a measure final consideration, provide sufficient opportunity for the people to participate. Would Diné participation be strengthened if delegates were required to consult with constituents on major proposed legislation and budgets before final Council consideration. This could be done through local meetings and or virtual sessions.
Second, could government agencies reduce bureaucracy in ways consistent with traditional Diné concepts of k’é and consensus building. For example, could agencies operate with internal participatory team processes that function by consensus within guidelines, and with appropriate external communication channels for those impacted by their decisions, as well as with other agencies addressing related issues.
Since at least the 1970s, there has been a major movement in the United States and internationally to apply Indigenous principles of consensus decision making in organizations, including in government. This has taken different forms and names. In its most advanced forms, it is often described as team process. It has been shown that flatter, less hierarchical organizations, including in government, can function better by many measures, including employee job satisfaction, than conventional top-down structures. Would a Diné-adjusted form of team process be appropriate to return Navajo agency functioning to k’é. If so, it would take time and education to develop.
Third, there is a question beyond structure. As the Navajo Common Law Project relied upon in developing the constitutional proposal makes clear, k’é, right relations, should govern all relationships and human actions, including in governments and organizations. This is not always true today in many nations, in part because of colonial disruption of traditional culture and boarding school created intergenerational trauma and related abusive behaviors. When people find themselves in unfamiliar governmental institutions and organizations, they may struggle to function well, even if their values come from participatory decision making and consensus building. This occurred at the Comanche Nation and was overcome there through the establishment of a participatory process to develop proposals to the tribal Business Committee.
The Jan. 15 report of the Title 26 hearing included testimony of “widespread bullying and intimidation” in chapter relations with divisions and departments. I know of one chapter official who plans to leave office soon because of raucous and unfriendly chapter meetings. Several people working in Navajo schools have told me of infighting among staff. Perhaps this is a problem that needs to be addressed in various places across Navajo governance and organizations.
Education in Navajo values and tradition is already being pursued in several undertakings and might be expanded. But learning values alone is not enough. The most important learning comes from gaining the skills to put those values into practice, which is central to traditional approaches to education. Where necessary, establishing ground rules so meetings are safe places to participate, and step by step supporting respectful dialogue, might help improve public meetings. It could also help strengthen participation and improve the work of deliberative bodies.
May the Diné decide well and may all return to beauty.
Stephen M. Sachs
Professor emeritus of political science, Indiana University-Indianapolis
Albuquerque, N.M.
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