{"id":21245,"date":"2022-02-21T20:05:24","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T01:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=21245"},"modified":"2025-03-21T10:42:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T15:42:18","slug":"cronkite-news-tribes-seek-stronger-commitments-for-water-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/02\/21\/cronkite-news-tribes-seek-stronger-commitments-for-water-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Tribes seek stronger commitments for water infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9\">\r\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EJR_A-4XFRs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment: <a href=https:\/\/transportation.house.gov\/committee-activity\/hearings\/proposals-for-a-water-resources-development-act-of-2022-stakeholder-priorities>\u201cProposals for a Water Resources Development Act of 2022: Stakeholder Priorities\u201d &#8211; February 8, 2022<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<div class=\"h3-responsive font-weight-bold\">Tribal official calls on Congress to fund \u2018critical\u2019 water infrastructure<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"date\">Monday, February 21, 2022<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"byline\">By Camila Pedrosa<\/div>\r\n<DIV class=source>Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n<DIV class=source-website><A \r\nhref=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/\">cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nWASHINGTON, D.C. &#8212;  An Arizona tribal leader told a House subcommittee earlier this month that tribes need more federal support to implement \u201ccritical\u201d water infrastructure projects on their lands.<P><\/P>\r\nPascua Yaqui Chairman Peter Yucupicio told a House Transportation subcommittee that means more than just including infrastructure funding in the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, it also means ensuring that tribes get a fair shot at the federal infrastructure program. He said tribes have had trouble utilizing the money, if they knew it was available to them at all. <P><\/P>\r\n\u201cThe tribe was lucky to hear about the availability of funds for the EI (environmental infrastructure) program in the first place,\u201d Yucupicio said of the Pascua Yaqui. \u201cSince the program is not formally noticed to Indian tribes, more should be done to assist tribes.\u201d<P><\/P>\r\n <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/02\/01\/cronkite-news-pascua-yaqui-tribe-celebrates-blessing-of-federal-water-funds\/water-dollars\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7146\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1443\" data-attachment-id=\"7146\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/02\/01\/cronkite-news-pascua-yaqui-tribe-celebrates-blessing-of-federal-water-funds\/water-dollars\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/01\/tresrioswetlands.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"2000,1443\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;6.3&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;docentjoyce&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;DMC-FZ8&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;A 2013 photo of a pool in the Tres Rios wetlands, a reclaimed part of the Salt, Gila and Agua Fria rivers that is now teeming with wildlife. Tres Rios is one of the projects named in a bill creating a $150 million fund for local water projects in Arizona, with the first $900,000 being released for a Pascua Yaqui irrigation project. (&lt;a href=\\&quot;https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/e6mMmp\\&quot; target=\\&quot;_blank\\&quot;&gt;Photo&lt;\/a&gt; by &lt;a href=\\&quot;https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/docentjoyce\/\\&quot; target=\\&quot;_blank\\&quot;&gt;docentjoyce&lt;\/a&gt;\/&lt;a href=\\&quot;https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\\&quot; target=\\&quot;_blank\\&quot;&gt;Creative Commons&lt;\/a&gt;)&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1363595631&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;16.9&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;100&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.002&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Water Dollars&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Tres Rios Wetlands\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Tres Rios Wetlands in Arizona&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;A 2013 photo of a pool in the Tres Rios wetlands, a reclaimed part of the Salt, Gila and Agua Fria rivers that is now teeming with wildlife. Tres Rios is one of the projects named in a bill creating a $150 million fund for local water projects in Arizona, with the first $900,000 being released for a Pascua Yaqui irrigation project. (&lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/e6mMmp&quot;&gt;Photo&lt;\/a&gt; by &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/docentjoyce\/&quot;&gt;docentjoyce&lt;\/a&gt;\/&lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons&lt;\/a&gt;)&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/01\/tresrioswetlands-1024x739.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/01\/tresrioswetlands.jpg\" alt=\"Tres Rios Wetlands\"   class=\"size-full wp-image-7146\" \/><\/a> <figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">A 2013 photo of a pool in the Tres Rios wetlands, a reclaimed part of the Salt, Gila and Agua Fria rivers that is now teeming with wildlife. Tres Rios is one of the projects named in a bill creating a $150 million fund for local water projects in Arizona, with the first $900,000 being released for a Pascua Yaqui  Tribe irrigation project. Photo  by  <a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/e6mMmp\">Joyce cory<\/a>\r\n<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\nYucupicio was one of several tribal and local witnesses outlining their water infrastructure needs to the Transportation Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment during <a href=\"https:\/\/transportation.house.gov\/committee-activity\/hearings\/proposals-for-a-water-resources-development-act-of-2022-stakeholder-priorities\"\">its hearing<\/a> on the biennial bill that funds everything from drinking water projects to harbor improvements across the country.<P><\/P>\r\nYucupicio called for increased engagement by the Army Corps of Engineers with tribes, ensuring that tribes are notified of available funds ahead of deadlines and that the Corps counsels individual tribes interested in participating.<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s very critical all the tribes that live in the dry desert like we do \u2026 have that relationship\u201d with the Army Corps, <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22\/PeterYucupicio.pdf\">Yucupicio said.<\/a><P><\/P>\r\nThat was echoed by Darrell Seki Sr., chairman of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cCongress should direct the Army Corps to hire a tribal liaison for each district to increase government-to-government consultation to ensure the tribal concerns are addressed in a timely manner,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22\/DarrellSeki.pdf\">Seki said.<\/a><P><\/P>\r\n<div class=\"h5-responsive sub\">Tribal Leader Testimony: Water Resources Development Act of 2022\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=row><div class=col-6>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22\/DarrellSeki.pdf\" class=\"pdfemb-viewer\" style=\"\" data-width=\"max\" data-height=\"max\" data-toolbar=\"both\" data-toolbar-fixed=\"on\">DarrellSeki<\/a>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">PDF: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22\/DarrellSeki.pdf\">Darrell G. Seki, Sr. \/ Red Lake Nation\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/div><div class=col-6>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22\/PeterYucupicio.pdf\" class=\"pdfemb-viewer\" style=\"\" data-width=\"max\" data-height=\"max\" data-toolbar=\"both\" data-toolbar-fixed=\"on\">PeterYucupicio<\/a>\r\n<figcaption class=\"figure-caption\">PDF: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22\/DarrellSeki.pdf\">Peter Yucupicio \/ Pascua Yaqui Tribe\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n<P><\/P>\r\nCritics also said the cost-share provision &#8211; which requires grant recipients to put up 25% of a project\u2019s cost to the federal government\u2019s 75% &#8211; can be too steep for tribes. Yucupicio said the requirement should be updated to either allow tribes to use other federal funding to pay their share or be eliminated entirely.<P><\/P>\r\nRep. Greg Stanton, D-Phoenix, who asked Yucupicio to testify, agreed that the Corps \u201cneeds to be as flexible as possible\u201d when negotiating payment.<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cIn addition to water infrastructure needs, they\u2019ve got education needs, air quality needs, healthcare needs, just like anywhere else,\u201d Stanton said of tribal governments. \u201cSo their budgets are already stretched pretty thin. We don\u2019t want water infrastructure to be put at the bottom of the priority list.\u201d<P><\/P>\r\nStanton was the lead sponsor on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/116\/bills\/hr2206\/BILLS-116hr2206ih.pdf\"\">bipartisan bill<\/a> in 2019, with four Arizona co-sponsors, that called for creation of a $150 million federal fund overseen by the Corps of Engineers and dedicated to water projects in Arizona. That bill later became part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/transportation.house.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/BILLS-116s1811-SUS.pdf\"\">2020 water resources<\/a> bill.<P><\/P>\r\nStanton said tribes are a vital part of the solution to the state\u2019s ongoing water challenges.<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cThere&#8217;s no more important issue to our state than protecting our water resources. So this is not an option, we need them (tribes) to be successful,\u201d he said.<P><\/P><div class=\"mt-1 mb-1\"><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8411603009680747\" data-ad-slot=\"6394965691\"><\/ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/div><p><\/p>\r\nLast year, the Pascua Yaqui got the first part of a $1.4 million award from the environmental infrastructure program for a pipeline to carry irrigation water to the tribe. The Army Corps is scheduled to release the second part of the grant to the tribe this year.<P><\/P>\r\n\u201cWe will save about 16 million gallons of potable water, which can be used to supply water for 375 homes on our reservation,\u201d Yucupicio said. \u201cThat means a lot to our small tribe.\u201d<P><\/P>\r\n<div class=\"h5-responsive sub\">House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Notice<\/div>\r\n<a href=https:\/\/transportation.house.gov\/committee-activity\/hearings\/proposals-for-a-water-resources-development-act-of-2022-stakeholder-priorities>\r\n\u201cProposals for a Water Resources Development Act of 2022: Stakeholder Priorities\u201d\r\n<\/a> (February 8, 2022)\r\n<P><\/P>\r\n<STRONG>For more stories from Cronkite News, visit <A href=\"https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/?utm_source=referral&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=client\">cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n<p><\/p>\r\n<HR><EM>Note: This story originally <a href=\"&#8221;https:\/\/cronkitenews.azpbs.org\/2022\/02\/08\/tribal-official-calls-on-congress-to-fund-critical-water-infrastructure\/>&#8221;\">appeared on Cronkite News<\/a>.  It  is published via a <A href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">Creative  Commons license<\/A>. Cronkite News is produced by the <A href=\"https:\/\/cronkite.asu.edu\/\">Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication<\/A> at <A href=\"https:\/\/www.asu.edu\">Arizona State University<\/A>.<\/EM><HR>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tribes need more federal support to implement \u201ccritical\u201d water infrastructure projects on their lands, key lawmakers are being told.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,20,1,14],"tags":[869,42,157,46,775,836,48,1319,381,610,271,681,164,750,153,2523],"class_list":["post-21245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-indian-trust","category-national","category-politics","tag-117th","tag-arizona","tag-consultation","tag-cronkite-news","tag-darrell-seki","tag-greg-stanton","tag-house","tag-infrastructure","tag-minnesota","tag-pascua-yaqui","tag-peter-yucupicio","tag-red-lake","tag-transportation","tag-usace","tag-water","tag-wrda","no-wpautop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/01\/tresrioswetlands.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcoJ7g-5wF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128473,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21245\/revisions\/128473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}