Lovejoy booted out of meeting
Presidential candidate claims lands issues are being discussed in secrecy

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Nation presidential candidate Linda Lovejoy was asked to leave a government-to-government consultation session Wednesday in Albuquerque on energy rights-of-way across Indian lands.

The meeting between officials of the Navajo Nation, the Department of Energy and the Department of Interior was conducted following a morning public comment session and was related to a year-long study of Indian rights-of-ways as required by Section 1813 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The study, prompted by El Paso Corp. after a breakdown in negotiations with the Navajo Nation over the renewal of the company's 900-mile energy corridor right-of way lease, is designed to provide Congress with a list of legislative options to address the difficulties that arise in right-of-way negotiations.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, R-N.M., had the study expanded to include historic rates of compensation for Indian energy rights-of-way. The report also reviews the authority of Congress to condemn tribal lands in the interest of national energy security as an exercise of eminent domain.

Lovejoy said she had attended the morning session and "it was recommended to me by the Department of Energy (representative), because I am a presidential candidate, that I sit in on the government-to-government meeting."

"So I took that recommendation seriously," she said.

Attending on behalf of Navajo were Albuquerque attorney Paul Frye, Attorney General Louis Denetsosie, Vice President Frank Dayish Jr., Resources Executive Director Arvin Trujillo, Resources Committee member Norman John II and Chris Burnside of Dine Power Authority, according to Frazier.

Veil of secrecy?
Lovejoy said it was Frye "who stated to the Interior people that only the officials who are there to speak for the Navajo Nation government be in attendance and anyone not affiliated under that umbrella or under that scheme not be in attendance.

"I stated that I am a presidential candidate and I am a Navajo member and that I should be allowed to stay, and that as a PRC commissioner, I also represent the Navajo people. But none of those fell under the criteria and it was only Mr. Frye who made the statement. The vice president sat there very quietly," Lovejoy said.

Before leaving she thanked them and said, "My statement that I read this morning still stands ... the study requested by energy is not necessary. Every independent tribe has the capability to negotiate with companies on the rights-of-way. That's the way it ought to remain.

"I come from a checkerboard area where most of the allottees live. They live in the Eastern Navajo Agency. We want to make sure that good decisions are made on behalf of our Navajo people and that we don't leave any doors open for litigation by our own Navajo people if they're not satisfied with the leaders' decision."

Lovejoy said there was "ample time" for the Nation's leaders to go around the Navajo Reservation talking their position on the study. "None of that was done," she said. "Why they did not include us in today's government-to-government session is an illustration of how our leaders, beginning with the president and vice president, are not responsive to the people.

"Everything has been in secrecy. All important meetings that involve the people's land and the people's water have been done in secrecy, and today was just a real good illustration of how that secrecy continues to go on," Lovejoy said.

AG responds
Attorney General Denetsosie said, "We worked very hard compiling comments and we just want to make sure that in our talks with the government that we have consistency." He said comments made by the visitors during the earlier public meeting "were different than what we had to say and this is a government-to-government consultation."

Denetsosie said the visitors were asked to leave because, "The way I understand it, you have to be a government official" in order to attend the meeting.

Lovejoy said she told the group at the government-to-government session, "I am on record making a statement with the Department of Energy that we have to be very careful that we don't allow our tribal lands to become energy corridors without the input of our people.

"The regions within our Navajo Reservation are different. On the New Mexico side we have a huge checkerboard area. When we talk about anything that has to do with impacting our land and water, there's allottees that we have to consider their rights," Lovejoy said.

Frazier said she told the group that she protested their request for them to leave "because we are members of the Navajo Nation, and also Diné CARE represents a whole lot of people from the Navajo Tribe in the energy right-of-way discussions that took place this morning."

"They showed no respect for the presidential candidate," she added. "I told them, 'Whatever you're talking about here, all the issues are related to us, the people. It's our issue.' "

Frazier said Frye told her they did not want Diné CARE or any other people not affiliated with the Navajo Nation government to be there. She said, "This kind of tells us: What are they planning now? What kind of secret things are they going to be talking about?"