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Tester Introduces CSKT Water Compact in Senate
Despite approval from state Legislature, tribal water rights measure requires congressional approval
BY TRISTAN SCOTT OF THE BEACON
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester announced May 26 that he is introducing legisla- tion to ratify the water rights compact for the Confederated Salish and Koote- nai Tribes, and while he acknowledged that it is the rst step in a long process toward full congressional approval – fur- ther complicated by a $2.3 billion price tag – he said “we have to move forward.”
The bill would ratify a water rights deal between federal and state govern- ments and the CSKT that took more than a decade to negotiate. The complex mea- sure quanti es and de nes the federally reserved water rights for the Tribe and includes protections for those with exist- ing rights, a ecting water use on the Flat- head Indian Reservation and throughout western Montana.
In addition to the endorsement of state lawmakers, which the contentious measure narrowly received at the end of the 2015 Montana Legislative Session, the Flathead water compact must also gain congressional approval, and the timeframe for navigating that process is unclear.
“This is the beginning of the process,” Tester, D-Montana, said. “If we wait for it to be a perfect storm before we move for- ward, it will never ever happen.
“This is a piece of legislation that has a lot of components to it, and the sooner we can start talking about it the sooner we can get it done,” he added.
Speaking to reporters during a media conference call, Tester said he would be “very surprised” if the compact received approval from the current Congress, whose session ends Jan. 3, 2017, but is hopeful that the bill’s introduction before the U.S. Senate is the rst step toward gaining a “critical mass” of support and moving it across the nish line.
In order to achieve that bipartisan support, Tester said Montana’s full con- gressional delegation would have to be on board.
That includes U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, who in the past has said that funding water compacts in the cur- rent scal climate presents a challeng- ing task, and that due to budgetary con- straints funding requires a high degree of scrutiny.
And if history is any precursor, the CSKT compact’s path to nal endorse- ment promises to be a drawn-out process.
CSKT Tribal Chairman Vernon Finley shakes hands with Gov. Steve Bullock before he signs the Flathead Water Compact.
BEACON FILE PHOTO
It took 11 years for a compact with the Crow Tribe to pass Congress after the Montana Legislature approved it in 1999, and its nal passage came only after it was attached to legislation through the Cobell Settlement, the upshot of a sprawling class-action lawsuit by Native Americans against the U.S. government.
Meanwhile, the water compact with the Blackfeet Tribe still has not received congressional approval since its intro- duction in 2010, while a compact with the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Reservation, rati ed by the state Legislature in 2001, lingered for a decade before the deal was intro- duced in Congress, where it has yet to be decided.
Tester has introduced the Blackfeet measure four times – in 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2016 – and introduced the Fort Belk- nap in 2012 and 2013. U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, said a recent House Natural Resource Committee’s hearing on the Blackfeet compact signi ed prog- ress for the beleaguered bill.
Tester, a farmer from Big Sandy, said nding the money to pay for the CSKT compact poses the greatest challenge, and is actively seeking ways to o set the price tag using money from other areas of the federal budget, such as a pool of money from the Bureau of Reclamation.
“That is some serious dough,” Tes- ter said of the $2.3 billion cost. “The vast majority of this money goes to
infrastructure, but that is still a big check. And I am con dent we can iden- tify how we will pay for this compact.”
CSKT Chairman Vernon Finley applauded Tester’s e ort to advance the compact, saying the Tribes have worked in earnest through on-the-ground col- laboration to craft a fair measure.
“This is a resolution that was devel- oped in Montana among neighbors, and we look forward to the federal govern- ment con rming for us the compromises and the discussions that have taken place to put this compact forward,” Finley said.
Susan Lake, a non-tribal water user whose family owns Lake Farms near Ronan, said she was skeptical about the compact when negotiations began, but has grown to support the agreement as the tribes found solutions to make it via- ble for her business.
“They made sure that we had enough water to grow the crops that we needed to grow,” she said. “This is a fair resolution to a complicated problem.”
Proponents of the Flathead compact include Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, Republican state Attorney General Tim Fox and several of the state’s major agri- culture groups, such as the Montana Farmers Union and Montana Stockgrow- ers Association.
At the Montana Legislature’s 2015 session, the CSKT water compact stood out as one of the most prominent and divisive measures, which state lawmak- ers passed into law only after a series of heated debates.
The Flathead water compact is the last of seven tribal water rights com- pacts passed by the state. It joins both the Blackfeet and Fort Belknap compacts in the wait for federal approval.
tscott@ atheadbeacon.com
“THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE PROCESS, IF WE WAIT FOR IT TO BE A PERFECT STORM BEFORE WE MOVE FORWARD, IT WILL NEVER EVER HAPPEN.”
- TESTER, D-MONTANA
JUNE 1, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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