II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 563
To approve the settlement of water rights claims of Ohkay Owingeh in
the Rio Chama Stream System, to restore the Bosque on Pueblo Land
in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mr. H
EINRICH(for himself and Mr. LUJA´N) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs
A BILL
To approve the settlement of water rights claims of Ohkay
Owingeh in the Rio Chama Stream System, to restore
the Bosque on Pueblo Land in the State of New Mexico,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Ohkay Owingeh Rio Chama Water Rights Settlement Act 5
of 2025’’. 6
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7
this Act is as follows: 8
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Purposes.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Ratification of Agreement.
Sec. 5. Pueblo Water Rights.
Sec. 6. Settlement Trust Fund.
Sec. 7. Funding.
Sec. 8. Enforceability Date.
Sec. 9. Waivers and releases of claims.
Sec. 10. Satisfaction of claims.
Sec. 11. Miscellaneous provisions.
Sec. 12. Antideficiency.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
1
The purposes of this Act are— 2
(1) to achieve a fair, equitable, and final settle-3
ment of all claims to water rights in the Rio Chama 4
Stream System in the State for— 5
(A) Ohkay Owingeh; and 6
(B) the United States, acting as trustee 7
for Ohkay Owingeh; 8
(2) to authorize, ratify, and confirm the Agree-9
ment entered into by Ohkay Owingeh, the State, and 10
various other parties to the extent that the Agree-11
ment is consistent with this Act; 12
(3) to authorize and direct the Secretary— 13
(A) to execute the Agreement; and 14
(B) to take any other actions necessary to 15
carry out the Agreement in accordance with 16
this Act; and 17
(4) to authorize funds necessary for the imple-18
mentation of the Agreement and this Act. 19
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SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 1
In this Act: 2
(1) A
DJUDICATION.—The term ‘‘Adjudication’’ 3
means the general stream adjudication of water 4
rights in the Rio Chama Stream System entitled 5
‘‘State of New Mexico ex rel. State Engineer v. Ara-6
gon’’, Civil No. 69–CV–07941–KWR/KK, pending, 7
as of the date of enactment of this Act, in the 8
United States District Court for the District of New 9
Mexico. 10
(2) A
GREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Agreement’’ 11
means— 12
(A) the document entitled ‘‘Ohkay 13
Owingeh Rio Chama Water Rights Settlement’’ 14
and dated July 5, 2023, and the exhibits at-15
tached thereto; and 16
(B) any amendment to the document re-17
ferred to in subparagraph (A) (including an 18
amendment to an exhibit thereto) that is exe-19
cuted to ensure that the Agreement is con-20
sistent with this Act. 21
(3) B
OSQUE.—The term ‘‘bosque’’ means a gal-22
lery forest located along the riparian floodplain of a 23
stream, riverbank, or lake. 24
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(4) CITY OF ESPAN˜OLA.—The term ‘‘City of 1
Espan˜ola’’ means a municipal corporation of the 2
State. 3
(5) E
NFORCEABILITY DATE .—The term ‘‘En-4
forceability Date’’ means the date described in sec-5
tion 8. 6
(6) O
HKAY OWINGEH ; PUEBLO.—The terms 7
‘‘Ohkay Owingeh’’ and ‘‘Pueblo’’ mean the body 8
politic and federally recognized Indian nation. 9
(7) P
ARTIAL FINAL JUDGMENT AND DECREE .— 10
The term ‘‘Partial Final Judgment and Decree’’ 11
means a final or interlocutory partial final judgment 12
and decree entered by the United States District 13
Court for the District of New Mexico with respect 14
to the water rights of Ohkay Owingeh in the Rio 15
Chama Stream System— 16
(A) that is substantially in the form de-17
scribed in the Agreement, as amended to ensure 18
consistency with this Act; and 19
(B) from which no further appeal may be 20
taken. 21
(8) P
UEBLO GRANT .—The term ‘‘Pueblo 22
Grant’’ means the land recognized and confirmed by 23
the Federal patent issued to Ohkay Owingeh (then 24
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known as the ‘‘Pueblo of San Juan’’) under the Act 1
of December 22, 1858 (11 Stat. 374, chapter V). 2
(9) P
UEBLO LAND.—The term ‘‘Pueblo Land’’ 3
means any real property that is— 4
(A) held by the United States in trust for 5
Ohkay Owingeh within the Rio Chama Stream 6
System; 7
(B) owned by the Pueblo within the Rio 8
Chama Stream System before the Enforce-9
ability Date; or 10
(C) acquired by the Pueblo within the Rio 11
Chama Stream System on or after the Enforce-12
ability Date if the real property is located— 13
(i) within the exterior boundaries of 14
the Pueblo Grant; or 15
(ii) within the exterior boundaries of 16
any territory set aside for the Pueblo by 17
law, Executive order, or court decree. 18
(10) P
UEBLO WATER RIGHTS .—The term 19
‘‘Pueblo Water Rights’’ means the water rights of 20
Ohkay Owingeh in the Rio Chama Stream System— 21
(A) as identified in the Agreement and sec-22
tion 5; and 23
(B) as confirmed in the Partial Final 24
Judgment and Decree. 25
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(11) RIO CHAMA STREAM SYSTEM .—The term 1
‘‘Rio Chama Stream System’’ means the Rio Chama 2
surface water drainage basin within the State, as il-3
lustrated in Exhibit A to the Agreement. 4
(12) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 5
means the Secretary of the Interior. 6
(13) S
IGNATORY ACEQUIA.—The term ‘‘Signa-7
tory Acequia’’ means an acequia that is a signatory 8
to the Agreement. 9
(14) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 10
State of New Mexico. 11
(15) T
RUST FUND.—The term ‘‘Trust Fund’’ 12
means the Ohkay Owingeh Water Rights Settlement 13
Trust Fund established under section 6(a). 14
SEC. 4. RATIFICATION OF AGREEMENT. 15
(a) R
ATIFICATION.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as modified by this 17
Act, and to the extent that the Agreement does not 18
conflict with this Act, the Agreement is authorized, 19
ratified, and confirmed. 20
(2) A
MENDMENTS.—If an amendment to the 21
Agreement, or to any exhibit to the Agreement re-22
quiring the signature of the Secretary, is executed in 23
accordance with this Act to make the Agreement 24
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consistent with this Act, the amendment is author-1
ized, ratified, and confirmed. 2
(b) E
XECUTION.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—To the extent the Agreement 4
does not conflict with this Act, the Secretary shall 5
execute the Agreement, including all exhibits thereto 6
or parts of the Agreement requiring the signature of 7
the Secretary. 8
(2) M
ODIFICATIONS.—Nothing in this Act pro-9
hibits the Secretary, after execution of the Agree-10
ment, from approving any modification to the Agree-11
ment, including an exhibit to the Agreement, that is 12
consistent with this Act, to the extent that the modi-13
fication does not otherwise require congressional ap-14
proval under section 2116 of the Revised Statutes 15
(25 U.S.C. 177) or any other applicable provision of 16
Federal law. 17
(c) E
NVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In implementing the Agree-19
ment and this Act, the Secretary shall comply 20
with— 21
(A) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 22
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 23
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(B) the National Environmental Policy Act 1
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), including the 2
implementing regulations of that Act; and 3
(C) all other applicable Federal environ-4
mental laws and regulations. 5
(2) C
OMPLIANCE AND COORDINATION .— 6
(A) I
N GENERAL.—In implementing the 7
Agreement and this Act, the Pueblo shall pre-8
pare any necessary environmental documents 9
consistent with— 10
(i) the Endangered Species Act of 11
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 12
(ii) the National Environmental Policy 13
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), in-14
cluding the implementing regulations of 15
that Act; and 16
(iii) all other applicable Federal envi-17
ronmental laws and regulations. 18
(B) A
UTHORIZATIONS.—The Secretary 19
shall— 20
(i) independently evaluate the docu-21
mentation required under subparagraph 22
(A); and 23
(ii) be responsible for the accuracy, 24
scope, and contents of that documentation. 25
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(C) COORDINATION WITH ARMY CORPS OF 1
ENGINEERS.—For any bosque restoration or 2
improvement project carried out by the Pueblo 3
with funds appropriated under this Act, the 4
Pueblo shall coordinate with the Corps of Engi-5
neers to ensure that work on the project shall 6
not interfere with or adversely affect any au-7
thorized Federal project that is under the juris-8
diction and authority of the Corps of Engineers. 9
(3) E
FFECT OF EXECUTION .—The execution of 10
the Agreement by the Secretary under this section 11
shall not constitute a major Federal action under 12
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 13
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 14
(4) C
OSTS.—Any costs associated with the per-15
formance of the compliance and coordination activi-16
ties under this subsection shall be paid from funds 17
deposited in the Trust Fund, subject to the condi-18
tion that any costs associated with the performance 19
of Federal approval or other review of that compli-20
ance work or costs associated with inherently Fed-21
eral functions shall remain the responsibility of the 22
Secretary, with the exception that costs for review of 23
bosque restoration or improvement projects by the 24
Corps of Engineers described in paragraph (2)(C) 25
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shall be paid from funds deposited in the Trust 1
Fund. 2
SEC. 5. PUEBLO WATER RIGHTS. 3
(a) T
RUSTSTATUS OF THE PUEBLOWATER 4
R
IGHTS.—The Pueblo Water Rights shall be held in trust 5
by the United States on behalf of Ohkay Owingeh in ac-6
cordance with the Agreement and this Act. 7
(b) F
ORFEITURE ANDABANDONMENT.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Pueblo Water Rights 9
shall not be subject to loss through non-use, for-10
feiture, abandonment, or other operation of law. 11
(2) S
TATE LAW-BASED WATER RIGHTS .—State- 12
law based water rights acquired by Ohkay Owingeh, 13
or by the United States on behalf of Ohkay 14
Owingeh, after the date for inclusion in the Partial 15
Final Judgment and Decree, shall not be subject to 16
forfeiture, abandonment, or permanent alienation 17
from the time they are acquired. 18
(c) U
SE.—Any use of the Pueblo Water Rights shall 19
be subject to the terms and conditions of the Agreement 20
and this Act. 21
(d) A
UTHORITY OF THEPUEBLO.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Ohkay Owingeh may allo-23
cate, distribute, and lease the Pueblo Water Rights 24
for use on Pueblo Land in accordance with the 25
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Agreement, this Act, and applicable Federal law, in-1
cluding the Act of August 9, 1955 (25 U.S.C. 415 2
et seq.) (commonly known as the ‘‘Long-Term Leas-3
ing Act’’). 4
(2) U
SE OFF PUEBLO LAND .— 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Ohkay Owingeh may 6
allocate, distribute, and lease the Pueblo Water 7
Rights for use off Pueblo Land in accordance 8
with the Agreement, this Act, and applicable 9
Federal law, subject to the approval of the Sec-10
retary. 11
(B) M
AXIMUM TERM OF LEASES .—The 12
maximum term of any lease, including all re-13
newals, under this paragraph shall not exceed 14
99 years. 15
(e) A
DMINISTRATION.— 16
(1) N
O ALIENATION.—The Pueblo shall not 17
permanently alienate any portion of the Pueblo 18
Water Rights. 19
(2) P
URCHASES OR GRANTS OF LAND FROM IN -20
DIANS.—An authorization provided by this Act for 21
the allocation, distribution, leasing, or other ar-22
rangement entered into pursuant to this Act shall be 23
considered to satisfy any requirement for authoriza-24
tion of the action required by Federal law. 25
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(3) PROHIBITION ON FORFEITURE .—The non- 1
use of all or any portion of the Pueblo Water Rights 2
by any water user shall not result in the forfeiture, 3
abandonment, relinquishment, or other loss of all or 4
any portion of the Pueblo Water Rights. 5
SEC. 6. SETTLEMENT TRUST FUND. 6
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 7
a trust fund, to be known as the ‘‘Ohkay Owingeh Water 8
Rights Settlement Trust Fund’’, to be managed, invested, 9
and distributed by the Secretary and to remain available 10
until expended, withdrawn, or reverted to the general fund 11
of the Treasury, consisting of the amounts deposited in 12
the Trust Fund under subsection (b), together with any 13
investment earnings, including interest, earned on those 14
amounts for the purpose of carrying out this Act. 15
(b) D
EPOSITS.—The Secretary shall deposit in the 16
Trust Fund the amounts made available pursuant to sec-17
tion 7(a). 18
(c) M
ANAGEMENT AND INTEREST.— 19
(1) M
ANAGEMENT.—On receipt and deposit of 20
funds into the Trust Fund under subsection (b), the 21
Secretary shall manage, invest, and distribute all 22
amounts in the Trust Fund in a manner that is con-23
sistent with the investment authority of the Sec-24
retary under— 25
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(A) the first section of the Act of June 24, 1
1938 (25 U.S.C. 162a); 2
(B) the American Indian Trust Fund Man-3
agement Reform Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 4001 4
et seq.); and 5
(C) this subsection. 6
(2) I
NVESTMENT EARNINGS .—In addition to 7
the amounts deposited into the Trust Fund under 8
subsection (b), any investment earnings, including 9
interest, earned on those amounts held in the Trust 10
Fund are authorized to be used in accordance with 11
subsections (e) and (g). 12
(d) A
VAILABILITY OFAMOUNTS.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Amounts appropriated to, 14
and deposited in, the Trust Fund, including any in-15
vestment earnings (including interest) earned on 16
those amounts, shall be made available to Ohkay 17
Owingeh by the Secretary beginning on the Enforce-18
ability Date, subject to the requirements of this sec-19
tion, except for funds to be made available to Ohkay 20
Owingeh pursuant to paragraph (2). 21
(2) U
SE OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding para-22
graph (1), not more than $100,000,000 of the 23
amounts deposited in the Trust Fund, including any 24
investment earnings, including interest, earned on 25
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those amounts, shall be available to Ohkay Owingeh 1
for the following uses on the date on which the 2
amounts are deposited in the Trust Fund: 3
(A) Diversions of surface water and 4
groundwater to the Rio Chama bosque for im-5
mediate and essential restoration and mainte-6
nance of the bosque. 7
(B) Fulfillment of the contribution of the 8
Pueblo under the Agreement for improvements 9
to senior acequias on Pueblo Land supplying 10
water to the Pueblo and non-Indians. 11
(C) Establishment and operation of the 12
water rights management administrative de-13
partment of the Pueblo. 14
(D) Acquisition of water rights. 15
(E) Development of water infrastructure 16
plans, preparing environmental compliance doc-17
uments, and water project engineering and con-18
struction. 19
(e) W
ITHDRAWALS.— 20
(1) W
ITHDRAWALS UNDER THE AMERICAN IN -21
DIAN TRUST FUND MANAGEMENT REFORM ACT OF 22
1994.— 23
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Pueblo may with-24
draw any portion of the amounts in the Trust 25
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Fund on approval by the Secretary of a Tribal 1
management plan submitted by the Pueblo in 2
accordance with the American Indian Trust 3
Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 4
U.S.C. 4001 et seq.). 5
(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—In addition to the 6
requirements under the American Indian Trust 7
Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 8
U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), the Tribal management 9
plan under subparagraph (A) shall require that 10
the Pueblo shall spend all amounts withdrawn 11
from the Trust Fund, and any investment earn-12
ings (including interest) earned on those 13
amounts through the investments under the 14
Tribal management plan, in accordance with 15
this Act. 16
(C) E
NFORCEMENT.—The Secretary may 17
carry out such judicial and administrative ac-18
tions as the Secretary determines to be nec-19
essary to enforce the Tribal management plan 20
under subparagraph (A) to ensure that 21
amounts withdrawn by the Pueblo from the 22
Trust Fund under that subparagraph are used 23
in accordance with this Act. 24
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(2) WITHDRAWALS UNDER EXPENDITURE 1
PLAN.— 2
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Ohkay Owingeh may 3
submit to the Secretary a request to withdraw 4
funds from the Trust Fund pursuant to an ap-5
proved expenditure plan. 6
(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible to 7
withdraw amounts under an expenditure plan 8
under subparagraph (A), the Pueblo shall sub-9
mit to the Secretary an expenditure plan for 10
any portion of the Trust Fund the Pueblo elects 11
to withdraw pursuant to that subparagraph, 12
subject to the condition that the amounts shall 13
be used for the purposes described in this Act. 14
(C) I
NCLUSIONS.—An expenditure plan 15
under subparagraph (A) shall include a descrip-16
tion of the manner and purpose for which the 17
amounts proposed to be withdrawn from the 18
Trust Fund will be used by Ohkay Owingeh, in 19
accordance with this subsection and subsection 20
(g). 21
(D) A
PPROVAL.—The Secretary shall ap-22
prove an expenditure plan submitted under sub-23
paragraph (A) if the Secretary determines that 24
the plan— 25
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(i) is reasonable; and 1
(ii) is consistent with, and will be used 2
for, the purposes of this Act. 3
(E) E
NFORCEMENT.—The Secretary may 4
carry out such judicial and administrative ac-5
tions as the Secretary determines to be nec-6
essary to enforce an expenditure plan to ensure 7
that amounts disbursed under this paragraph 8
are used in accordance with this Act. 9
(f) E
FFECT OFSECTION.—Nothing in this section 10
gives Ohkay Owingeh the right to judicial review of a de-11
termination of the Secretary relating to whether to ap-12
prove a Tribal management plan under paragraph (1) of 13
subsection (e) or an expenditure plan under paragraph (2) 14
of that subsection, except under subchapter II of chapter 15
5, and chapter 7, of title 5, United States Code (commonly 16
known as the ‘‘Administrative Procedure Act’’). 17
(g) U
SES.—The Trust Fund may only be used for 18
the following purposes: 19
(1) Planning, permitting, designing, engineer-20
ing, constructing, reconstructing, replacing, rehabili-21
tating, operating, or repairing water production, 22
treatment, or delivery infrastructure, including for 23
domestic and municipal supply or wastewater infra-24
structure. 25
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(2) Planning, permitting, designing, engineer-1
ing, constructing, reconstructing, replacing, rehabili-2
tating, operating, or repairing water production, 3
treatment, or delivery infrastructure, acquisition of 4
water, or on-farm improvements for irrigation, live-5
stock, and support of agriculture. 6
(3) Planning, permitting, designing, engineer-7
ing, constructing, reconstructing, replacing, rehabili-8
tating, operating, monitoring or other measures for 9
watershed and endangered species habitat protec-10
tion, bosque restoration or improvement (including 11
any required cost shares for and allowable contribu-12
tions to a Federal project or program), land and 13
water rights acquisition, water-related Pueblo com-14
munity welfare and economic development, and costs 15
relating to implementation of the Agreement. 16
(4) The management and administration of any 17
water rights of the Pueblo. 18
(5) Ensuring environmental compliance in the 19
development and construction of projects under this 20
Act. 21
(h) L
IABILITY.—The Secretary and the Secretary of 22
the Treasury shall not be liable for the expenditure or in-23
vestment of any amounts withdrawn from the Trust Fund 24
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by the Pueblo under paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection 1
(e). 2
(i) E
XPENDITUREREPORTS.—Ohkay Owingeh shall 3
annually submit to the Secretary an expenditure report 4
describing accomplishments and amounts spent from use 5
of withdrawals under a Tribal management plan or an ex-6
penditure plan under paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection 7
(e), as applicable. 8
(j) N
OPERCAPITADISTRIBUTIONS.—No portion of 9
the Trust Fund shall be distributed on a per capita basis 10
to any member of Ohkay Owingeh. 11
(k) T
ITLE TOINFRASTRUCTURE.—Title to, control 12
over, and operation of any project constructed using funds 13
from the Trust Fund shall remain in Ohkay Owingeh, ex-14
cept that title to projects that are improved with funds 15
from the Trust Fund for the mutual benefit of the Pueblo 16
and non-Indians, on property owned by non-Indians, shall 17
remain with the underlying non-Indian owner. 18
(l) O
PERATION, MAINTENANCE, ANDREPLACE-19
MENT.—All operation, maintenance, and replacement 20
costs of any project constructed using funds from the 21
Trust Fund shall be the responsibility of Ohkay Owingeh. 22
SEC. 7. FUNDING. 23
(a) M
ANDATORY APPROPRIATIONS.—Out of any 24
funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the Sec-25
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retary of the Treasury shall transfer to the Secretary for 1
deposit in the Trust Fund $745,000,000, to remain avail-2
able until expended, withdrawn, or reverted to the general 3
fund of the Treasury. 4
(b) F
LUCTUATION INCOSTS.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The amount appropriated 6
under subsection (a) shall be increased or decreased, 7
as appropriate, by such amounts as may be justified 8
by reason of ordinary fluctuations in costs, as indi-9
cated by the Bureau of Reclamation Construction 10
Cost Index–Composite Trend. 11
(2) C
ONSTRUCTION COSTS ADJUSTMENT .—The 12
amount appropriated under subsection (a) shall be 13
adjusted to address construction cost changes nec-14
essary to account for unforeseen market volatility 15
that may not otherwise be captured by engineering 16
cost indices, as determined by the Secretary, includ-17
ing repricing applicable to the types of construction 18
and current industry standards involved. 19
(3) R
EPETITION.—The adjustment process 20
under this subsection shall be repeated for each sub-21
sequent amount appropriated until the applicable 22
amount, as adjusted, has been appropriated. 23
(4) P
ERIOD OF INDEXING.—The period of in-24
dexing adjustment under this subsection for any in-25
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crement of funding shall start on June 1, 2023, and 1
end on the date on which the funds are deposited in 2
the Trust Fund. 3
(c) S
TATECOSTSHARE.—Pursuant to the Agree-4
ment, the State shall contribute— 5
(1) $98,500,000, as adjusted for inflation pur-6
suant to the Agreement, for Signatory Acequias 7
ditch improvements, projects, and other purposes de-8
scribed in the Agreement; 9
(2) $32,000,000, as adjusted for inflation pur-10
suant to the Agreement, for the City of Espan˜ola for 11
water system improvement projects; and 12
(3) $500,000, to be deposited in an interest- 13
bearing account, to mitigate impairment to non- 14
Pueblo domestic and livestock groundwater rights as 15
a result of new Pueblo water use. 16
SEC. 8. ENFORCEABILITY DATE. 17
The Enforceability Date shall be the date on which 18
the Secretary publishes in the Federal Register a state-19
ment of findings that— 20
(1) to the extent that the Agreement conflicts 21
with this Act, the Agreement has been amended to 22
conform with this Act; 23
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(2) the Agreement, as amended, has been exe-1
cuted by all parties to the Agreement, including the 2
United States; 3
(3) the United States District Court for the 4
District of New Mexico has approved the Agreement 5
and has entered a Partial Final Judgment and De-6
cree; 7
(4) all the amounts appropriated under section 8
7(a) have been appropriated and deposited in the 9
Trust Fund; 10
(5) the State has— 11
(A) provided the funding under section 12
7(c)(1) or entered into a funding agreement 13
with the intended beneficiary for that funding; 14
(B) provided the funding under section 15
7(c)(2) or entered into a funding agreement 16
with the intended beneficiary for that funding; 17
(C) provided the funding under section 18
7(c)(3) and deposited that amount into the ap-19
propriate funding account; and 20
(D) enacted legislation to amend State law 21
to provide that the Pueblo Water Rights may 22
be leased for a term not to exceed 99 years, in-23
cluding renewals; and 24
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(6) the waivers and releases under section 9 1
have been executed by Ohkay Owingeh and the Sec-2
retary. 3
SEC. 9. WAIVERS AND RELEASES OF CLAIMS. 4
(a) W
AIVERS ANDRELEASES OFCLAIMS BYOHKAY 5
O
WINGEH ANDUNITEDSTATES ASTRUSTEE FOROHKAY 6
O
WINGEH.—Subject to the reservation of rights and re-7
tention of claims under subsection (d), as consideration 8
for recognition of the Pueblo Water Rights and other ben-9
efits described in the Agreement and this Act, Ohkay 10
Owingeh and the United States, acting as trustee for 11
Ohkay Owingeh, shall execute a waiver and release of all 12
claims for— 13
(1) water rights within the Rio Chama Stream 14
System that Ohkay Owingeh, or the United States 15
acting as trustee for Ohkay Owingeh, asserted or 16
could have asserted in any proceeding, including the 17
Adjudication, on or before the Enforceability Date, 18
except to the extent that such rights are recognized 19
in the Agreement and this Act; and 20
(2) damages, losses, or injuries to water rights 21
or claims of interference with, diversion of, or taking 22
of water rights (including claims for injury to land 23
resulting from such damages, losses, injuries, inter-24
ference, diversion, or taking of water rights) in the 25
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Rio Chama Stream System that accrued at any time 1
up to and including the Enforceability Date. 2
(b) W
AIVERS ANDRELEASES OFCLAIMS BYOHKAY 3
O
WINGEHAGAINST THEUNITEDSTATES.—Subject to the 4
reservation of rights and retention of claims under sub-5
section (d), Ohkay Owingeh shall execute a waiver and re-6
lease of all claims against the United States (including any 7
agency or employee of the United States) for water rights 8
within the Rio Chama Stream System first arising before 9
the Enforceability Date relating to— 10
(1) water rights within the Rio Chama Stream 11
System that the United States, acting as trustee for 12
Ohkay Owingeh, asserted or could have asserted in 13
any proceeding, including the Adjudication, except to 14
the extent that such rights are recognized as part of 15
the Pueblo Water Rights under this Act; 16
(2) foregone benefits from non-Pueblo use of 17
water, on and off Pueblo Land (including water 18
from all sources and for all uses), within the Rio 19
Chama Stream System; 20
(3) damage, loss, or injury to water, water 21
rights, land, or natural resources due to loss of 22
water or water rights (including damages, losses, or 23
injuries to hunting, fishing, gathering, or cultural 24
rights due to loss of water or water rights, claims 25
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relating to interference with, diversion of, or taking 1
of water, or claims relating to a failure to protect, 2
acquire, replace, or develop water, water rights, or 3
water infrastructure) within the Rio Chama Stream 4
System; 5
(4) failure to establish or provide a municipal, 6
rural, or industrial water delivery system on Pueblo 7
Land within the Rio Chama Stream System; 8
(5) damage, loss, or injury to water, water 9
rights, land, or natural resources due to construc-10
tion, operation, and management of irrigation 11
projects on Pueblo Land or Federal land and facili-12
ties (including damages, losses, or injuries to fish 13
habitat, wildlife, and wildlife habitat) within the Rio 14
Chama Stream System; 15
(6) failure to provide for operation, mainte-16
nance, or deferred maintenance for any irrigation 17
system or irrigation project within the Rio Chama 18
Stream System; 19
(7) failure to provide a dam safety improvement 20
to a dam on Pueblo Land within the Rio Chama 21
Stream System; 22
(8) damage, loss, or injury to the bosque area 23
of the Rio Chama due to the construction, operation, 24
and maintenance of Abiquiu Dam and its associated 25
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infrastructure and resulting Rio Chama flow man-1
agement; 2
(9) the litigation of claims relating to any water 3
right of Ohkay Owingeh within the Rio Chama 4
Stream System; 5
(10) the taking of the bosque property of the 6
Pueblo within the Pueblo Grant on the Rio Chama 7
and Rio Grande as asserted in Ohkay Owingeh v. 8
United States, No. 22–1607L (Court of Federal 9
Claims); 10
(11) failure of the United States to acknowl-11
edge and protect aboriginal rights to water in the 12
Rio Chama Stream System; 13
(12) the failure of the United States to develop 14
the irrigation water resources in the Rio Chama 15
Stream System on the Pueblo Grant, including fail-16
ure to— 17
(A) construct and deliver water through 18
the Highline Canal; 19
(B) make improvements to the Chamita 20
Ditch; and 21
(C) repurchase arable land unlawfully ob-22
tained by non-Indians; 23
(13) the failure of the United States to prevent 24
or remedy non-Indians’ trespass on or seizure of ar-25
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able Pueblo lands in the Rio Chama Stream System 1
on the Pueblo Grant; and 2
(14) the negotiation, execution, or adoption of 3
the Agreement (including exhibits) and this Act. 4
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The waivers and releases de-5
scribed in subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect on the 6
Enforceability Date. 7
(d) R
ESERVATION OF RIGHTS ANDRETENTION OF 8
C
LAIMS.—Notwithstanding the waivers and releases under 9
subsections (a) and (b), the Pueblo and the United States, 10
acting as trustee for Ohkay Owingeh, shall retain all 11
claims relating to— 12
(1) the enforcement of, or claims accruing after 13
the Enforceability Date relating to, water rights rec-14
ognized under the Agreement, this Act, or the Par-15
tial Final Judgment and Decree entered in the Ad-16
judication; 17
(2) activities affecting the quality of water, in-18
cluding claims under— 19
(A) the Comprehensive Environmental Re-20
sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 21
1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.), including claims 22
for damages to natural resources; 23
(B) the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 24
U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 25
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(C) the Federal Water Pollution Control 1
Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); and 2
(D) any regulations implementing the Acts 3
described in subparagraphs (A) through (C); 4
(3) the right to use and protect water rights ac-5
quired after the date of enactment of this Act; 6
(4) damage, loss, or injury to land or natural 7
resources that is not due to loss of water or water 8
rights, including hunting, fishing, gathering, or cul-9
tural rights; 10
(5) all rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, 11
and powers not specifically waived and released pur-12
suant to this Act or the Agreement; and 13
(6) loss of water or water rights in locations 14
outside of the Rio Chama Stream System. 15
(e) E
FFECT OFAGREEMENT AND ACT.—Nothing in 16
the Agreement or this Act— 17
(1) reduces or extends the sovereignty (includ-18
ing civil and criminal jurisdiction) of any govern-19
ment entity; 20
(2) affects the ability of the United States, as 21
sovereign, to carry out any activity authorized by 22
law, including— 23
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(A) the Comprehensive Environmental Re-1
sponse, Compensation, and Liability Act of 2
1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.); 3
(B) the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 4
U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 5
(C) the Federal Water Pollution Control 6
Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); 7
(D) the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 8
U.S.C. 6901 et seq.); and 9
(E) any regulations implementing the Acts 10
described in subparagraphs (A) though (D); 11
(3) affects the ability of the United States to 12
act as trustee for the Pueblo (consistent with this 13
Act), any other pueblo or Indian Tribe, or an allot-14
tee of any other pueblo or Indian Tribe; 15
(4) confers jurisdiction on any State court— 16
(A) to interpret Federal law relating to 17
health, safety, or the environment; 18
(B) to determine the duties of the United 19
States or any other party under Federal law re-20
lating to health, safety, or the environment; 21
(C) to conduct judicial review of any Fed-22
eral agency action; or 23
(D) to interpret Pueblo law; or 24
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(5) waives any claim of a member of Ohkay 1
Owingeh in an individual capacity that does not de-2
rive from a right of the Pueblo. 3
(f) T
OLLING OFCLAIMS.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Each applicable period of 5
limitation and time-based equitable defense relating 6
to a claim described in this section shall be tolled for 7
the period beginning on the date of enactment of 8
this Act and ending on the Enforceability Date. 9
(2) E
FFECT OF SUBSECTION .—Nothing in this 10
subsection revives any claim or tolls any period of 11
limitation or time-based equitable defense that ex-12
pired before the date of enactment of this Act. 13
(3) L
IMITATION.—Nothing in this section pre-14
cludes the tolling of any period of limitation or any 15
time-based equitable defense under any other appli-16
cable law. 17
(g) E
XPIRATION.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—This Act shall expire in any 19
case in which the Secretary fails to publish a state-20
ment of findings under section 8 by not later than— 21
(A) July 1, 2038; or 22
(B) such alternative later date as is agreed 23
to by Ohkay Owingeh and the Secretary, after 24
providing reasonable notice to the State. 25
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(2) CONSEQUENCES.—If this Act expires under 1
paragraph (1)— 2
(A) the waivers and releases under sub-3
sections (a) and (b) shall— 4
(i) expire; and 5
(ii) have no further force or effect; 6
(B) the authorization, ratification, con-7
firmation, and execution of the Agreement 8
under section 4 shall no longer be effective; 9
(C) any action carried out by the Sec-10
retary, and any contract or agreement entered 11
into, pursuant to this Act shall be void; 12
(D) any unexpended Federal funds appro-13
priated or made available to carry out the ac-14
tivities authorized by this Act, together with 15
any interest earned on those funds, and any 16
water rights or contracts to use water and title 17
to other property acquired or constructed with 18
Federal funds appropriated or made available 19
to carry out the activities authorized by this Act 20
shall be returned to the Federal Government, 21
unless otherwise agreed to by Ohkay Owingeh 22
and the United States and approved by Con-23
gress; and 24
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(E) except for Federal funds used to ac-1
quire or construct property that is returned to 2
the Federal Government under subparagraph 3
(D), the United States shall be entitled to offset 4
any Federal funds made available to carry out 5
this Act that were expended or withdrawn, or 6
any funds made available to carry out this Act 7
from other Federal authorized sources, together 8
with any interest accrued on those funds, 9
against any claims against the United States— 10
(i) relating to— 11
(I) water rights in the State as-12
serted by— 13
(aa) Ohkay Owingeh; or 14
(bb) any user of the Pueblo 15
Water Rights; or 16
(II) any other matter covered by 17
subsection (b); or 18
(ii) in any future settlement of water 19
rights of Ohkay Owingeh. 20
SEC. 10. SATISFACTION OF CLAIMS. 21
The benefits provided under this Act shall be in com-22
plete replacement of, complete substitution for, and full 23
satisfaction of any claim of Ohkay Owingeh against the 24
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United States that is waived and released by Ohkay 1
Owingeh pursuant to section 9(b). 2
SEC. 11. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 3
(a) N
OWAIVER OFSOVEREIGNIMMUNITY BY THE 4
U
NITEDSTATES.—Nothing in this Act waives the sov-5
ereign immunity of the United States. 6
(b) O
THERTRIBESNOTADVERSELYAFFECTED.— 7
Nothing in this Act quantifies or diminishes any land or 8
water right, or any claim or entitlement to land or water, 9
of an Indian Tribe, band, pueblo, or community other than 10
Ohkay Owingeh. 11
(c) E
FFECT ONCURRENTLAW.—Nothing in this Act 12
affects any provision of law (including regulations) in ef-13
fect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act 14
with respect to pre-enforcement review of any Federal en-15
vironmental enforcement action. 16
(d) C
ONFLICT.—In the event of a conflict between 17
the Agreement and this Act, this Act shall control. 18
(e) H
OLDHARMLESS.—For any bosque restoration 19
or improvement project carried out by the Pueblo with 20
funds appropriated under this Act, the Pueblo shall hold 21
and save the United States free from damages due to the 22
construction or operation and maintenance of the project. 23
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SEC. 12. ANTIDEFICIENCY. 1
The United States shall not be liable for any failure 2
to carry out any obligation or activity authorized by this 3
Act, including any obligation or activity under the Agree-4
ment, if adequate appropriations are not provided ex-5
pressly by Congress to carry out the purposes of this Act. 6
Æ
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