Articles with the Tag: Water rights
FLATHEAD RESERVATION – Negotiations of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Water Rights Compact are set to re-open soon, according to authorities and correspondence between the Tribes and Governor Steve Bullock. Negotiations will be tailored to strictly address the Water Use Agreement that i...
PABLO — The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes filed suit in U.S. District Court, Missoula, on Feb. 27. The suit defendants are the United States Department of Interior Secretary Sarah “Sally” Jewell; United States Bureau of Indian Affairs; Jocko Valley Irrigation District; Mi...
One frequently asked question about the proposed water compact among the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the State of Montana and the United States of America is “Who owns the water in Montana?” “Under the Montana Constitution, the State of Montana owns all the water in th...
ST. IGNATIUS — Three Flathead Joint Board of Control Commissioners — Boone Cole, Chair, Wayne Blevins and Jerry Laskody — gathered on Oct. 14 to talk to newspaper reporters about Resolution 2013 and what brought about the resolution. The FJBC, voting 6 to 5 with the chair abstainin...
PABLO — In 2009, John Carter, attorney for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, wrote that the Montana Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission was established by the 1979 Legislature “to negotiate rather than litigate the federal reserved and aboriginal water rights of Indian tribes and ...
RONAN — “Water is a flammable substance in this valley, they told me,” said Bruce Lobel, grinning. Lobel, a retired Montana water court judge, was in Ronan Wednesday, Oct. 2, to present information on the water adjudication process. Lobel had been on the water court for 23 years and i...
News from the Montana Supreme Court HELENA — Chief Justice Mike McGrath today announced he has selected Douglas Ritter to serve as the Associate Judge of the Montana Water Court. Ritter’s appointment is effective Sept. 16. Ritter was selected from a list of three candidates recommend...
ST. IGNATIUS — Rumors were flying about a protest planned by Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal members at the May 13 Flathead Joint Board of Control meeting. There was no protest, and the FJBC board members voted on board officers, swearing in new members Jerry Laskody, Mission District,...
Retired attorney Lloyd Ingraham, Ronan, surprised the Flathead Joint Board of Control on April 16 with a writ signed by District 20 Judge C.B. McNeil preventing the FJBC from voting on whether to adopt or reject the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project water use agreement. About 50 people crowded the Flathe...
HELENA — Sen. Verdell Jackson, R-SD 5, has the only water compact bill still alive in the 2013 Montana Legislature. Senate Bill 265 would extend the water compact deadline by two years, and it has passed the Senate. “It’s had executive action in the House of Representatives. Now it needs...
