House panel advances Navajo water settlement interest bill
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
Leadership from the Navajo Nation, the Hopi, and the San Juan Southern Paiute tribes meet before the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries inside the Morris K. Udall Room in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C., July 23, 2024.
WINDOW ROCK
A bill that would compensate the Navajo Nation and five New Mexico pueblos for lost interest on water-settlement funds moved closer to a House vote Sept. 15.
The House Natural Resources Committee ordered H.R. 4598 favorably reported by unanimous consent after adopting an amended version offered by Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M.
Crystal Tulley-Cordova, a principal hydrologist with the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources Water Management Branch, described the legislation as an “interest fix bill” addressing interest owed on certain trust funds.
“The funding in this bill for the Navajo Nation is owed under the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act, which ratified the Navajo-San Juan River Water Rights Settlement Agreement,” Tulley-Cordova said.
The legislation covers the Navajo Nation, Taos Pueblo and the pueblos of Nambé, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso and Tesuque. The additional money would go into existing settlement funds for uses authorized under their water-rights agreements, including water infrastructure.
To read the full article, please see the Sept. 24, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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