52,000 weigh in on Escalade
Artists rendering of the proposed gondola tram at the Confluence, by the Grand Canyon Escalade proponents.
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Artists rendering of the proposed gondola tram at the Confluence, by the Grand Canyon Escalade proponents.
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 52,000 comments had been received on the legislation establishing the long-debated Grand Canyon Escalade project, according to the Office of Legislative Services.
Mary Nez, legislative secretary, said last week the reaction to the controversial plan to develop a tram to the bottom of the Grand Canyon at the Confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers was the strongest ever received on the Navajo Nation Council’s website.
“They are in the process of being printed,” Nez said about the comments in an interview with the Navajo Times.
Because of the high volume of email traffic during the five-day public comment period that began on Aug. 29, Nez says the older comments drifted to the bottom of the email account to make way for the new comments, causing some Escalade opponents to fear their comments had been lost at best and deliberately suppressed at worst.
That isn’t true, Nez said.
At 2 p.m. Tuesday, with the count still in progress, 51,913 comments were opposed to the Escalade and 131 were pro-development, according to an employee at the office. One comment was inconclusive.
Benjamin Bennett
Council Delegate Benjamin Bennett (Crystal/Fort Defiance/Red Lake/Sawmill) introduced the legislation in late August. It requires the Navajo Nation to pay at least $65 million for off-site infrastructure costs. This amounts to more than one-third of the project’s total cost.
The Nation, however, can receive up to 18 percent of gross revenues, according to the master agreement on the project. Developer Confluence Partners would be required to secure at least $120 million for onsite infrastructure costs.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow