NIIP needs $7.3 million in repairs

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation is seeking an appropriation of $7.3 million from Congress for critical infrastructure repairs at Navajo Indian Irrigation System, or NIIP.

According to Resources Committee Chairman George Arthur, sponsor of the proposed legislation approved by the committee last week, the money is needed to replace severely deteriorated center pivots in Block 3 of NIIP, which if left unchecked, could jeopardize the long-term viability of the Nation’s agricultural industry operated by Navajo Agricultural Products Industry.

Speaker Lawrence Morgan has drafted a letter to U.S.

Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici regarding an “urgent need for repairs to NIIP infrastructure.” Morgan wrote that without the funding, NAPI faces the prospect of being unable to farm its current acreage and fulfill agreements for future deliveries of corn, wheat and other commodities.

“As you know, responsibility for the operation and maintenance for this and other NIIP-related infrastructure rests with the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs,” Morgan said.

Arthur said the $7.3 million has to be identified in some fashion by Nov. 30.

“By the end of November they have to have something in place, otherwise, the spring crop program is a disaster. By that virtue, you can look at this as an emergency situation.” A similar legislation will be presented to the Navajo Nation Council, he said.

Congress authorized construction of NIIP in the 1960s to provide a water delivery system from Navajo Dam reservoir to 110,630 acres of irrigable land. The statute includes an annual diversion right of 508,000 acre-feet of water to cultivate those acres.

NAPI was created in 1970 as a model high-tech farming operation which uses automated control center pivot systems for irrigation. Arthur said the first crops were planted in Block 1 in 1974 and since that time there has been very little rehabilitation of the irrigation equipment, some of which is more than 30 years old.

“NAPI, by virtue of their plan of operation, is given the responsibility to manage the actual farm activities and they are expected to make a profit,” he said. However, it is estimated that approximately $37 million is needed to overhaul the dilapidated irrigation system.

“With this lingering over their profit margin, common sense will tell you that NAPI will not be able to meet a profitable revenue stream because they would either have to not plant in these areas where equipment is dilapidated, or they would have to take their own money to finance the activities to upgrade the center pivots,” he said.

For NAPI to keep its head above water, it needs $7.3 million to rehabilitate the irrigation system on Block 3, which consists of approximately 10,000 acres.

“Block 3 is under production. Block 1 through Block 7 are being cultivated. When you have 10,000 acres being threatened with dilapidated equipment, you have a big problem” because of mandatory crop rotation, Arthur said.

“In some cases, by federal standards, they have to rotate certain crops in a periodic time frame. They also have ‘feral lands,’ which means that a certain amount of acreage must sit idle for the purpose of rejuvenating the soil conditions. So you take the feral lands and you take the 10,000 that’s threatened by dilapidated equipment out of the formula, and you have your cash crops being threatened.

“In addition, you are being challenged to finance $7.3 million out of your own revenue. That’s what NAPI is facing today. What this legislation is going to do is we are saying to Congress, that we need the $7.3 million now.”

The Nation receives $3.7 million for operation and maintenance costs, he said, but that amount has not increased since 1974 and is used largely to maintain the 65 miles of canal system from Navajo Dam to Block 1.

“It’s not enough,” he said.

Under the NIIP agreement between the United States and Navajo, the federal government agreed to maintain O&M responsibility until 10 years after Block 11 is completed and producing crops. To date, NIIP is only about 60 percent complete.

Though originally funded at $24 million annually, Navajo agreed to a one-time cut in NIIP funding in 2001 after a request from the Department of the Interior, which needed to spend the money elsewhere. Afterward, funding went down to $12 million and the appropriation for 2009 is estimated at $6 million.

“NAPI needs those additional lands to keep their cash crops going. They have to be rotated. In about three years, if no new land comes into production, they’re going to be choked in. They won’t have a place to take some of these crops because some of these lands are in a different rotation cycle and others are in the feral stage,” Arthur said.