Arizona opinion: TEP needs to be transparent in right of way negotiations

On Feb. 27, the Daily Star published an opinion piece by Tó Nizhóní Ání’s Adrian Herder that was critical of Tucson Electric Power’s efforts to renew a 4,072-acre right-of-way (ROW) lease for its transmission lines crossing the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. TEP responded in the Daily Star on March 3 by saying the claims were inaccurate.

So, let’s settle the matter publicly. TNA used information obtained from copies of Navajo Chapter resolutions, official documents that presumably were drafted by TEP since all 14 chapters use similar language. In one of the resolutions, it states that TEP paid the Navajo Nation a one-time sum of $34,948 in 1973 for a 330-foot-wide, 102-mile-long right of way across Navajo land for transmission lines connecting TEP’s grid with Four Corners Power Plant, where it is a part owner. That equates to 17 cents per acre per year for the 50-year term of the lease, which expired in 2023. If the original contract amount were different, TEP has had every opportunity to correct the record with the chapters during the company’s “community engagement.” To our knowledge, they have not, so we are using TEP’s own information as a reference.

TEP claims it paid the Navajo Nation a total of $9 million. Let’s assume those dollars went directly to the Navajo Nation. This would still mean every year for 50 years, the Navajo Nation received about $44.20 per acre per year, or roughly $180,000 per year. Compare that to BLM’s rates in McKinley County (which is the same county part of the transmission line falls on). For just one year in 2023, BLM recommended a right-of-way payment rate between $200-$300 per acre per year. Even if TEP’s hypothetical payment of $9 million were accurate, it still would be a sweetheart deal. Based on BLM’s recommendation, the Nation should have received $800,000 to $1.2 million a year, not $180,000.

TEP needs to provide proof of its claim of providing $9 million in ROW payments to the Nation by providing the affected Navajo communities a copy of the original 1973 ROW agreement. Was that a lump-sum payment, or proportioned over the 50-year life of the lease? How were allottees compensated? How about grazing permit holders? How about people who live within less than a half-mile from the transmission lines? Did TEP, out of the goodness of its heart, decide to give Chapters any direct community benefits over the last 50 years?

TEP claims it is “seeking a new right-of-way agreement for its use of Navajo Nation land that honors tribal sovereignty and extends an already strong partnership that has supported many educational, community and infrastructure improvements.” Being honorable should start with being honest and transparent. Tell the public how much TEP is suggesting it pay for the ROW now, so we know whether the Nation and those impacted are getting a fair deal. Tell us how much TEP pays other non-Tribal landowners for the right to cross their land. And show us the documentation for “over $9 million in ROW payments over the last 50 years.” Finally, since the 14 affected Navajo chapters requested direct community benefits in their resolutions, will TEP “honor” those requests?

Only then can the Navajo people be confident that mistakes of the past, in which the Navajo Nation has been bilked for corporate exploitation of its resources, won’t be repeated.