Bring your prepared remarks to Monday’s public meeting about the Grand Canyon Escalade because the committee will likely allow statements, Navajo Legislative officials said.
The Navajo Nation Council’s Law and Order Committee plans to consider the bill at Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort outside of Flagstaff. A large turnout is expected Monday when the bill, which seeks $65 million of the Navajo Nation to fund infrastructure for a controversial tourist resort, receives a look-over.
Get event details and directions. The five-member committee is the first to look at the legislation filed in late August to develop Grand Canyon eastern rim. Confluence Partners LLC, from Scottsdale, want a contract with the Navajo Nation.
The partners propose to build a hotel, restaurant, museum and parking lot and a gondola on 420 acres overlooking the confluence of the Little Colorado and Colorado rivers. The tram will take thousands of tourists from the canyon rim to the floor of the canyon, where they would trek a river walk and frequent a café.
A burning question is whether Law and Order members would allow people to speak about the bill at the meeting. While the committee’s official agenda posted online Friday does not allow for public comment, officials said a committee member could ask for a motion to add public comment to the agenda.
People have asked the committee for time to speak about the bill. It includes a letter written by Save the Confluence families and supporters, who oppose the Escalade.
The group hand-delivered a letter to each committee member Sept. 26.
“There are many outstanding and unresolved issues that we want to convey to your committee at these deliberations,” according to the letter.
Former Bodaway/Gap Council Delegate Duane Tsinigine reportedly requested permission for a presentation about the Escalade. Tsinigine supports the project.
Legislative officials said Friday they are unaware of the anti-Escalade letter and Tsinigine’s request.
The committee expects a large audience and large media presence, said Jared T. Touchin, Navajo Nation Council spokesman. Everyone is welcome but the room accommodates 175 people, he said.
Committee members likely will vote on the bill. The mystery is how many delegates on the five-member committee favor or oppose the project because they don’t want their stances revealed.
Tuba City Councilman Otto Tso, who is on the committee, offered information to opponents of the Escalade. He said if the committee rejects the bill, it will continue to move to the Navajo Council’s Resources and Development Committee, Budget and Finance, Naabik’iyati’ and on to the Navajo council.
The Escalade project has drawn global criticism. Arizona tribes also are vocal about the development because they fear it will destroy religious worship space on the rim and in the canyon.
The Hopi Tribe, which opposes the development and has threatened to sue the Navajo Nation if the bill is approved, say their emergence is in the Grand Canyon.
A tribal member is hosting an event before the meeting.
The Hopi/Tewa Community Movement’s Defend the Sacred Run scheduled a run from Kykotsmovi Village to Twin Arrows on Sunday morning. The purpose of the 89-mile relay is to raise awareness about the religious significance of the confluence, said Larson Goldtooth, a Hopi-Navajo resident of Tuba City.
Larson said the runners will attend the meeting Monday.