by Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Director
The Escalade proposal is like a withering zombie — a frightening being that appears before the Navajo Nation Council from time to time, terrorizing its opposition.
Scottsdale developers have been lobbying the Navajo Nation since 2012 to approve their proposal to build a tramway down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon at the sacred confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers. Council Delegate Ben Bennett introduced legislation in August 2016 to approve the master agreement for the Grand Canyon Escalade project. And for the past several months, the bill, which the council could approve or disapprove, lay dormant. Earlier, it had hobbled through the Navajo Nation’s legislative process, wherein three committees failed to approve it and the last rejected it by a vote of 14-2.
Bennett pulled the bill from the council’s agenda in July and delayed a final vote again during the council’s fall session in October. But on Halloween, Navajo lawmakers will convene to review the legislation in a special session. This will be the sixth such debate, four times before standing committees and once in another special session.
Apparently, Escalade’s proponents believe they can dress their monster up in a trick-or-treat tutu for Halloween and make it seem less scary to council delegates.
During the special session, scheduled for October 31 in Window Rock, Navajo lawmakers will review specific provisions in the Escalade legislation. They could vote to create a task force that would negotiate amendments and remove problematic parts of the master agreement, referring it back to the committees. Or, they could vote to place the legislation as is on the agenda for a final up or down vote by the full council.
Save the Confluence, a group of local families and grazing permit holders who live on the eastern rim of the Grand Canyon, along with Navajo citizens across the nation, oppose Escalade. They want to bring this endless nightmare to a close and are urging council delegates to say no in a final vote before the entire council at the next regular session the third week of January.
Delores Wilson-Aguirre, a founding member of Save the Confluence, said in her letter to the editor in this week’s Navajo Times that her brother and extended family are frustrated that the bill has yet to receive a final vote. “I respectfully ask the Navajo Nation Council to vote no on the Escalade bill.”
Stay tuned for more updates about ongoing efforts to end this horror story. In the meantime, please read about the local opposition efforts that Save the Confluence families are heading up ›
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