On the recordApril 29, 2010
I rise today to introduce the Blackfeet Water Settlement Act of 2010 with my friend and colleague, Senator Baucus. The bill will ratify the water rights compact negotiated for two decades by the Blackfeet Tribe, State of Montana and U.S. It will improve water infrastructure in the local area and, more importantly, create a self-sustaining homeland for the Blackfeet Nation. The bill enjoys broad support on the local, regional and national level. I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact it this year. The time to implement this legislation is now. The United States and Blackfeet Tribe created the Blackfeet Reservation by treaty over 150 years ago. Over 100 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court held that in creating Indian reservations, the government must provide enough water to sustain a permanent homeland for the American Indians living on them. This legislation will fulfill that law. By ratifying the compact, this bill provides water for domestic and municipal use, irrigation and livestock, and for developing Reservation resources. It will also provide water to sustain reservation wildlife and fisheries located in the majestic Rocky Mountains, next door to Glacier National Park. Enacting this bill not only establishes the Tribe's federally reserved water rights, paper water, but also authorizes resources to construct the infrastructure that will deliver water to Reservation users, wet water.
