Published: July 21, 2008 04:01 pm      

Tribe fights to be heard on water issue

Oklahoma City — (AP) — An Oklahoma Indian tribe claims tribal governments are being excluded from the state’s effort to develop a 50-year water plan.

The Chickasaw Nation has lodged complaints with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and the governor.

A letter from tribal attorney Stephen Greetham to the executive director of the water resources board, Duane Smith, says the tribe supports efforts to develop a water plan.

But, the letter adds, “to date, the input process has been structured to exclude any Tribal-State summit or dialogue.” Tribal nations have said they wanted to be treated as independent governments in the process.

Smith said he has not responded to the letter. He said a similar letter was sent to Gov. Brad Henry.

“We’re not ignoring it; we’re trying to figure out how to address that,” Smith said.

Smith encouraged tribal members to participate in a series of regional meetings that are being held as part of the Oklahoma Comprehensive Water Plan, which is an analysis of water issues in the state that will result in a 50-year plan be voted on by 2011.

“We want them to feel — and they really are — an important piece of Oklahoma. And that voice needs to be heard,” he said.

For more than a decade, some Oklahoma-based Indian nations have tried to get ownership over water and control of water quality standards.

Smith said those issues should not be discussed as part of the water plan.

He said the state expects to hold government-to-government talks with tribes and may include the results of those discussions as a chapter in the ultimate water plan.

Tom Elkins, administrator of environmental programs at the Cherokee Nation, said his tribe and others also have concerns about the state water plan.

“Water is going to be — and is — an important resource for all the tribal nations and for the state. We’ve worked well with the state in the past in other issues, and we expect to do the same in this. But we expect our voices to be heard, too,” he said.