Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Representative Leger Fernandez, Teresa [D-NM-3]
Introduced
Summary
Expands and funds the Navajo‑Gallup Water Supply Project and creates new Treasury‑managed tribal settlement trust funds. This bill would restructure project finance, add a Deferred Construction Fund and Working Cost Estimate process, broaden service to more Navajo and Jicarilla communities, and permit limited non‑Project water transfers to Utah under strict conditions.
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- Creates three Settlement Trust Funds managed by the Secretary for Navajo water development and for Navajo and Jicarilla operations, maintenance, and replacement. It authorizes a $250 million deposit for the Navajo O&M&R fund and up to $10 million for the Jicarilla fund and bans per‑capita payouts.
- Raises the Navajo‑Gallup authorization to $2.2 billion and creates a Deferred Construction Fund to finance delayed or alternate facilities. It allows alternate facilities, extends some repayment terms to 15 years, and caps the City’s repayment while protecting participants from higher O&M shares due to non‑Project water.
- Permits the Navajo Nation to send up to 2,000 acre‑feet per year of non‑Project water to Utah only if conditions in the Navajo/Utah Settlement Agreement are met. Federal funding for non‑Project infrastructure is prohibited except under a few named laws and transfers cannot delay the Project.
*Would authorize about $2.2 billion for the project and include at least $250 million in trust deposits plus up to $10 million for Jicarilla, increasing federal obligations.*
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Water O&M funds for Navajo and Jicarilla
If enacted, this would set up long‑term trust funds to help pay Navajo-Gallup Project operation, maintenance, and replacement costs. For the Navajo Nation, up to $250 million could be deposited and invested, with the amount adjusted for cost changes after October 2022 using the Bureau of Reclamation O&M Index. Money could be spent only after the Nation or Tribe takes on O&M&R under section 10603(g), and earnings could help pay those bills. For the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the Secretary could deposit up to $10 million after an Ability to Pay study. Withdrawals would need approved Tribal plans, no per‑capita payouts, and annual reports; a separate development fund also has past deposits (2010–2019), investment starting October 1, 2019, and spending only after December 31, 2019 and required court decrees.
Updated costs and more time to finish
If enacted, this would create a Deferred Construction Fund for delayed Project pieces, with all required deposits due by December 31, 2029. Once deposits are in, the Project construction deadline would be treated as met for those deferred facilities. It would set a Working Cost Estimate of about $2.138 billion at October 2022 prices and update references to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (July 6, 2009). It would also extend key waiver and release dates from 2025 to 2030.
More communities served, limited water to Utah
If enacted, the Project could serve more Navajo Nation communities in New Mexico’s Rio San Jose Basin and in Lupton, Arizona, without raising total Project costs, and it could lower per‑user O&M costs. The Navajo Nation could also deliver up to 2,000 acre‑feet per year of non‑Project water to Navajo communities in Utah using Project or non‑Project pipes. Water moved to the New Mexico line would count against Utah’s Compact share. Project funds could not build new non‑Project pipes, and Project participants’ O&M costs would not go up because of these connections. Delivery would require the Navajo/Utah settlement terms, a Utah court decree, and an implementation agreement, and it could not delay the Project.
Put Project lands into Navajo trust
If enacted, the Secretary would place specified Project parcels, some BLM lands, and land under the San Juan Generating Station into trust for the Navajo Nation after conditions are met. The lands would join the Navajo Reservation and keep valid existing rights. The United States would keep perpetual easements for access and Project construction and operations on the generating‑station land.
Renewable power funding for Project sites
If enacted, the Secretary could use up to $6.25 million from existing funds to add renewable energy where Project sites lack Colorado River Storage Project power. Up to $1.25 million could support small hydro where water pressure allows it.
Tax rules for Project work
If enacted, Project construction and operations on Navajo trust land would be taxed by the Navajo Nation and exempt from state and local taxes. The same work on non‑trust land would be taxed by the state or local government and exempt from Navajo Nation taxes. This would prevent both governments from charging the same activity twice.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Leger Fernandez, Teresa [D-NM-3]
NM • D
Cosponsors
Stansbury
NM • D
Sponsored 2/21/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov