FJBC must be prepared to respond to other water right claimants
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Editor,
Montana Water Court adjudication, which will enter its next phase later this year, is an adversarial process. Thus, a water right claimant must be ready to respond to challenges from other water right claimants. At the same time, a water right claimant also must be ready to challenge other water right claims. As seen in other parts of Montana where the adjudication process is much further along, adjudication can be costly and prolonged for all participants.
In my Jan. 17 Valley Journal letter, I identified potential challengers to the FJBC’s water right claims. But the FJBC also needs to be prepared to aggressively challenge other water right claims, including for example:
– tribal water right claims on project water and instream flows
– U.S. Department of Interior claims on project water that are almost identical to FJBC claims
– water right claims of property owners with secretarial water right claims on surface water
– water right claims of those who have supplemental water right claims on project water
Each FJBC challenge would require in-depth preparations involving not only extensive legal and hydrological inputs, but also other specialized inputs. For example, to challenge tribal instream flow claims that are based in part on fishery requirements, the FJBC would need to hire fishery experts.
Dick Erb
Moiese
