# Grand Canyon Tramway Development Likened to Payday Loan Scam



## Tom Martin (Dec 5, 2004)

RRFW Riverwire - Tramway Development Likened to Payday Loan Scam
September 14, 2016


A proposal by Phoenix developers Confluence Partners LLC to build a tramway in western Grand Canyon has been likened to a Payday Loan scam by the Gallup Independent Newspaper. 



In a September 9, 2016 article, the newspaper noted that serious “legal issues involving what appears to be a payday loan scheme that the Navajo Nation Department of Justice identified in 2014 with the proposed master agreement for the Grand Canyon Escalade were never resolved.” 



The Navajo Nation Justice Department noted that if passed, the legislation could force the Navajo Nation to pay over $11,000,000 annually, “substantially more than the annual revenues generated.”


A bill to authorize the tramway development was introduced into the Navajo Nation Tribal Government Legislative calendar by Tribal Delegate Ben Bennet on August 29. Bennett sits on the resources and development committee and his action initiated a five day public comment period that ended Saturday, September 3, 2016.


The Navajo Nation Office of Legislative Services produced a two page review of the public comments to the legislation which showed there were 8,417 comments opposing the legislation and 131 comments in support. The report has been added to the legislative packet. To see the report, click on
http://dibb.nnols.org/PublicReporting.aspx
and search for the tramway legislation bill number 0293-16.


A number of petitions with many tens of thousands of signatures has yet to make it into the Legislative Services report. 



The legislation now moves to review by four Tribal Committees, one at a time. That includes the Law and Order, Resources and Development, Budget and Finance and the most powerful of all the committees, the Naa'bik'iyati' Committee. If the legislation clears these committees, the bill will come before the 23 member Navajo Nation Tribal Council delegates for a vote. 



The legislation proposes to bypass a number of Navajo Nation laws, and as such, requires a yes vote by two-thirds of the delegates to pass. Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye will then have an opportunity to veto the legislation. President Begaye has made it clear he is not in support of the legislation, and sources close to the Navajo Nation Tribal Government do not think there are enough delegates in support of the bill to pass it. 



According to the Legislative Services division of the Navajo Nation, the Law and Order committee will hear the legislation at their next committee meeting, to be held in Monument Valley on September 26. No location for the meeting has yet been announced. 



Representatives of the Resources and Development committee have suggested they will hear the legislation somewhere in Western Navajo, the area near where the development is proposed. No date or location has been announced for the Resources and Development committee meeting. It is unknown how quickly the legislation might move through the committees. The full Council will be meeting in October and in January, 2017.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

"Likened to Payday Loan Scam" ...Being a bit generous, aren't they?


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## Tom Martin (Dec 5, 2004)

HEY!! We just discovered the comment period is still open! And ran another Riverwire: RRFW Riverwire - Grand Canyon Tramway Legislation Comments Still Needed!
September 15, 2016

You can still comment on the proposal to build a tramway to the bottom of the Grand Canyon! 

Please share this far and wide.

Late in the day on Monday, August 29, 2016, legislation was introduced in the Navajo Nation Tribal Council to build a tramway to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Under Navajo Nation Law, the introduction of the legislation started a five day window to comment on this legislation by e-mail and letter.

At the close of the five days of comments, by Navajo Nation law, the legislation is then allowed to move to the appropriate committees and then to the full council for a final decision.

River Runners For Wilderness has learned that while the five day window for comments has passed, the five day time period simply puts the legislation in motion. This means that additional comments may be submitted right now. The comment period runs until the legislation is either stopped in committee or passes through the committees and receives a final up or down vote by the Navajo Nation Tribal Council. 
If you have already commented, you can submit supplemental comments as well. If you signed a petition, it is possible your petition was not recognized. Individual comments are recommended. 
Sponsored by Fort Defiance Councilman Ben Bennett, the legislation gives the green light to a massive development on the rim and spilling down the cliffs of the Grand Canyon, covering a large amount of land at the Confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers. 

The project would include a huge resort, airport, helicopter tours and tramway to the Canyon bottom at the Confluence. The project anticipates between 800,000 to over 2,000,000 annual visitors per year at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. While it is projected that two million people could visit the commercial project yearly, development of additional trams and related structures is a possibility.

A group of Phoenix developers, known as Confluence Partners LLC, would receive from 88% to 92% of revenues generated. The LLC has no prior company experience in any type of similar construction.

The Navajo Nation legislation spells out the duties of the partners, and requires the Navajo Nation to expend a minimum of $65 million for a twenty mile all-weather road to the development location, as well as provide power, water, and telecommunications. A loan to the Navajo Nation to cover these costs would be repaid out of any royalties received.

Legislation passed in 1975 by Congress recognized that the entire Grand Canyon has many managers, including the National Park Service, the Navajo Nation and other tribes and agencies. The law requires the Secretary of Interior to work with all of the Grand Canyon's many managers in providing "protection and interpretation of the Grand Canyon in its entirety." The legislation, known as the Grand Canyon Enlargement Act, required the Secretary of Interior to work with the Navajo Nation to protect the Grand Canyon, designated a designated World Heritage Site.

River Runners for Wilderness encourages its members and anyone the world over who cares about the Grand Canyon to write to the Navajo Nation and Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell. With all due respect, please tell the Navajo Nation and Secretary Jewell:

- You support a tramway-free Grand Canyon.

- Ask that Navajo tribal funds be spent on vital needs such as housing, sanitation, telecommunication and water supply projects across the entire Western Navajo lands.

- Remind the Navajo Nation and Secretary Jewell of her duty to work with the Navajo to protect and preserve the Grand Canyon as the 1975 Grand Canyon Enlargement Act required.

Please include in your comments that you are commenting on legislation bill number 0293-16 introduced by Delegate Ben Bennett and that you would like your comments added to the legislative record for this bill.

You can send your comments to the Navajo Nation by e-mail at this address:

[email protected]

Or in writing, mailed to:

Mr. Tom Platero, Executive Director, Office of Legislative Services, P.O. Box 3390 Window Rock, AZ 86515

Navajo Nation law requires that all comments, either in the form of letters and or e-mails must include your name, position title, return address for written comments and a valid e-mail address. Anonymous comments will not be included in the Legislation packet. If you submit comments by e-mail, you will receive an e-mail back from the Navajo Nation asking to validate your e-mail. Please follow the directions on that e-mail.

Please cc Secretary Jewell here:

By e-mail: [email protected]

Secretary of the Interior
The Honorable Sally Jewell
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240

The nine page short version of the over 200 page bill is available for review here:

http://www.navajonationcouncil.org/Legislations/2016/AUG/0293-16.pdf

The entire legislative packet of 258 pages is here:

https://rrfw.org/sites/default/files/documents/0293_16_Tramway_Legislation_Aug_29_2016.pdf

River Runners For Wilderness comments are here:

https://rrfw.org/sites/default/files/documents/NN_Tramway_Comments_Sept_1_2016_Final.pdf

with supplemental comments here:

https://rrfw.org/sites/default/file...y_Supplemental_Comments_Sept_3_2016_FINAL.pdf

For further information, please contact Tom Martin at River Runners For Wilderness, [email protected]

Additional information is also available here:
Save the Confluence

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RIVERWIRE is a free service to the community of river lovers from River Runners for Wilderness. To sign-up for future Riverwires, send an e-mail address to [email protected] and we'll add it to the RRFW Riverwire e-mail alerts list.

Join RRFW's Facebook discussion group to stay abreast of and participate in the latest river issues. It's as easy as visiting https://www.facebook.com/groups/raftgc/

Join RRFW's Yahoogroup discussion group to stay abreast of and participate in the latest river issues. It's as easy as sending a blank e-mail to [email protected]

Check out RRFW's Rafting Grand Canyon Wiki for free information on Do-It-Yourself Grand Canyon rafting info http://www.rrfw.org/RaftingGrandCanyon/Main_Page

Check out new items and donate at the RRFW Store! RRFW is a non-profit project of Living Rivers. https://www.rrfw.org/store 

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## jmacn (Nov 20, 2010)

Thank you Tom for keeping us up to date with the happenings of this un f*cking believable disgrace. How these bastards have gotten this far with their BS proposal is beyond me. There will be a very similar scene to what's been going on in Wyoming w the Dakota pipeline if any of the greedy SOBs think this is really going to happen. Because it's NOT going to happen. Praying the tribal council makes this go away once & for all...


Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz


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