Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 104 Part 6.djvu/90

 104 STAT. 4480 PUBLIC LAW 101-628—NOV. 28, 1990 refuge, consistent with management of the refuge for the purpose for which such refuge was established, and in accordance with laws applicable to the National Wildlife Refuge System. SEC. 302. NO EFFECT ON UPPER BASIN. Nothing in titles I, II, or III of this Act shall amend, construe, supersede, or preempt any State law. Federal law, interstate compact, or international treaty pertaining to the Colorado River (including its tributaries) in the Upper Basin, including, but not limited to, the appropriation, use, development, storage, regulation, allocation, conservation, exportation, or quality of those waters. Fort McDowell TITLE IV—FORT McDOWELL INDIAN COMMUNITY WATER Indian RIGHTS SETTLEMENT Community Sfem^ent^ SECTION 401. SHORT TITLE. of 1^^^- This title may be cited as the "Fort McDowell Indian Community ?onTracS.^"* Water Rights Settlement Act of 1990". Claims. SEC. 402. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS. (a) The Congress finds that— (1) it is the policy of the United States, in fulfillment of its trust responsibility to Indian tribes, to promote Indian self- determination and economic self-sufficiency, and to settle, wherever possible, the water rights claims of Indian tribes without lengthy and costly litigation; (2) meaningful Indian self-determination and economic self- sufficiency depend on development of viable Indian reservation economies; (3) quantification of rights to water and development of facilities needed to utilize tribal water supplies effectively is essential to the development of viable Indian reservation economies, particularly in arid western States; (4) on September 15, 1903, the United States Government established a reservation for the Fort McDowell Indian Community in Arizona north of the confluence of the Salt and Verde Rivers tributary to the Gila River; (5) the United States, as trustee for the Community, obtained water entitlements for the Community pursuant to the Kent Decree of 1910; however, continued uncertainty as to the full extent of the Community's entitlement to water has severely limited the Community's access to water and the financial resources necessary to develop its valuable agricultural lands and frustrated its efforts to reduce its dependence on Federal program funding and achieve meaningful self-determination and economic self-sufficiency; (6) proceedings to determine the full extent and nature of the Community's water rights and damages thereto are currently pending before the United States District Court in Arizona, the United States Claims Court, the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in and for Maricopa County, as part of the General Adjudication of the Gila River System and Source, and before various Federal agencies under the Federal Tort Claims Act; (7) recognizing that final resolution of pending litigation will take many years and entail great expense to all parties, continue economically and socially damaging limits to the Community's access to water, prolong uncertainty as to the availability

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