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‘New’ Compact Equals Old Compact

I urge the fee landowners and legislators to oppose this compact

By Kellyn Brown

Having briefly reviewed the “new compact,” I believe that it is no more than a wordsmithed version of the old compact with no substantive changes.

It still:

  • Grants the Tribe the Flathead Project water right.
  • Does not quantify the Project irrigator’s historic water use or the Tribes’ federal reserved right.
  • Creates a law of administration that is different than the rest of the state, thus denying fee land owners equal protection under the law.

The Compact Commission has refused to meet with the duly elected representatives of the Flathead Project irrigators, the Flathead Joint Board of Control, a local government under Montana statutes, to even discuss the irrigator’s issues. Commissioners were told, in no uncertain terms, that our water right issue and our concerns with the unitary management ordinance were non-negotiable.

In response to the state’s refusal to even discuss our grievances, the Joint Board of Control passed a resolution stating that it could not support the compact and recommended as an alternative that the Montana Water Court adjudicate all water rights in a normal stream adjudication process.

The economic impact of this compact will reduce land values and income for everyone, including compact proponents, since it is a transfer of wealth from taxpaying fee landowners to the Tribal Government.

Due to the heavy-handed way in which this compact was developed, there are large tears in the social fabric of our communities. These will only worsen if this compact is passed.

I predict that the passage of this unprecedented compact will unleash a storm of litigation never before seen in Montana due to the egregious, unconstitutional nature of the issues I have enumerated above.

I urge the fee landowners and legislators to oppose this compact.

Jerry Laskody
St. Ignatius