Navajo Nation accepts $700m to settle lawsuit over mishandling of resources

Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly. Photo / AP

When senior figures from the United States Government sit down with the President of the Navajo Nation in Window Rock, Arizona, today, their meeting will mark a historic moment in the relationship between native Americans and the country that came after them.

In the largest payment made by the US to a native American tribe, the Obama Administration has agreed to compensate the Navajo people to the tune of US$554 million ($700 million), thus settling a lawsuit that had accused the federal Government of mismanaging the tribe's resources for more than half a century.

The agreement was to be signed at today's event in Window Rock, the capital of the vast Navajo Nation, which has more than 300,000 members and covers 70,000sq km of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, including the Monument Valley. It is the largest native American nation by both land mass and population.

Some 56,650sq km of that land is held in trust for the tribe by the US, which leases it for logging, farming, mining and energy development in a system established during the 19th century. But according to the lawsuit, which originally demanded US$900 million in compensation, the federal Government has neglected to handle those natural resources responsibly since at least 1946.

As part of the settlement, the Navajo Nation has agreed to waive the suit, which was first filed in 2006. The litigation alleged that the Government did not properly reimburse the tribe for the resources mined from its reservation, which include coal, uranium, oil and gas. The US, it argued, failed to negotiate adequate deals with the companies extracting those resources, failed to ensure the tribe was paid sufficiently, and bungled its investment of the proceeds on the tribe's behalf.

Navajo Nation president Ben Shelly described the settlement as a victory for tribal sovereignty, saying: "The Navajo Nation has worked tirelessly for many years to bring this issue to a close. 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."

Eric Holder, who yesterday announced he was stepping down as Attorney-General, said the agreement demonstrated the Administration's commitment to strengthening its partnership with tribal nations, adding: "This historic agreement resolves a long-standing dispute between the United States and the Navajo Nation, including some claims that have been sources of tension for generations."

The settlement is one of several similar agreements reached between the Obama Administration and federally recognised tribes, in the hope of improving relations between the US and native Americans, and resolving instances of what Holder called "protracted and burdensome litigation". Together, those agreements total a reported US$2.61 billion.

The US Department of the Interior oversees almost 230,000sq km of land held in trust for native American tribes, and more than 100,000 leases. It also manages some 2500 tribal trust accounts on behalf of more than 250 tribes. In 2011, the Administration agreed a US$380 million settlement with the Osage tribe of Oklahoma, ending a long lawsuit over government mismanagement of the tribe's resources and finances.

The following year, the federal Government settled breach of trust cases with 41 tribes, agreeing to US$1 billion in payouts. Deswood Tome, a special adviser to Shelly, said the current Administration had been exceptional in its efforts to adequately compensate native Americans.

"President Obama has been very welcoming to tribes; he has reached out to tribal leadership and done a magnificent job in that respect," he said.

Sam Hirsch, acting assistant attorney-general for the US Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, is among officials expected to attend today's ceremony. "This settlement is yet another example of the Administration's promise to strengthen the ties between the United States and the Navajo Nation," Hirsch said.

Many Navajo people live in poverty, with unemployment levels averaging more than 40 per cent, and some tribal members in remote areas have no electricity or running water. Though the allocation of the funds from the settlement is yet to be decided, it is expected to go towards improving infrastructure, such as roads, power, telecommunications and water.

Shelly has promised to host meetings to allow Navajo Nation members a say in how the settlement is spent.

Officials also stressed that while the settlement accounts for the federal Government's past mismanagement of tribal resources, it would not prevent lawsuits over any future misconduct by the US, nor did it apply to separate suits concerning pollution, especially from uranium mines which have raised cancer fears.

- Independent