The Flathead County Commission intends to host an Oct. 22 public hearing on the state’s proposed water compact with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and the hearing will likely end with the signing of a new letter to the governor asking for negotiations on the compact.
According to the commissioners’ office, the hearing will subscribe to the same format as the recent hearing on the Agency on Aging, with the commissioners making opening comments, followed by public comment on the CSKT water compact, then more commissioner discussion, and the consideration of signing a new letter from the commission about the compact, which is addressed to Gov. Steve Bullock.
At the end of the hearing, the commission will consider rescinding its Jan. 3 letter to the Water Policy Interim Committee, which was a letter of support for the proposed water compact.
The new draft letter asks for certain priorities for Flathead County in the ongoing compact negotiations.
They are as follows:
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Our current residential, commercial and municipal water rights should be recognized and protected from call in the future. Negotiations for the compact should ensure adequate water is available for future growth in western Montana.
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Our agricultural economy needs a stable and secure water supply free from conflict to ensure high quality and plentiful crop and livestock production.
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It is our desire that State Water policy makers should engage in negotiations and avoid litigation. To this end, adopted water policies should protect Flathead County and its citizens from the need to uphold their water rights.
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Environmental water needs must be considered in order to protect the aquatic system so important to our fisheries, recreation and tourism. The cultural heritage of ALL Montanans includes protection of our aquatic system for our generation and those to come.
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Basin closures should be avoided, and legally available water for future use in basins now restricted should be acquired through negotiations. We must ensure that Flathead County is not prohibited from growth by a failure to acquire water from basins such as Hungry Horse Reservoir. Our development future depends on the acquisition of water that is currently legally unavailable within the Federal Reserve system. Please ensure this acquisition is part and parcel of a final solution to the water issue.
The letter also includes a section about avoiding racism, partisan politics and protracted litigation as the water compact heads to the 2015 Legislature.
The Oct. 22 hearing is the result of a formal request from the organization American Dream Montana. The organization’s chairman, Russ Crowder, spoke during the hearing at the Agency on Aging on Oct. 8, trying to discuss the water compact.
His recent letter to the commission asked for a two-hour block of time to discuss the water compact.
Crowder wrote that the new hearing is necessary because “new and significant information concerning the Water Compact has recently come to light, information that was not available to the Commission at the time you voted to support the agreement on behalf of Flathead County, its citizens and property owners.”
The letter also asks for a public hearing, a new vote from the commission, and for the commission to extend “the same courtesy that was just extended to the Agency on Aging.”
The Oct. 22 hearing will take place at the commissioners’ chambers, located at 800 South Main St. in Kalispell, at 9 a.m.