WASHINGTON, D.C.- President Joe Shirley, Jr. affirmed the Navajo Nation’s full support for the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act (S 1171) at a Senate hearing today.

“The Navajo Nation overwhelmingly supports the settlement of our water rights claims on the San Juan River, the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, and the framework to provide sustainable water to the Navajo Nation, the City of Gallup, and the Jicarilla Nation,” said President Shirley before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

On April 19, 2007, the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act was introduced in the Senate. On the same day a House version of the bill, HR 1970, was introduced in the House of Representatives. The identical bills propose the future construction of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project and the settlement of the Nation’s water rights litigation against the State of New Mexico. The estimated cost of the bill is some $740 million.

“As I speak to you now many of the 80,000 Navajo people who live within the project service area are hauling water in the backs of their pickup trucks for drinking, cooking, and washing,” continued the president in his testimony before a packed hearing room in the Senate Dirksen building.

“As I listened to the stories of the Navajo people who have spent their scarce economic resources hauling water for basic domestic use, it was impossible not to be moved,” said the president referring to a hearing he attended in Farmington. “One of those people, Mr. Frank Chee Willetto, a Navajo Code Talker and recipient of the Congressional Silver Medal, is here with us today.” Mr. Willetto testified he was unable to secure a loan for his home because of a lack of water for fire protection.