Commissioners don't support act

The Lake and Sanders County commissioners received a draft of Senator Steve Daines’ “Montana Water Rights Protection Act,” a proposal to provide a settlement to the CSKT water compact, on December 10. After reviewing the framework of the draft proposal, the commissioners request that the senator delay introduction of the bill into Congress until the commissioners can meet with the senator to discuss the significant negative consequences of the “Act” to our counties.

The senator’s draft “Act” does not in any way accomplish its stated objective which is to “provide a fair, equitable and final settlement of claims of water rights in the State of Montana. Instead, it is a capitulation to the demands of the CSKT that off-reservation water rights to be included in any settlement. To satisfy these demands, the Senator is proposing that the State of Montana and federal government cede over 50,000 acres of public lands in our counties, in addition to relinquishing jurisdiction and control over all public roads and rights-of-way on the Reservation. These proposals are unacceptable to the commissioners and residents of our counties. The commissioners have been assured by the senator that his proposal is merely a draft and changes can be made, but the framework of the draft contains language that cannot be included in any final compact settlement bill.

The draft “Act” is no more than a re-write of Senator Tester’s Senate Bill 3013 which was proposed in June of 2016, but never introduced into Congress because of a lack of support from the public and Senator Daines himself. This “Act” is not an improvement on Senate Bill 3013.

We urge citizens of our County to contact the Senator or his office and urge him not to introduce his “Montana Water Rights Protection Act” at this time. The Senator needs to be made aware of the flaws in his proposed legislation prior to it being put in the hands of Congress.

Tony Cox, Carol Brooker, Glen Magera,

Sanders County Commissioners

Bill Barron, Dave Stipe, Gale Decker, Kate Stinger,

Lake County Commissioners