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      From: "ms. Squaw" <mssquaw@hotmail.com> 
      To: <snakevalley@utah.gov>, <snakevalley@water.nv.gov> 
      Date: Sunday - August 30, 2009 6:16 PM 
      Subject: Comment on Agreement 






      August 24, 2009


      snakevalley@utah.gov
      snakevalley@water.nv.gov



      REF: Comment on Agreement
      for Management 

              of the Snake
      Valley Groundwater System



      Nowhere in this agreement
      are Tribal and Reservation water rights addressed.  The Federal
      Government dictates that arrangements be made to “reserve water for
      future use in an amount necessary to fulfill the purposes of
      Reservations”.   

      Winters vs United States,
      1908, awards Indian Reservations Federally implied water rights from
      the date the Reservation was established.


      Also, Nevada Water Law
      prime directive “FIRST IN USE, FIRST IN RIGHT” has certainly not
      been applied to Tribes for the Southern Nevada Water Authority
      project the locals call “the Water Grab”.


      Nevada Tribal Ancestors,
      Great Basin Native Peoples, were using Nevada's water thousands of
      years before Nevada water law was written.  That makes Nevada Tribes
      “FIRST IN USE”.  However, Tribes and Reservations are not
      recognized and have no standing in the Nevada State Water Hearings. 
      Where's the “FIRST IN RIGHT”?



      The Inter-Tribal Council
      of Nevada is comprised of 27 Nevada Tribes.  Both the ITC and the
      Tribal Pah Group are opposed to all exportation of water from Tribal
      lands.  




      In 1989 the Las Vegas
      Valley Water District (SNWA's, predecessor-in-interest) filed the
      Snake Valley water application.  Nevada Tribes should have the same
      predecessor-in-interest standing.  Those rights were established in
      1908.  Instead Tribes have been completely deprived of the right to
      defend themselves and their way of life.  




      Thank You,  Delaine
      Spilsbury
                         Ely
      Shoshone Tribal Representative to the Tribal Pah Group 

                 




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