CAPConfluences
www.CentralArizonaProject.com
January 2012
A note from the General Manager
On behalf of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) and the Central Arizona Project
(CAP), I wish you a very Happy New Year! Tribes are a critical part of the CAP. The CAP, as we are commonly called, is a 336-mile long system of aqueducts, tunnels, pumping plants and pipelines and is the
largest single resource of renewable water supplies in the state of Arizona.
Today CAP is viewed as a critical tool for settling Indian water rights claims. In fact, with passage of the
2004 Arizona Water Rights Settlement Act, the federal government reserved 67,300 acre-feet of CAP NonIndian Agriculture priority water per year through 2030 for the purposes of settling outstanding, unresolved
Indian water rights claims. Once a tribe opts to accept or chooses to contract CAP water, we become partners of sorts. As more tribes begin to take CAP water, our need to understand one another’s operations will
continue to grow.
In 2010, the CAWCD Board of Directors, CAP’s governing body, determined that greater efforts should be made to engage tribal
communities. In 2011, we hired our first in-house Tribal Relations & Policy Development Manager, Katosha Nakai, who previously
served in a similar capacity on Governor Brewer’s staff.
The first issue of this newsletter seeks to update you on what CAWCD/CAP has been doing in the area of tribal relations and invites
your continued participation and engagement as we begin the collaborative relations that will propel our desert communities forward.
Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment. We look forward to the year ahead!
Tribal tours continue at CAP Headquarters
I’ve always thought of CAP as sort of the Wizard of OZ. Being there gives us a chance to see the mysterious wizard behind the curtain. —Yavapai Apache Participant
Beginning in 2011, CAP began concerted efforts to host tribal leaders at its headquarters
in North Phoenix. Tribes with water rights
settlements utilizing CAP water and tribes
contemplating such water rights settlements
have been meeting with leadership of the
Central Arizona Water Conservation District
(CAWCD), which maintains and operates the
CAP. The meetings provide an opportunity
for tribes to learn more about the management and day to day operations of the canal
system, various recharge and replenishment
projects and to exchange information about
tribal needs and concerns. Any tribal leaders, utilities, or service providers interested in
scheduling such meetings or tours may contact Katosha Nakai at 623-869-2620 or via
email at [email protected] to coordinate.
Ak-Chin Vice-Chairman, Tribal Council members and staff tour the CAP
Control Center
Partnering to protect CAP power source
at Navajo Generating Station
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is expected to release a report any day now that
will provide background information for the EPA to consider as it determines the future of the Navajo
Generating Station (NGS).
Almost all of the power CAP uses to move more than 500 billion gallons of Colorado River water each year comes from the
coal-fired NGS near Lake Powell. In April of 2011, plant owners
completed installation of Low-NOx burners to reduce emissions
of smog-forming nitrogen oxide, known as NOx, at a cost of approximately $46 million. The EPA must now determine whether
this installation is sufficient as it develops new rules under the
Clean Air Act regarding the Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART), a matter relating to visibility concerns at national
parks—not health. Together with other uncertainties including
the renewal of land and water leases, new EPA regulations could
force plant owners to close NGS.
CAP is not an owner of NGS and makes no profit from NGS,
but more than 90-percent of the energy CAP uses to power its
24-hour operations comes from NGS. The federal government
is, however, an owner and the revenue it receives from the sale of
excess power from NGS is deposited into a fund that covers costs
associated with both the repayment of the CAP infrastructure
and Indian water settlements. CAP has worked with the plant’s
owners, including the federal government and tribal governments
to encourage the EPA to include tribes in the decision-making
process through meaningful tribal consultations so that EPA can
make a fully informed decision. The EPA has now initiated tribal
consultation efforts.
Closure of the NGS would be an economic disaster for many
communities, including the people of the Navajo Nation, the
Hopi Tribe, CAP’s largest water entitlement holder--the Gila River Indian Community, the City of Page and Arizona’s agricultural
communities. Without the NGS, CAP will have to buy power
elsewhere resulting in a doubling or tripling of energy and water
rates, potentially pricing CAP out of reach for many who negotiated in good faith with the federal government for the water
rights to which they are currently entitled. Moreover, without
excess power sales, the federal government would lose the revenue
stream to deposit into the fund designed to assist with Indian
water settlements. Based on legislative, contractual, and trust
responsibilities, it is uncertain how the federal government will
keep its commitments to the multitude of stakeholders that rely
on NGS if NGS is forced to close. Once EPA receives the NREL
report, it is expected to release a proposed rule for BART at NGS
sometime in 2012.
Tribal budget and ratesetting meetings
Tribes asked and CAP listened. While all of CAWCD/CAP’s financial affairs
are public record, presented to the public and voted on in public, tribes have
asked questions about how the CAP budget and rate-setting processes work.
CAWCD welcomes and invites greater tribal participation in the public process. Together with the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, the CAWCD held its
first budget orientation briefing with tribal advocates in September to assist
tribes as they consider whether to actively participate in the CAWCD budget
process. Several tribes ultimately did attend the public budget briefing and
the CAWCD Board of Directors passed the budget on November 3, 2011.
The CAP System winds through the desert from
Lake Havasu in the west into Phoenix and then
south to Tucson.
CAWCD is also engaged in its biannual rate-setting process. Unlike cities,
irrigation districts or typical CAP customers, how tribes are billed and which
components of the CAP water delivery rate each tribe pays depends on individual water delivery contracts each tribe has entered with the federal government through the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). We welcome tribes with
specific rate questions to contact us.
Colorado River Water Users
Association elects first Native
American President and CAP
General Manager as Vice
President
The Colorado River
Water Users Association (CRWUA)
elected its first Native American President on December 15, 2011. Navajo Nation
member and former tribal council delegate George Arthur will
now head the organization with CAP General Manager David
Modeer as his Vice-President. CRWUA is made up of the seven
basin states and the Ten Tribes Partnership, which Arthur has
chaired for six years.
“The Colorado River is faced with a myriad of complexities and
I will look to my CRWUA colleagues for support and guidance.
Additionally, I look forward to working with the CRWUA states
and members to raise awareness about tribal issues in and related
to the basin,” Arthur stated.
CAP’s General Manager echoed that sentiment, “For the first
time in its 66-year history, tribes can look at CRWUA and see
themselves reflected at the highest levels of the organization. I
look forward to serving alongside President Arthur as well as Mr.
Vigil of Jicarilla Apache and Mr. Bishop.”
Darryl Vigil of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe will be the Secretary/
Treasurer and Mitch Bishop of the Southern Nevada Water Authority will serve as Assistant Secretary.
Getting to know the tribes we serve: CAP and P-MIP
The confluence where CAP water meets Gila River water via the Pima
Feeder Canal and the Pima Lateral Canal for delivery into the Gila
River Indian Community and the San Carlos Irrigation Project. Photo
courtesy of Roberto Jackson.
In August, CAP staff from its Business Planning and Governmental Programs unit toured the Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project (P-MIP) at the Gila River Indian Community
(GRIC). With enactment of Title II of the 2004 Arizona
Water Settlements Act , GRIC became the CAP’s largest
water entitlement holder. The P-MIP plays a critical role
in delivering CAP water to the GRIC. Its function is to
plan, design, and construct a water delivery system for the
GRIC’s water resources, with the Gila River Indian Irrigation and Drainage District formed to operate and maintain the system. GRIC anticipates that the P-MIP mainstem delivery system will include 25 miles of underground
pipeline and 57 miles of open main-stem delivery canal,
with the projected secondary and tertiary laterals bringing
the total system to around 1500 miles of pipeline and canals. The P-MIP is the first irrigation project in the United
States being planned and constructed by an Indian tribal
nation through self governance. It is the only system of its
scope currently under construction in the United States.
The tour was part of CAP’s ongoing efforts to strengthen
tribal relationships by getting to know more about tribal
stakeholders.
Participant
Comments
I will definitely be more
aware of tribal communities and their struggles
and challenges.
It’s amazing how complicated issues have been
and continue to be.
This
broadened
knowledge base.
my
CAP employees celebrate Native
American Heritage Month
CAP hosted its first Native American 101 presentation for employees on November 30, 2011, as part
of Native American Heritage Month activities. Utilizing curriculum developed by the Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs (ACIA), ACIA Executive Director Kristine Firethunder and Native Home
Capital Director Dave Castillo, provided employees a broad overview of Native American history,
culture, and government. While participation was voluntary, approximately one-quarter of the CAP
workforce attended. Employees actively engaged the presenters and requested follow-up presentations that focus on local tribal communities.
“Employees appreciated the opportunity to learn more about their tribal neighbors and partners, the
history, and the complexity associated with Indian policy. Not one review had a negative comment,”
said Katosha Nakai, Manager of Tribal Relations & Policy Development.
It increased my interests
in historical Native Indian
and U.S. relationships.
Extremely informative; I
learned too much to list.
I realized I really don't
know much about Native
Americans.
I got a better awareness
of how the past affects
the present.
I learned about the percentage of Arizona that
is reservation land.
The Voting Act—I didn't
realize it was so late in
the 20th Century before
Indians could vote.
Wow, where do I start!
I knew quite a bit, but I
learned a ton of new information.
The individual tribes are
as different as the people in any group. One
size does not fit all.
I would like to know
more about the many
women who hold leadership roles in Indian Nations.
CAP Confluences is a publication of Central Arizona Project.
David Modeer, General Manager
Kathryn Schmitt, Director of Communications & Public Affairs
Katosha Nakai, Manager, Tribal Relations & Policy Development
Central Arizona Project
PO Box 43020
Phoenix, AZ 85080
623-869-2333