Water rights negotiators release new draft
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POLSON — At Wednesday’s negotiation session for water rights on the Flathead Reservation, the Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission Attorney Jay Weiner presented information on the latest draft of the unitary administration ordinance. Weiner added the ordinance was uploaded to the compact website last week. (Go to www.dnrc.mt.gov/rwrcc/Compacts/CSKT/Default.asp and scroll down to draft administrative ordinance provisions to view the draft.)
Both Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal negotiators and RWRCC staff emphasized that the ordinance is a work in progress and a collaborative effort by all parties — the CSKT, the RWRCC and the United States teams.
Unitary administration means that all water on the reservation will be administered by the water management board with one set of rules of ordinance. This board would be responsible for water administration, including hiring and supervising a water engineer and staff.
The ordinance will be effective only when both the state and the tribes approve it, Weiner explained. The ordinance is divided into three chapters with the third chapter, enforcement, blank so far. Part one of chapter one is a “panoply of things for the orderly development of future water development on the reservation,” Weiner said.
Part two deals with unitary administration and management, including the water management board, now a five-member board with two tribal members, two State of Montana members, and the fifth member selected by the other four. Another issue is whether the United States gets a seat on the board.
Chapter two nails down the specifics of water rights and how they would be dealt with. Part two of chapter two would be the permit and change application process and what hoops would have to be jumped through, Weiner said.
In other business, U.S. negotiator Duane Mecham said Letty Belin, counselor to the Deputy Secretary of the Interior and chair of the working group on Indian water settlements, visited the Flathead Reservation and also met with Chris Tweeten, chair of the RWRCC.
Mecham also spoke about Judge James Redden’s ruling that the Obama administration’s attempt to make federal hydroelectric dams in the Northwest safer for protected salmon violates the Endangered Species Act. In August, Redden ruled that the biological plan was insufficient, Mecham noted, and that in his view it lacked detail for fish habitat. So the biological opinion will have to be redone, Mecham said, adding that the block of water from Hungry Horse Reservoir will be secured for future uses on the reservation.
During the question-and-answer period, a student from Rod Bird’s Two Eagle River School history class asked, “Because of the federal trust responsibility, why would a U.S. government position be left off the water management board?”
Tweeten answered that it was a matter of timing since it takes quite a long time for the U.S. government to make policy decisions and get back to local representatives.
“The board, as we view it,” Tweeten explained, “would have to be extremely nimble to respond to disputes on the reservation in real time.”
Mecham said when the U.S. proceeds with an Indian water rights settlement, the key goal is for the Indians to have sovereignty over their own resources, as in the case of unitary management.
CSKT Elder Pat Pierre commented on the tribal and cultural uses of water.
The next meeting was scheduled for Oct. 26 at 9 a.m.
