[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 76 (Thursday, June 9, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S6331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BURNS:
  S. 1219. A bill to authorize certain tribes in the State of Montana 
to enter into a lease or other temporary conveyance of water rights to 
meet the water needs of the Dry Prairie Rural Water Association, Inc; 
to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation that 
provides an important clarification to the Fort Peck Reservation Rural 
Water System Act of 2000. The water project authorized by that 
legislation will provide desperately needed drinking water to the 
residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and the communities 
surrounding the Reservation Dry Prairie Rural Water System.
  In order to accomplish this, the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the 
Fort Peck Reservation and Dry Prairie are set to enter into an 
agreement, allowing Dry Prairie to use the water. The Dry Prairie 
allocation will be approximately 2,800 acre feet of water. The 
agreement is consistent with the provisions of the Tribes' Water 
Compact. However, to address any possible questions regarding the 
Tribes' grant of use of this water to Dry Prairie, both the Tribes and 
Dry Prairie would like the Secretary's authority to approve this water 
use agreement to be clearly approved by Congress. The legislation I am 
introducing today provides this clarification.
  The Project, as authorized, calls for the water to be diverted from 
the Missouri River at a single location south of Poplar, MT, to an 
intake system or an infiltration gallery. The estimated amount of 
annual project diversion is 6,000 acre feet for the entire Project 
area. The Missouri River at the point of diversion has an average 
annual streamflow of approximately 7.5 million acre feet.
  The Tribes, pursuant to their tribal-state water rights compact, one 
of the first in the Nation, hold a water right to nearly one million 
acre feet in the Missouri River. This compact has been approved by the 
Montana Water Court and is binding on all the parties. This Project 
will finally enable the Fort Peck Tribes to receive critical benefits 
from its water settlement with the United States and the State of 
Montana. As a result of this settlement, the Tribes are able to make a 
significant contribution to the Project: the water that will be used 
for the entire system. My legislation will provide the legal clarity 
necessary to ensure this project moves forward as intended.
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