[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 26 (Thursday, February 17, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BAUCUS (for himself and Mr. Tester):
  S. 399. A bill to modify the purposes and operation of certain 
facilities of the Bureau of Reclamation to implement the water rights 
compact among the State of Montana, the Blackfeet Tribe of the 
Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, and the United States, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, today I rise to introduce the Blackfeet 
Water Rights Settlement Act of 2011. The Blackfeet Reservation is 
located in northwest Montana with Canada to the north and Glacier Park 
to the west. The Blackfeet Reservation consists of approximately 1.5 
million acres with farming and tribal and federal government as the 
primary source of economic activity. About 10,100 people live on the 
reservation and approximately 25,800 live off reservation. The 
Blackfeet Tribe is ably assisted by the Blackfeet Tribal Business 
Council of which Willie Sharp is Chairman.
  The Blackfeet Reservation was established under the Fort Laramie 
Treaty of 1851. Later, part of the reservation was sold to the U.S. 
Government, and the Sweetgrass Hills Treaty was ratified by Congress in 
1888. The sale of these lands by treaty established the reservations 
for the Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Tribes.
  Over 100 years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such treaties 
imply a commitment to reserve sufficient water to satisfy both present 
and future needs of a tribe. Today we are moving forward on the journey 
to fulfill that commitment with the introduction of the Blackfeet Water 
Rights Settlement Act of 2011.
  The Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement Act of 2011 will resolve over a 
century of conflict over waters in Montana. The Act ratifies the water 
rights compact with the Blackfeet Nation. It is the product of more 
than 10 years of negotiations between diverse groups of users in the 
area, which ended in 2007. The Compact was approved by the Montana 
Legislature in April 2009, and the state of Montana has already 
appropriated $19 million in support of its work to implement the 
Compact. This legislation will bring clean water to reservation 
families and support tribal agriculture and provide long-range economic 
development.
  The Blackfeet People call the mountains of their homeland the 
``backbone of the world.'' When you visit their land, you can feel a 
shiver in your own backbone at its beauty and spiritual significance. 
These mountains are also the wellspring of the reservation's water. 
Their cirques and flanks, frozen for much of the year, store the 
crucial resource that makes the Great Plains inhabitable. The drainages 
and storage systems that define how the snow melts and the water flows 
are the principal subject of this legislation. This water is necessary 
for irrigation, livestock, fisheries, wildlife, homes, and other uses.
  By ratifying this compact, Congress will both establish the federal 
reserved water rights of the Tribe and authorize funds to construct the 
infrastructure necessary to make the water available for use. Last 
year, Senator Tester and I introduced this bill on April 29, 2010. The 
Senate Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing on July 22, 2011. I look 
forward to working with my colleagues here in the Senate, in the House, 
and in the Administration to quickly moving forward on the Blackfeet 
Water Compact.
                                 ______