MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - The U.S. Congress has included a tribal water compact in its year-end legislation, one that sets up a nearly $2 billion trust to settle damage claims and refurbish the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project in Montana.
The Montana Water Rights Protection Act was attached on Monday to the roughly $1.4 trillion omnibus appropriations package that finalized a range of government spending and policy for the year, the Missoulian reported.
The bill also includes about $900 billion in pandemic relief funds. It passed in the House and Senate on Monday and has been sent to President Donald Trump for approval.
The irrigation project’s dams and canals extend throughout the Flathead Indian Reservation, Lake County and Sanders County.
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have claims to more than 10,000 water rights beyond the land on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The compact offered a deal where the tribes relinquished their claims to most of the water outside of the reservation. In exchange, the tribes would receive 211 water rights on their reservation, 10 water rights outside of the reservation and co-ownership of 58 other water rights.
The water rights measure also includes a provision to transfer ownership of the National Bison Range to tribal ownership. Tribal Council Chairwoman Shelly R. Fyant said the range, which holds about 300 to 500 bison, “will be professionally managed for bison conservation and will remain open to the public.”
The bill was initially introduced by Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in 2016 and reintroduced in Dec. 2019 by Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines.
“After years of hard work, the Senate just passed our bipartisan bill to permanently resolve the century-long CSKT water dispute, and it will soon become law,” Daines said in an email. “Without our bill, thousands of Montanans would be forced to spend money in legal battles and our agriculture economy would’ve take over a $1 billion hit.”
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