"As outside legal counsel to El Paso Natural Gas, I'm part of a team working to renegotiate the company's existing pipeline easements, the rights-of-way, across the Navajo Nation.

It's a challenging process.

For instance, Navajo tribal law requires that major business contracts between private companies and the tribe be introduced as legislation and enacted by the 88-member Navajo Nation Council. To get an idea what this is like, imagine spending 17 months doing a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars and then having to persuade the Colorado General Assembly to pass it as a law - without any legislative amendments or 'improvements.'"

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A land of opportunity (The Denver Post 7/25)