Tribes share of Escalade revenue would depend on traffic (this story retyped from Navajo Times, November 26, 2014) Credit: BY KRISTA ALLEN WESTERN AGENCY BUREAU PAGE, Ariz. –The Grand Canyon Escalade project is all but guaranteed, according to President Ben Shelly’s special advisor Deswood Tome. But detailed analysis of the proposed bill for the planned resort above the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers raises questions for the residents of Bodaway-Gap Chapter and the Navajo Nation in general. The proposed bill, to be sponsored by outgoing Council Delegate Duane Tsiniginie (Bodaway-Gap/Coppermine/Kaibeto/LeChee/Tonalea-RedLake), requires the Navajo Nation to pay at least $65 million for the off-site infrastructure costs. This amounts to more than one-third of the project’s total cost. At most, however the Navajo Nation can only receive 18 percent of the gross revenues, according to the master agreement of the project. The Confluence Partners would be required to secure at least $120 million for onsite infrastructure cost. It’s unclear whether they have secured that financing. The portion of the gross revenues is predicated on the Nation’s spending the $65 million. The agreement suggests that if paid customer admissions are less than 800,000 the Nation receives 8% of gross revenues. And if there are more than two million customers, the Nation receives 18 percent of gross revenues. For example, on the low end, if each of the 800,000 tourists spends $100, that would equate to $6.4 million minus 2% for the Navajo Nation Hospitality Enterprise. The Confluence Partners would receive 92 percent, roughly $73.6 million. If two million tourists visited the Escalade at $100 per visitor, the Nation would receive $36 million minus$720,000 for NNHE. The Confluence partners would get $164 million. The agreement also favors the Confluence partnership in other ways. Contrary to Navajo law, the conditional use permit is given for three years to the Confluence Partners. Under the Nations laws, the permit can only be attained up to two years. The lease would be held for 75 years by the partners,who would pay $100 a year for the lease. Should the Nation not pay for the offsite infrastructure cost, the Confluence Partners would be able to pledge the Nations revenue to pay for such cost and charge the Nation 10% interest to do so. The agreement states that there are no waivers of sovereign immunity; however, in case of bankruptcy, the partners would be able to sue the Navajo Nation under state and federal law. The project restricts competing development in a 20-mile long and five-mile wide corridor that stretches from the Escalade Site back to U.S. Highway 89 near Hidden Springs Church in Cedar Ridge Ariz. area. The “restricted area” corridor stretches toward the intersection of U.S. Highway 160 and Highway 89 to the south. According to the agreement, the restricted area includes an area within 15 miles of the Escalade site, and within 2.5 miles on either side of the access road- known as Navajo Route 6133 near Moenave, Ariz. – to the project and entrance at U.S. 89. The corridor would include the San Juan Southern Paiutes and the Hopi settlement at Moenave. It would also include the Navajo-Hopi protected Tutuveni petroglyphs or “Newspaper Rock,”which contains 5,000 rock carvings of Hopi clan symbols, an important site along the Hopi pilgrimage route to the Grand Canyon. This would be contrary to the clause in the agreement that prohibits third party rights from being violated. Article 16.4 in the agreement states, “Each party represents and warrants to the other parties that the execution of this agreement will not breach any existing obligations to any third parties or otherwise; nor will the execution and performance of this agreement by the parties infringe or otherwise violate and third parties preexisiting rights.” According to Tome’s Confluence vote tally sheet, Hale has secured the votes of delegates Katherine Benally and Alton Shepherd. The list is more notable for delegate who are against it such as Elmer Begay, Dwight Whitherspoon, and Lorenzo Curley.It is unclear whether any of the delegates have read the 192-page legislation. Tome’s activity of securing votes runs contrary to Shelly’s address on May 1 at the Hogan Restaurant in Tuba City where he told the former Bennett Freeze families that the project is not going to happen. The community members of Bodaway-Gap Chapter on July 22, 2012 approved a resolution requesting that Shelly immediately cease and desist all negotiations for the master agreement.On May 20, community members passed another resolution stating that “if and when any economic projects come before the chapter, the chapter should collect 25 percent of the revenues receive from any project to benefit local development.” The resolution was passed by a vote of 56 in favor and 8 opposed, with 25 absentions. However, the legislation cites an October 2012 resolution supporting the development. The first page of the legislation states that the Bodaway-Gap Chapter approved the withdrawal of up to 420 acres of land within its jurisdiction for the purposes of development of the project, including a tram to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and adjacent business development, and the accompanying rights of way necessary to provide access and utilities. The master agreement though fails to address possible litigation costs if Navajo is sued by diverse groups such as the National Park Service, the Grand Canyon Trust, the Sierra Club, and nearby tribes. The All Pueblo Council of Governors on Aug., 18, 2014 unanimously passed a resolution opposing the project and threatening litigation should it move forward. As of press time, calls to Confluence managing partner R. Lamar Whitmer for comments went unanswered.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 03:16:15 +0000
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