Throughout my career, I have worked to protect tribal sovereignty, restore tribal landholdings, and ensure that Congress meets its trust responsibilities to American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. This year will mark the 25th anniversary of one of my proudest achievements in public service: the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Indian Tribes Water Rights Settlement Act of 1990 (P.L.101-618) (“Settlement”). This landmark legislation helped to conserve natural resources, develop tribal economies, and settle a long-standing dispute over water rights. More importantly, it provided a significant step toward remedying historic wrongs against Indian Tribes.

The Settlement was one of the first pieces of legislation I worked on when I came to Congress. It involved two states, several cities, two lakes, a river, endangered species, two tribes, and a hundred-year water war. The Paiutes had long been defending their aboriginal homelands and their original water rights to Pyramid Lake, a desert terminus lake entirely enclosed within the boundaries of the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation, for over a century. The construction of the Derby Dam in 1905 made matters worse by diverting Truckee River water from reaching Pyramid Lake. This caused the water level of Pyramid Lake to drop, on average, more than one foot per year for more than 50 years; it also prevented the Cui-ui and the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout from migrating to spawn, which nearly wiped out these species and seriously depleted a major and sacred food source for the Pyramid Lake Paiutes.

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe disputed the illegitimate diversion of its water and the devastation wrought on its sacred lake all the way to federal courts. The Tribe’s case in court was often successful, but the victories won there were often nominal or put on hold for years until higher courts could rule—or worse, reverse a previous victory. The Settlement put an end to this expensive and resource-draining litigation over water rights.  In 1990, Congress enacted, and the President signed, the Settlement Act to implement the settlement of water rights claims and authorize federal funding.  For Pyramid Lake, the law established a tribal economic development fund and a fund to protect the fishery.

Indian water rights must be protected, just as tribal lands in Nevada and across Indian Country must be restored. So long as I have the privilege to represent Nevada’s tribes at the federal level, I will continue to do what I can to uphold the United States’ trust responsibility to Indian tribes and right some of the many past wrongs towards Indian tribes.