Water compact moves to Senate
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MONTANA – The water rights compact between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the State of Montana, and the United States went to the next level on Thursday, May 26, when Senator Jon Tester presented it to the U.S. Senate as bill S.3013.
“The CSKT Water Compact will provide certainty for all water users, and boost economic development in northwest Montana,” Tester said in a press release. “This bill will prevent costly litigation and protect our state’s most valuable natural resource. I am proud to join the farmers and ranchers, landowners, small businesses, sportsmen, families, and tribal members who crafted this legislation.”
The Montana Legislature passed the bill in 2015 at the house level. CSKT and the state are currently working on compact implementation as per compact guidelines, but it could be some time before the compact makes its way through the senate.
The compact includes resources to modernize the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project for tribal and non-tribal people including noxious weed control, livestock fencing, irrigation ditches and canal screens, and livestock barriers along with drinking water upgrades.
However, the compact has been a point of contention among neighbors and friends as they choose to support or not support it. Supporters say it will bring needed resources to the project and settle water rights claims, but those against the compact say it will take away individual water rights on the reservation.
Rancher Jerry Laskody of St. Ignatius opposes the compact. He says it will transfer water rights to the tribe, significantly reduce delivered water, and put irrigators under a water administration law that is unconstitutional.
“We are being treated differently than anyone else in the state when we pay taxes to the state,” he said in a phone interview.
Laskody said that the compact hasn’t been cleared in Lake County District Court concerning a lawsuit filed by the Flathead Joint Board of Control alleging that the compact didn’t receive a two-thirds majority vote in Montana Legislature before it was passed.
“I think Tester is premature with this,” he said.
Tim Orr of St. Ignatius also opposes the compact. He said in an earlier interview with the Valley Journal that many irrigators believe the compact is taking something away from farmers.
“We’ve all put our blood, we’ve put our sweat, we’ve put our tears, we’ve put our lives and beings into our farms,” Orr said. “I just can’t see giving up a water right and property rights and rights to our courts that have been fought for years in this nation.”
Farmer Susan Lake of Ronan supports the compact.
“My husband’s family has farmed on the reservation for three generations and we know that with the compact our family can continue for generations to come,” she said in a press release. “I am thankful that the tribe, the federal government and the state were able to sit down and negotiate an agreement that protects farmers and ranchers like us and also satisfied the needs of the tribe to protect their natural resources.”
She says the compact benefits everyone.
“It took many years and is critical not only to the economic viability of our valley but to the social fabric as we continue to live here as friends and neighbors.”
Several state and local officials support Senator Testers move to take the compact to the senate including Governor Steve Bullock, Executive Vice President of the Montana Stockgrowers Association Errol Rice, Executive Director of Montana Trout Unlimited Bruce Farling, and Presiding Lake County Commissioner Ann Brower.
“I believe that the introduction by Senator Tester of the proposed compact will prove to be an economic benefit to Lake County,” Brower said in a press release.
President of Montana Farmers Union Alan Merrill also supports the compact.
“The Montana Farmers Union wants to recognize Senator Tester’s leadership and his willingness to get the CSKT Compact across the finish line so family farms have the certainty they need to increase production and expand their operation,” he said.
The CSKT tribes said in a press release that this is the first major step to settle the damage claims of the Tribes against the federal government and in achieving ratification.
“The Confederated and Salish Kootenai Tribes applaud Senator Tester—a champion for Montana’s Tribes—for his willingness to ensure that we are treated fairly and that the federal government is held accountable for water-related damages caused by over a century of federal negligence and mismanagement of tribal streams and wetlands, water delivery and treatment systems, agriculture and our citizens,” Tribal Chairman Vernon Finley said.
