Matt Rosendale: “My amendment No. 53 to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025, would prohibit…”

“My amendment No. 53 to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025, would prohibit funds from being used to transfer or delegate control or maintenance responsibility of the Lower Yellowstone fish bypass channel to any non-Federal entity. The Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project was established in 1902 and was designed solely to provide irrigation water to the farmers in eastern Montana and western North Dakota. The project specializes in water distribution, not managing fish bypass channels for endangered species like the pallid sturgeon. The fish bypass channel introduced in 2007, over 100 years after this project was built, was meant to address species conservation, and the Yellowstone River location was selected over the Lower Missouri River because of the huge cost savings. Now, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation are trying to shift costs and responsibilities to the irrigators even after its shotty construction, which has required additional work immediately following its completion and will continue to require expensive maintenance going forward. This is despite there being no formal agreement and the bypass channel having no operational connection to the project's irrigation duties. Our farmers are already struggling with economic pressures and cannot afford this additional burden. This amendment ensures that Federal agencies cannot offload their responsibilities onto local communities.…”