Compact fatally flawed
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Editor,
Concerned Citizens of Western Montana is a group of citizens formed to inform Montanans about the problems with the CSKT Compact that failed in the 2013 legislative session. Our focus is necessarily on the entire Compact, not just the small piece of the Compact known as the irrigation project Water Use Agreement. In this regard, Concerned Citizens is a different organization than the Western Montana Water Users Association, LLC, which has focused almost entirely on the irrigator Water Use Agreement.
The LLC has done great work stopping what Judge McNeil ruled to be an unconstitutional taking without compensation. Even with that ruling, compact proponents continue to use the irrigator agreement to distract and confuse the public from the real issues. It is also likely that many proponents of the water use agreement are uninformed about details of the whole compact.
Concerned Citizens does not believe a water use agreement is necessary to the quantification of the federal reserved water rights belonging to the CSKT. The CSKT do not own the irrigators’ water right and do not have the authority to dictate irrigation water use. Water use in the irrigation project simply has nothing to do with settling the federal reserved water rights of the CSKT.
Even without the irrigation agreement, Concerned Citizens believes that the Compact is fatally flawed and must be changed. The Commission erred in including off reservation treaty rights in an on-reservation federal reserved rights proceeding, and further erred in giving up state water administration to the CSKT and Federal government. The “Unitary Management Ordinance” forever replaces state water administration on the reservation. This politically appointed board is touted to be “local control,” but you need look no further than to the irrigation project’s Cooperative Management Entity to see that it’s designed for tribal control. These issues should be of major concern to residents of western Montana.
Concerned Citizens will continue to educate the public and legislators of the flaws in the Compact with the intent of creating a “win-win” solution for all.
Terry Backs
St. Ignatius
