The Navajo Nation Council’s Naa’biki’yati’ Committee meets on Thursday, 9-12-13 , at 10 am in the Council chamber and among their proposed agenda items is a report from the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority “regarding energy development.”
NTUA met with members of Resources & Development Committee at the KPMG office in Albuquerque today, 9-10-13, to discuss NTUA’s proposed energy project, which is a natural gas electric generating station.
The proposed generation plant would be located on the defunct coal-fired Desert Rock generating station site, which is near Burnham, NM, community and BHP Billiton coal mine and Four Corners Power Plant.
The company that would joint venture with NTUA is Terra-Gen Power, LLC. NTUA administrator Rex Kontz has been presenting the proposed generation station to the various standing committees of the Council, including Naabi’s Energy Task Force, and to President Shelly’s Energy Advisory Commission, which is headed by Attorney General Harrison Tsosie.
The Naabi Committee, on Thursday, is also scheduled to take action on Legislation #0241-13, which is the establishment of a Naabi Trust Mismanagement Litigation Task Force to consult with the tribal Office of the Attorney General and Department of Justice on the settlement of the tribe’s Trust Mismanagement lawsuit against the U.S. and the appointing of Council delegates to the Task Force.
Delegate Jonathan Nez, who also serves as the Budget & Finance Committee vice chairperson, is sponsoring legislation #0241-13.
The Naabi is also scheduled to act on Legislation #0257-13 which is the selection and approval of a Naabi member to be one of five standing committee representatives to the Navajo Nation Transitional Energy Company, LLC.
I’ve posted the link for the proposed Naabi agenda for 9-12-13.
The NTEC is scheduled to go before the Council’s Budget & Finance Committee to make its request for funding.
The B&F is also scheduled to meet on Thursday, 9-12-13, at 10 am in the Council chamber’s north conference room.
When NTEC reported to the B&F about their need for funding on Aug. 6, 2013, NTEC Board President Steve Gunderson said that he would return with a budget and specific amount to the B&F that he would discuss with the B&F behind closed doors.
Also on the B&F proposed agenda for 9-12-13 is a “discussion on allocations & expenditures of the Gaming (Gambling) Task Force, which will probably also be behind closed doors. I say that because every time Gambling Czar Derrick Watchman gives a report, he asks for an executive session because his information deals with tribal financial matters that need to be confidential.
The B&F is also scheduled to act on Legislation #0150-13, which is a special review by the tribal auditor general’s office of the 2012 Northern Navajo Fair in Shiprock, NM. It came before the B&F on June 18, 2013, but was tabled because none of the Shiprock Fair Board members were present, which lead to the B&F directing their attorney to subpoena the board members for the next B&F meeting.
B&F Chairperson LoRenzo Bates is the sponsor of Legislation #0150-13.
Another proposed B&F agenda item is Legislation #0254-13, which is the waiver of 90 percent of the indirect cost rate on a federal contract awarded from the Center for Disease Control to the Navajo Nation Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention Program.
This legislation is very interesting because this evening I was attending a Dine’ Women Helping Dine’ Women meeting when this contract was brought up by one of the women, who said that the Council had refused to sign the contract, which resulted in the NNBCCPP workers working without a salary for several weeks.
The indirect cost rate or IDC rate is the administrative cost for the tribal government to administer a federal contract, which is probably why the Council has not approved the federal contract for NNBCCPP.
The IDC negotiated between the tribe and the federal government is more than 10 percent.
The sponsor of Legislation #0254-13 is Delegate Jonathan Hale, who is the chairperson of the Health, Education and Human Resources Committee.
By the way, the Dine’ Women Helping Dine’ Women is an organization focused on making Dine’ women and men aware of breast cancer by promoting annual mammograms and daily self breast exams. The group of all volunteers also offer a place to talk, share stories, cry, laugh and endure.
Proposed Naa’biki’yati’ Committee agenda for 9-12-13
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7xhIWpNuJXiUWRvLUc4WE1ZLXM/edit?usp=sharing
Proposed Budget & Finance Committee agenda for 9-12-13
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7xhIWpNuJXiaEs2RTFyQ0lqZW8/edit?usp=sharing
Northern Navajo Fair audit and Corrective Action Plan
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7xhIWpNuJXiLWp3elFnZXVuQ0U/edit?usp=sharing
