Dec 2013 - Central Arizona Project

www.CentralArizonaProject.com
December 2013
CAPConnections
with Tribal Partners
NGS Comment Deadline Approaching
Only a few days remain to file comments on the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed
Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) rule for
Navajo Generating Station (NGS) to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the coal-fired
power plant located in northern Arizona near Page.
EPA is accepting comments on a plan that was developed in partnership with tribes by the Technical
Work Group (TWG) comprised of CAP, Salt River
Project, the Gila River Indian Community, the Navajo Nation, the Environmental Defense Fund, the U.S.
Department of the Interior and Western Resource
Advocates. The plan, referred to as the “TWG BART
Proposal,” maintains emissions below EPA’s original
BART determination for NGS that was published in
February 2013, and provides a path for the longterm viability of NGS. The TWG BART Proposal also
would preserve CAP’s ability to deliver affordable,
renewable supplies while preparing for future cost
increases in a deliberate fashion.
“We deeply appreciate the efforts tribes have
made with government officials throughout this process and are encouraged by the statewide support
from governments and organizations throughout the
state,” said David Modeer, CAP General Manager.
Representatives from both the Navajo Nation and
Gila River Indian Community testified during the recent EPA field hearings and other tribal representatives attended, indicating that written comments
in support of the TWG BART Proposal are forthcoming. Comments are due to the EPA by Jan. 6, 2014,
and should reference docket number EPA-R09OAR-2013-0009. For more information on the TWG
BART Proposal, including how to submit comments,
you can visit the CAP website, www.cap-az.com.
Taking Initiative to Learn More About Tribal Cultures
Continuing on the success of Native American educational seminars for CAP staff this Spring, CAP conducted two additional Tribal Cultural Lunch & Learns
this year. In June, the program featured Barnaby
Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community. Mr. Lewis
shared information and pictures, telling the history
of his Community and sharing information about its
unique culture. He fielded numerous questions from
a highly interested audience. Several participants
indicated that they had
not fully appreciated how
closely related the GRIC
are to other tribes in the
state or the full context of
those relationships.
In November, as part of
Native
American
Heritage month, CAP invited
the Phoenix Indian Center (PIC) to share information on Native American
Recognition Days and those things that bring Native communities together. PIC Program Manager
Jolyana Begay and Hopi drummer Hugh Dawahoya,
shared the Story of the Drum. The two showed different types of drums,
explained their construction and purposes,
and
sang
various songs with
multiple song/drum
styles while explaining the unique differences. In addition to
the drummers, staff
enjoyed a lunch catered by Sacred Hogan Native Frybread
and heard from the
owner about his goals
as a Native business
owner operating in
the Valley.
CAP Water Helps Build
By Vicky Campo,
CAP Internal Communications Representative
I step onto the 18th hole of the Sewailo Golf Course
on the Pascua Yaqui Reservation, and the views are
majestic in every direction. Behind me natural desert
spreads for miles. Before me the golf course unfurls
emerald green in dips and hills. A manmade lake is
the crown jewel of the course and the casino and
hotel rise up on its horizon. This is the latest phase
of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe’s Casino Del Sol Resort in
Tucson.
“The course is 100 acres under turf, irrigated strictly by CAP water” explains Dan La Rouere, General
Manager of the Sewailo Golf Club. “These water
features are also made possible by CAP, and they
are not only beautiful, but they also help us regulate
our water deliveries.”
In the Yaqui language, Sewailo means “flower
world.” It represents a sacred and enchanted place
adorned with the most radiant and vibrant flowers of
the earth. It inspires balance in everyday living and
connects us to the natural world. And on the Pascua Yaqui Reservation, Sewailo represents a thriving
business that helps to bring balance and wellness to
the Yaqui people.
“This golf course provides an amenity to the community,” says La Rouere, “but it also provides jobs.
More than half of the 1,100 employees at the Casino
Del Sol Resort complex are tribal members. In addition, all of the profits from the Resort go back to the
community in the form of government services such
as wellness, public safety and education. None go
to per-capita payments.”
As a sovereign nation,
the
Pascua
Yaqui
Tribe
o p e r a t e s
much like a
state government.
Like
states,
the
Tribe receives
funding from
the
federal
government.
But states also collect revenue through taxes to pay
for things like health, housing, education and public
safety. This is not true with Indian Tribes. With high
unemployment and few reservation businesses, it
has been impossible for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe to
collect taxes to sustain its government operations.
To remedy this problem, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe,
like many of its neighboring tribal communities, has
sought alternative solutions to meet the needs of its
people through economic development projects.
Tribal businesses like the new Sewailo Golf Course
and Casino Del Sol Resort help make it possible for
the Tribe to provide the essential governmental services required to support the Yaqui community.
“It was always our vision to develop something like
this,” says Tribal Councilman Raymond Buelna. “But
until recently it was never executed in one big project. It was done one piece at a time. Now that we
have tapped into our CAP allocation, we are looking at how we can use that water to help us get our
infrastructure in place to better the community.”
Recently the Tribe combined its revenues from the
Casino and Resort with federal dollars to complete
the second phase of their Tribal Wellness Center,
which started as a simple gym and weight room. It
now includes additional meeting space for healthrelated awareness and diabetes prevention, a
workout room for yoga and aerobics, an additional
basketball gym, two swimming pools, three baseball
fields, a soccer field, a football field, an equestrian
center and a public park. Soon they will begin their
third expansion project which will enlarge the gym
and develop a new skate park. Nearby there are new
government buildings—a new courthouse, law offices, police and fire stations. There is also a new education building that provides head start programs
as well as
a
library,
meeting
rooms and
classrooms.
“These services were
previously
housed
in
d o u b l e wide
trailers,”
said
a Tribal Community
Attorney General Amanda Lomayesva, “so the
change is like night and day.”
Although the Pascua Yaqui Tribe received its 500
acre-foot entitlement to CAP water more than 30
years ago, the Tribe never had the physical and
legal infrastructure in place to use CAP water until
now.
“For us, I think it was just time,” says Tribal Chairman
Peter Yucupicio. “In 1978, when our Tribe was finally
recognized by the federal government and the Reservation was established, our Tribal members were
just trying to figure things out. But we are different
now. We’re looking at all phases of our Tribe’s development. We don’t have hundreds and hundreds
of acres set aside for farming like many of the other
tribes. For us it’s more about how we can make the
best use of this CAP water, and how we can use
this water to sustain our Tribal members here on the
Reservation. It’s important to remember that even
though our CAP allocation is small, every drop is
needed to sustain our Tribe in our permanent tribal
homeland.”
In addition to pursuing opportunities for economic development, the
Tribe is growing in other
ways as well. Currently, there are more than
657 families on a waiting list for tribal housing on the Reservation.
A reliable water supply
is desperately needed
to serve the upcoming demand for tribal
homes that will be built
on the Reservation.
That was why in 2011,
the Tribe entered into
an intergovernmental
agreement with the
City of Tucson to store the Tribe’s CAP water at the
Southern Avra Valley Storage and Recovery Project
(SAVSARP).Tucson will recover this water, treat it
and deliver it to Tribal homes through Tucson’s existing water service infrastructure on the Reservation.
“The Tribe recognizes that water is precious and
that every drop counts,” says Tribal water attorney
Robyn Interpreter of Montgomery & Interpreter, PLC,
“Because of this agreement with Tucson, the Tribe
now has the ability to turn its CAP water into a po-
table water supply for drinking and domestic uses.”
Other water deals have also been implemented as
part of the effort to shore up the tribe’s short-term
water needs, including inter-tribal leases of CAP
water from the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the AkChin Indian Community.
Yet, the Tribe still needs to secure a permanent reliable water supply for the Reservation.
“The Tribe’s 500 acre-feet of CAP water per year is
just not enough to meet the future demand and we
are actively seeking to secure a permanent water
supply for the Reservation,” said Interpreter.
Not only is having enough potable water a concern for the Tribe, the overall health of each Tribal
member is also a daily concern for Tribal leaders,
particularly where the average life expectancy of
a Pascua Yaqui man is only 54 years, compared to
the U.S. average of 76 years. That’s why these community centers, funded by tribal economic development projects like the golf course and resort, are
so important to the community.
“You know, you look at
these
baseball
fields,
and there are more than
680 kids playing baseball
here,” says Councilman
Buelna. “Diabetes is a big
problem with our members, and we look at this
as a way to improve the
health of our members. I’m
trying to get people to be
more active, and maybe
we can extend their lives
another year, another 10
years.”
Eventually,
La
Rouere
hopes students from the
arts and cultural center will create mosaics for the
tee signs on the golf course. They have already created the tee markers. These are the same kinds of
mosaics that adorn the roadways throughout the
Pascua Yaqui Reservation, tying everything together to remind the Yaqui people that Sewailo is
everywhere, and that they must strive to maintain
balance and wellness as individuals and as a community. For the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, CAP water is
helping to achieve that goal.
On the Road in Indian Country: Tohono O’Odham,
Ak-Chin and Gila River Indian Community
Twice a year, the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) Board of Directors, which
oversees the operations of the CAP, takes its monthly meeting outside Maricopa County, once to Pima
County and once to Pinal County. For the first time,
in CAP history, both CAWCD Board meetings were
held in tribal communities. Additionally, the CAWCD
Board held a planning retreat at the Gila River Indian Community.
Various tribal related topics appeared on the September Board Agenda, and fortuitously, the meeting
featured presentations of CAP’s first Tribal Scholarship recipient Carol Seanez, from the Navajo Nation, who is a junior at the University of Arizona and
studying physiology and public health, and CAP’s
first tribal intern Carrie Joseph, from the Hopi Tribe,
who is a Ph.D. student at the University of Arizona
studying soil, water, and environmental science.
Ak-Chin Indian Community
Gila River Indian Community
For the second consecutive year, the CAP Board of
Directors held the Pinal County meeting at Harrah’s
Ak-Chin Resort & Casino in May. Board President
Pam Pickard and Director Jim Hartdegan, who currently represents Pinal County, also spent time meeting with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman. The visit
provided an opportunity to continue the exchange
of information about the ongoing and current issues
shared by the Community and the CAP.
On October 17, members of the CAP Board of Directors and staff traveled to the Gila River Indian Community to meet at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort
& Spa for a two-day retreat to discuss future energy
options for powering the Central Arizona Project.
Currently, the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) provides more than 90 percent of the power CAP needs
to move Colorado River water uphill 3,000 feet from
Parker to Tucson. While it is hoped the plant will continue to provide power through 2044, NGS continues
to face regulation by the EPA over air quality issues.
During the retreat, Board Members heard from utility
experts on energy alternatives such as solar, natural gas and purchase power agreements with other
utilities. The event was open to the public and several
tribal
members
and Community representatives
attended.
Tohono O’odham Nation
In September, the CAWCD held its first Pima County Board meeting on tribal lands at the Tohono
O’odham Nation’s Desert Diamond Casino. During
the meeting, Chairman Ned Norris, Jr., addressed
the Board highlighting various topics including water rights settlements, outstanding Sifoidak water
claims, use of replacement reservation lands, and
the affordability of CAP water for tribes. CAP also
sponsored a luncheon which provided Board President Pam Pickard, General Manager David Modeer,
and Director Pat Jacobs (one of Pima County’s current Board members) an opportunity to visit more
personally with Chairman Norris and representatives of the Tohono
O’odham Nation’s Water Committee, and to
learn more about the local community.
CAP
Connections
is a publication
of Central Arizona Project.
David Modeer, General Manager
Marie Pearthree, Assistant General Manager, Business Planning & Governmental Relations
Kathryn Royer, Associate General Manager, Communications & Public Affairs
Katosha Nakai, Manager, Tribal Relations & Policy Development
Central
Arizona
Project
PO Box 43020
Phoenix, AZ 85080
623-869-2333