State Tribal Relations Committee passes resolution to support Water Compact
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HELENA – In a 4-2 vote the interim State-Tribal Relations Committee for the Montana legislature passed a resolution in support of the proposed Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Water Compact on Sept. 10.
Some members of the committee said passing the resolution is important because it expresses support for the state’s underlying process of handling complex water issues. Other members in opposition said legislators will have a chance to vote on the compact itself in the legislative session, making unnecessary the resolution, which will reappear as a draft bill when the legislature reconvenes in January.
Senator Jim Peterson said he supported the resolution because it affirms the state’s commitment to negotiate a compact and makes it clear that the legislature has faith in its unique system of settling water rights claims with tribal and federal governments without dragging the process through a costly court battle.
The legislature has approved 17 compacts with state and federal agencies since the Montana Reserved Compact Commission’s formation in 1979. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Water Compact is the final compact left to be ratified and is currently in renegotiation.
A previous version of the compact died in committee before the full 2013 legislative body could act upon it. If the compact does not pass by the end of the 2015 legislative session, representatives for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have said that the tribal government will file as many as 10,000 water claims as far east as Bozeman, and potentially unravel basin adjudications that have long since been settled in Montana Water Court.
Some critics of the compact have pushed legislators and irrigation board commissioners to pursue a litigious route instead of negotiation, because the process has fallen short of what some irrigators who use the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project believe is fair.
Peterson said after consulting with lawyers who understand water law, undergoing numerous meetings between the state and Tribes, and hearing plenty of public comment, he believes Montana’s negotiation process has worked well, and is preferable to adjudication.
“We’re talking about a lot of effort that have gone into these negotiations and they continue to go forward,” Peterson said. “I think it’s important for us to support the process of negotiation rather than litigation. I think the hole gets awfully deep when you litigate this. Historically, it really hasn’t had very good results in other states.”
Representative Alan Doane did not agree that negotiations have been adequate.
“I think we’re delegating the responsibility of the entire legislature down to the negotiations by just a few,” the Bloomfield Republican said. “We heard testimony last time for nearly five hours from eight in the morning when we opened until (12:55 p.m.) when we had to go to the floor for a voting. The irrigators were still lined up down the halls. There were hundreds of irrigators that didn’t get to testify on that, and they were against this compact. I don’t think their voices have been heard yet and I don’t think this bill is going to enhance their view, enhance their voice to be heard.”
Representative Nicholas Schwaderer also voted against the bill and said it may have been more prudent to write a letter in support of the compact, instead of supporting a separate bill that will be brought before the legislature at the same time the compact itself is brought to a vote.
“My position is that if you want to vote up or down on the compact then it will be there in the same session instead of having another bill there,” Schwaderer said.
Schwaderer’s constituency now includes part of the area impacted by the compact because of redistricting. He said he has been on the ground meeting with tribal representatives and citizens about the compact.
“I’ve seen both sides pretty strong,” Schwaderer said. “But the common thread I’ve seen is a lot of heartache about how brother has been driven against brother on this. Folks who have known each other their entire lives are coming in on different sides and it has been very difficult in this community for a lot of people who have known each other, and I think it has to be voted on and it has to be discussed, but I think we need to keep all that effort and discussion to the one bill that will carry the compact instead of having two.”
Senator Bruce Tutvedt is expected to carry the bill before the 2014 legislature.
