Irrigation board talks strategy on water compact
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ST. IGNATIUS – After the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Water Compact passed through the Montana Senate last week, lobbyists for the Flathead Joint Board of Control were optimistic that they could keep the bill from passing in the House of Representatives.
The board, which represents irrigators who receive water from the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project, is in opposition to the compact. The compact would finalize water rights claims for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and has a looming June 30 deadline for passage. If the bill is not ratified by the state legislature by that date, the Tribes have stated that they will file as many as 10,000 water rights claims as far east as Bozeman.
“On the vote count right now, we do have a majority on the Judiciary Committee,” Lobbyist Abigail St. Lawrence said.
Lawrence was also optimistic that the bill would emerge from committee with a “do not pass” recommendation that would make the bill have to be blasted to the floor of the House with a three-fifths majority vote in order to bring it to a vote.
“They would need at least 60 votes to overcome that adverse committee report,” St. Lawrence said. “Right now we’ve got 37 votes on the floor as a ‘no’ vote. We’ve got 22 swings. We would need to pull four swings in order to defeat a motion to overcome an adverse committee report. We’re working on that. I think we may be looking at pretty good shape here.”
Despite the 31-19 vote count for the bill in the Senate, the battle in the House will likely be a completely different ball park.
“The Senate has never been where this fight was going to be,” St. Lawrence said. “It is going to be in the House. That’s where we are going to stop this thing.”
The board also ramped up its public relations stance in regard to the compact by authorizing a $1,000 advertising budget to run ads in Helena newspapers detailing the board’s discontent with the Montana Water Resources Association. The association is a statewide group of water users and water entities that aims to protect natural resources. The board voted to not renew its membership with the association.
“We are about 25 percent of its membership of irrigation districts,” irrigation commissioner Boone Cole said. “We are about 8 percent of its membership total … Last year because of our size we asked that we be given additional seats on their board. We were told at the time that there were no vacancies, that it would be given consideration.”
In January the association appointed three new board members, none of whom belong to the Flathead Joint Board of Control.
“Additionally, over the past year, they never took any serious consideration or sought information from our side regarding the position of this board, particularly regarding the compact,” Cole said. “We shared information with them. They never asked questions, never wanted further input, and they voted to support the compact and testifying in favor of the compact. The issue has arisen that at the time we need them most they clearly have not represented or aren’t even interested in our input or positions.”
Board members said they will ask to have their dues returned.
“It doesn’t hurt to ask,” Irrigation Commissioner Tim Orr said. “$6,000 is a lot of money.”
