Support water compact, avoid litigation
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Editor,
Several recent letters have been written about individual water rights that are supposed to exist on the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project (FIIP). These letters talk about water rights supposedly granted by the U.S. While these letter writers have been unable to actually produce a valid water right certificate, they have been successful in muddying the waters. The truth of the matter is this: The United States has no legal ability to issue/grant water rights. That privilege lies with the individual states.
That privilege was codified with the enactment of the McCarran Amendment in 1952. Prior to enactment of this legislation, unless the U.S. agreed, it could not be forced to participate in state water adjudications. With the passage of the McCarran Amendment, the United States could be brought into statewide general stream adjudications. The McCarran Amendment made clear that the U.S. could not grant water rights if a state was conducting a general stream adjudication. That is what is happening in Montana. That is why the Montana legislature ordered all water users to re-file their water rights. The Montana general stream adjudication (Water Court) will then sort through all claims and determine who has what rights.
The Compact Commission was set up to avoid decades of expensive litigation of these federal rights. And to date, they have been spectacularly successful. With the CSKT Compact, every effort has been made by the Compact Commission to protect existing water uses, even for uses that would be very junior in an adjudication process. The Compact and associated Water Use Agreement protect unregistered domestic wells, secures a reliable, adequate supply of water for irrigation, and provides for tens of millions of infrastructure improvements for the FIIP.
Avoid litigation; support the Compact.
Jerry Johnson
St. Ignatius
