[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 23, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CHIPPEWA CREE TRIBE OF THE ROCKY BOY'S 
    RESERVATION INDIAN RESERVED WATER RIGHTS SETTLEMENT ACT OF 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RICK HILL

                               of montana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 23, 1999

  Mr. HILL of Montana. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a bill to 
settle the water rights claims of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky 
Boy's Reservation in the State of Montana. This bill is the culmination 
of many years of technical and legal work and many years of 
negotiations involving the Chippewa Cree Tribe, the State of Montana, 
and representatives of the United States Departments of the Interior 
and Justice. The bill will ratify a settlement quantifying the water 
rights of the Tribe and providing for their development in a manner 
that avoids harm to their neighbors. It provides Federal funds 
necessary for water supply facilities and Tribal economic development, 
and defines the Federal role in implementing the settlement. This 
Settlement bill has the full support of the Tribe, the State of 
Montana, the Administration, and the water users who farm and ranch on 
streams shared with the Reservation. The bill will effectuate a 
settlement that is a textbook example of how State, Tribal, and Federal 
governments can work together to resolve differences in a way that 
meets the concerns of all. It is also a settlement that reflects the 
effectiveness of Tribal and non-Tribal water users in working together 
in good will and good faith and with respect for each other's needs and 
concerns.
  The Compact quantifies the Tribe's on-reservation water rights and 
establishes a water administration system carefully designed to have 
minimal adverse impacts on downstream non-Tribal water users, and 
indeed, to benefit downstream users wherever possible. This is quite an 
accomplishment in an area of Montana with a scarce water supply. The 
Rocky Boy's Reservation is located in an arid area with an average 
annual precipitation of 12 inches on the portion of the Reservation 
suitable for growing hay. Fortunately, an average annual snowpack of 30 
inches in the Bearpaw Mountains within the Reservation contributes to a 
significant spring runoff. Effective utilization of that runoff through 
enlarged or new storage facilities on the Reservation is a critical 
part of the settlement package which this bill represents. Accordingly, 
$25 million in the budget of the Bureau of Reclamation is earmarked for 
specified on-reservation water development projects. To meet the future 
water and economic needs of the Reservation, the bill contains an 
allocation of 10,000 acre feet of storage water to the Tribe in Tiber 
Reservoir, a Federal storage facility.
  In addition, the bill authorizes the initial steps of a more 
extensive process of obtaining a long-term drinking water supply for 
the Chippewa Cree Tribe--a process that is vital to the survival of the 
Tribe. Toward that end, the bill authorizes the following: (1) seed 
money ($15 million) toward the cost of a future project to import 
drinking water to the Reservation; and (2) funds ($1 million) for the 
Secretary of the Interior to conduct a feasibility study to identify 
water resources available to meet the Tribe's future drinking water 
needs, to evaluate alternatives for the importation of drinking water 
to the Rocky Boy's Reservation, and to assess on-reservation water 
needs. The bill also authorizes funds for a regional feasibility study 
($3 million) to evaluate water resources over a broader area of North 
Central Montana that contains two other Indian reservations with 
unquantified and undeveloped water rights.
  In closing, I believe it is not an overstatement to say that the 
Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy's Reservation Indian Reserved 
Water Rights Settlement Act is a historic agreement. It is a tribute to 
the Governor of Montana, Marc Racicot, represented by the Reserved 
Water Rights Compact Commission; the chairman of the Tribe, Bert 
Corcoran and the Tribal negotiating team; David Hayes, Counselor to 
Secretary Babbitt and the Federal negotiating team; and the water users 
on Big Sandy and Beaver Creeks in the Milk River Valley of Montana, 
that this Compact represents a truly local solution that takes into 
account the needs and sovereign rights of each party. Although numerous 
Indian water right settlements have been approved by Congress, none 
have come before us in recent years. In approving the Chippewa Cree 
Settlement Act, this Congress has the opportunity to send the message 
to western States that we endorse negotiation as the preferred method 
of Indian water right quantification, and that we will defer to States 
and Tribes to fashion their own approach to the allocation of water. I 
intend to work closely with Members of Congress to ensure passage of 
this vitally important bill this year.

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