[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 6, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S55]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. McCAIN (for himself and Mr. Kyl):
  S. 39. A bill to repeal section 10(f) of Public Law 93-531, commonly 
known as the ``Bennett Freeze''; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce legislation that 
would repeal section 10(f) of Public Law 93-531, commonly known as the 
``Bennett Freeze.'' Passage of this legislation would officially mark 
the end of roughly 40 years of litigation and land-lock between the 
Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe.
  For decades the Navajo and the Hopi have been engrossed in a bitter 
dispute over land rights in the Black Mesa area just south of Kayenta, 
Arizona. The conflict extends as far back as 1882 when the boundaries 
of the Hopi and Navajo reservations were initially defined resulting in 
a tragic saga of litigation and damaging federal Indian policy. By 
1966, relations between the tribes became so strained over development 
and access to sacred religious sites in the disputed area that the 
federal government imposed a construction freeze on the disputed 
reservation land. The freeze prohibited any additional housing 
development in the Black Mesa area and restricted repairs on existing 
dwellings. This injunction became known as the ``Bennett Freeze,'' 
named after former BIA Commissioner Robert Bennett who imposed the ban.
  The Bennett Freeze was intended to be a temporary measure to prevent 
one tribe taking advantage of another until the land dispute could be 
settled. Unfortunately, the conflict was nowhere near resolution, and 
the construction freeze ultimately devastated economic development in 
northern Arizona for years to come. By some accounts, nearly 8,000 
people currently living in the Bennett Freeze area reside in conditions 
that haven't changed in half a century. While the population of the 
area has increased 65 percent, generations of families have been forced 
to live together in homes that have been declared unfit for human 
habitation by the United Nations and non-governmental organizations. 
Only 3 percent of the families affected by the Bennett Freeze have 
electricity. Only 10 percent have running water. Almost none have 
natural gas.
  In September 2005, the Navajo and Hopi peoples' desire to live 
together in mutual respect prevailed when both tribes approved an 
intergovernmental agreement that resolved all outstanding litigation in 
the Bennett Freeze area. This landmark agreement also clarifies the 
boundaries of the Navajo and Hopi reservations in Arizona, and ensures 
that access to religious sites of both tribes in protected. As such, 
the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, and the Department of Interior all 
support congressional legislation to lift the freeze.
  The bill I am introducing today would repeal the Bennett Freeze. The 
intergovernmental compact approved last year by both tribes, the 
Department of Interior, and signed by the U.S. District Court for 
Arizona, marks a new era in Navajo-Hopi relations. Lifting the Bennett 
Freeze gives us an opportunity to put decades of conflict between the 
Navajo and Hopi behind us.
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