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GRAPHITTI NEWS gathered that the
Obama administration will pay the Navajo Nation a record US$554 million to
settle claims by the most populous Native American tribe that funds and natural
resources on its reservation were mismanaged by the US government for decades.
The
agreement was formally signed on Friday at Window Rock, Arizona, the
capital of the Navajo reservation, the largest in the US by land mass.
The
accord was borne from litigation that accused the government of mishandling
Navajo funds and natural resources on its more than 14 million acres across
Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, all held in trust for the tribe and leased out
for purposes of farming, energy development, logging, and mining. The Navajo
claims date back as far as 50 years.
In
return for US$554 million, the Navajo have agreed to drop its lawsuit and
forego any future litigation over past US management of Navajo funds or
resources held by the federal government, Reuters reported.
The
deal does not, though, negate future trust claims or any other claims over
water and uranium pollution on the reservation, Navajo Attorney General
Harrison Tsosie said. Based on non-disclosure clauses, he could not say how
much the Navajo had claimed it was owed ahead of the settlement.
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From
1944 to 1986, nearly four million tons of uranium ore were extracted from
Navajo land under lease agreements between the federal government and the
Navajo Nation, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Now,
the mines are closed, but over 500 abandoned uranium mines, as well as homes
and drinking water sources, have been found to have high levels of radiation.
The legacy of uranium mining earned the reservation a Superfund designation, an
EPA program that addresses hazardous waste sites in dire need of clean-up and
control.
The
settlement deal was hailed by Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly as a "victory for tribal
sovereignty." He vowed to hold town hall meetings in the
process of deciding how to use the settlement funds across a population of
around 300,000 on nearly 27,000 miles of reservation.
"After
a long, hard-won process, I am pleased that we have finally come to a
resolution on this matter to receive fair and just compensation for the Navajo
Nation," Shelly said in a statement.
The
historic agreement, US Attorney General Eric Holder said, exemplified the US
Justice Department’s commitment to "strengthening
our partnership with tribal nations."
Over two years ago, the
Obama administration came to similar settlements with 41 tribes for about US$1
billion overall. Since that deal, the federal government has resolved breach of
trust claims by around 40 additional tribes for more than US$1.5 billion,
according to the Justice Department.
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