Navajo tribal officials said on Wednesday they counted only one-tenth of the tens of thousands of comments filed online last week opposing the proposed Escalade development.
Even though more than 83,000 online petition comments went to the tribe’s official e-mail address, only a fraction got counted, according to the officials, who also said they do not know what happened to all the other online submissions.
The Navajo Nation Council’s Legislative service opened comment about Bill number 0293-16 for a five-day comment period, which started Monday, Aug. 29 and ended Saturday, Sept. 3. The bill asks the Navajo Nation Council to approve a $65 million loan, a 420-acre land withdrawal and a master contract with the nation. The agreement would begin construction of the Escalade resort at Grand Canyon Eastern Rim.
An online petition that Save the Confluence launched during the comment period collected more than 25,000 verified signatures from around the world last week.
Similarly, a group called American Rivers says that it collected 58,000 signatures, for a combined total of 83,000 online comments between the two groups that went to the tribe’s official e-mail for receiving public comment on the proposed development.
Neither of the groups are related, and did not collaborate during the comment-gathering process.
However, tribal officials said they only counted 8,417 people protesting the Escalade development through letters and online comments. The tribe’s legislative officials said that the 8,417 online comments is the most they have ever received on a controversial issue. Officials said that they will re-check and search for the missing comments.
Only 131 comments support the Escalade. This means that opposition outnumbered support by 800 to 1.
Here is how numbers broke down:
- 8,417 individuals submitted their opposition through hand-written petitions, an online petition count, e-mail, letters and prepared statements against the Escalade.
- 131 turned in paperwork favoring the Escalade that include 123 letters and eight online comments.
The total will be wrapped into a report for the Navajo council’s Law and Order Committee, which is scheduled to meet 10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 12. The committee’s agenda will post Friday, Sept. 9.
Tribal officials also said the count for the Escalade bill is unfinished. The first five-day comment tests to find how out how the bill is received.
People are encouraged to write and send comments up to the time the bill is introduced, officials said. You can send comments directly to the Navajo Nation via the information on this page: https://savetheconfluence.com.com/news/contact-delegates/