Value of water worth litigation
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Editor,
Mr. Lake’s recent letter incorrectly blames many problems on the Flathead Joint Board of Control and I have responded to his and other erroneous statements in previous rebuttal letters. However in his letter of March 30, Roy Lake implied that the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ Compact should not be opposed by irrigator litigation because litigation will bankrupt them. This is a common theme from Compact supporters, so let’s examine that premise.
There are approximately 115,000 acres of Flathead Irrigation Project fee lands assessed for administrative fees. Did you ever stop and think about what the value of the water right is on that land? Let’s assume that that water right is valued at $1,500 per acre. That’s a pretty low ball value but let’s use it realizing that water rights in the semi-arid west grow more valuable everyday as the populations of the western states continues to increase.
Given the assumption of $1,500/acre, that water right is collectively worth $172.5 million dollars. That is $172.5 million of the irrigator’s property value that will be transferred to the U.S. in trust for the CSKT. Are any of you irrigators out there willing to take that kind of a financial loss? And that doesn’t include the loss of income due to reduced Compact water deliveries, so who’s bankrupting who?
The present assessment to support all FJBC’s litigation efforts (Compact, Takeover, Low Cost Block of Power) is $2.50/acre or $287,500/ year. Let’s say half of that ( about $144,000/year) is used for Compact litigation. If the FJBC spent that for 10 years, that would be about $1.440 million. $1.440 million to protect more than $172.5 million in property value sounds like cheap insurance to me. It would be a bargain at five or 10 times that much. So litigation appears to be a viable strategy.
If Mr. Lake wants to transfer his water right to the CSKT, I’m sure he can request a consensual agreement with the CSKT to do so.
I’d rather risk the $2.50 per acre, per year and protect my property rights, and I would think other irrigators would, too.
Jerry Laskody
St. Ignatius
