[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 135 (Friday, September 23, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  A BILL TO RATIFY A COMPACT BETWEEN THE ASSINIBOINE AND SIOUX INDIAN 
      TRIBES OF THE FORT PECK RESERVATION AND THE STATE OF MONTANA

                                 ______


                           HON. PAT WILLIAMS

                               of montana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 23, 1994

  Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Speaker, today I am please to introduce a bill to 
ratify the water rights compact between Montana and the Fort Peck 
Tribes.
  The compact was finalized more than 9 years ago to settle the tribes' 
water rights, which had been the subject of litigation for more than a 
decade in Montana. It has been ratified by the tribes and the Montana 
Legislature and approved by the Secretary of Interior and the Attorney 
General.
  This compact provides final quantification of the water rights of the 
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation in 
northeastern Montana. It also protects the rights of non-Indian water 
users existing in 1985, establishes a joint tribal-State board to 
resolve disputes, and allows for water marketing outside of the 
reservation subject to certain conditions.
  My bill differs, in several important respects, from legislation 
introduced by Senators Baucus, Burns, and Inouye in this Congress as 
well as the 102d by prohibiting use of the tribal water right outside 
of the Missouri River basin, providing a waiver of all water rights 
claims by the tribes against the United States and establishment of an 
economic development fund for the tribes.
  The restriction on exercise of the tribal water right outside of the 
basin addresses concerns raised by several States downstream from 
Montana, which have previously resulted in holds being placed on the 
compact in the Senate. Section 3(e) alleviates the basis of those 
objections.
  This bill also provides for the waiver of all tribal water rights 
claims against the United States in section 3(g). In the compact, the 
tribes agreed to protect the irrigation rights on approximately 32,500 
acres of non-Indian landowners, both on and off the reservation. 
Although Indian lands had a senior priority date, the U.S. Government 
allowed these non-Indian landowners to develop virtually all the flow 
of surface streams plus all of the area's ground water resources. The 
protection of these uses in the compact was a major legal and economic 
concession by the tribes. Section 3(g) precludes the tribes from making 
any claim against the United States because of the Government's errors.
  To compensate the tribes for major economic and legal concessions 
this legislation establishes a tribal economic recovery fund of $50 
million to be built up out of appropriated funds over a period of 
several years. The fund would be permanent and the principal could not 
be invaded, beginning in fiscal year 1999 the tribes could use the 
interest for economic development and land acquisition within the 
reservation as approved by the Secretary of the Interior. The payments 
into the fund would be measured as a percentage of power revenues of 
the Pick-Sloan Eastern Division. However payments would be by 
appropriation and the legislation specifically provides that power 
rates would never be affected by the settlement.
  The United States benefits from the prohibition of out-of-basin water 
marketing since this ensures that Federal hydroelectric dams downstream 
from the reservation will have the benefit of the full flow of the 
Missouri River. In 1983 the Western Area Power Administration [WAPA] 
estimated that if the tribes marketed 50,000 acre-feet out of the 
basin, downstream power production would diminish by $3,500,000 to 
$4,000,000 annually--in 1983 dollars.
  In the 1980's there was a large demand for Missouri River water for 
coal slurry pipelines, at one time the tribes were offered $3.6 million 
for 20,000 acre-feet annually. As negotiated the compact quantifies the 
reserved winters rights of the tribes at 1,050,000 acre-feet per year 
and authorizes the marketing of at least 50,000 acre-feet of water per 
year.
  There is precedent for measuring Indian water settlements by Federal 
power revenues. For example, in 1992 the Three Affiliated Tribes and 
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North and South Dakota received settlement 
funds in connection with construction of the dams and reservoirs built 
on the Missouri River in the 1940's and 1950's. The act required the 
United States to deposit appropriated money into economic development 
funds equal to 25 percent of the receipt from the programs of the 
Eastern Division of the Pick-Sloan Missouri River project over a number 
of years until a ceiling was reached.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation is an important final step in the 
tribes' effort to secure their water rights and realize the benefit of 
the bargain of the compact that they negotiated in good faith with the 
State of Montana and the United States. I urge expedited action of this 
important matter.

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