Water agreement all wrong
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
Editor,
Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and there is little of what I have seen and heard of the water users agreement that is right. If the current water compact is such a good deal, why has the Flathead Joint Board of Control set aside $30,000 of irrigators’ money to defend it to the public? Why is someone who is not a FJBC board member passing out flyers instead of members of the board who support it? A few more questions that irrigators should be asking the FJBC they appointed are:
Who paid for Walt Shock’s new mainline? How is it that individuals on the FJBC and the CME have acquired more tribal lease land? Why are the irrigators with tribal lease land so quiet or not involved in debates regarding the agreement? Why would the project manager of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project order additional water from Schall Ranch diverted downstream, instead of using it for irrigation? Bribery is being used rather than negotiation. Why has BP Power, one of the four power marketing administrations of the department of energy, purchased land along the Blackfoot River, and parcels like Schall Ranch?
Questions like how litigation would be conducted, which court, who will defend individual property owners’ water rights, and what is the role of the FJBC, have answers. For one, the threat of litigation has been used as a scare tactic. Should the compact commission sunset, or expire, it would force the adjudication of water back to the water court. The tribe would have to quantify its water right, and the State of Montana would be forced to defend the water rights of non-tribal citizens. Litigation costs would be shared by the citizens of the State of Montana. The Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission has stepped outside its commission, part of which was to quantify the water rights of the tribe. Board members of the FJBC need to start defending the rights of the irrigators.
The most crucial thing to remember, if this agreement passes, it is permanent, regardless of whether the rest of the compact passes or not.
Ken Scott
St. Ignatius
