After July 31, an affordable housing agreement for Navajo students at the University of New Mexico’s Rainforest building will end, leaving 118 residents of the downtown apartment complex looking for alternative — and undoubtedly more expensive — accommodations.
Former Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye signed an agreement on Jan. 3, 2018 that provided housing for Navajo students on the fifth and sixth floors of the Rainforest building at a discounted rate of $945, or $189 a month, per fall and spring semester.
Since the Navajo Nation&
Tribes in the Mountain West reached resolutions in two long standing environmental disputes this week. The victories for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the Navajo Nation could signal a shift toward accountability for corporate polluters operating on tribal lands.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up FMC Corp. v. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes , upholding a lower court ruling in the tribes favor. The decision ended a more than 15-year-long legal battle between the Shoshone-Bannock and a chemical company that mined phosphate and manufactured fertilizer on their southeastern Idaho reservation from 1949 until the early 2000 s.
FMC Corporation is now on the hook for close to 20 million dollars in unpaid permitting fees to the tribes for hazardous waste storage. The company will also be subject to tribal regulations in its management of the waste moving forward.