Zinke, Barnes & House of Reps. Hold First Ever Hearing on Blackfeet Water Compact

Press Release

Today, Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke and Blackfeet Chairman Harry Barnes held the first ever Congressional hearing in the House of Representatives on the Blackfeet Water Compact. The hearing was held by the Natural Resources Committee's Subcommittee on Water, Power, and Oceans to discuss the "Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement Act of 2016" discussion draft and other water-related legislation. Zinke served as both a witness and a participating Member of the House. The Blackfeet have waited more than five years for a hearing on their water compact. Securing a legislative hearing has been one of Zinke's top priorities since he was sworn in to office on January 6, 2015. Zinke voted for the compact in 2009 as a member of the Montana State Senate.

"As Chairman of the Blackfeet Nation, I was highly encouraged by the entire hearing process," said Chairman Harry Barnes of the Blackfeet Nation after the hearing. "Congressman Zinke made some powerful and supportive statements on behalf of the tribe, and we genuinely appreciate his efforts. Obviously there are some challenges with the OMB letter, but Chairman Bishop was very clear about his expectations. We are hopeful that this issue will be resolved sooner rather than later. Overall, we are very encouraged. This is a very historic moment; it's been a long time since we've gotten an Indian compact this far. The Blackfeet are very excited by the path forward."

Zinke, serving as a witness, opened by saying (video): "It's a historic day for Montana. Today marks the first time in the Blackfeet Water Compact has received a hearing on the House side. Shortly after this hearing I'll be proud to formally introduce the bill to the House itself. This accomplishment has been made possible because of the hard work of many people. The collaborative efforts between both sides of the aisle the Tribe, the State, and the Congressional delegation clearly show how much of a priority this is to Montana… Not only is it critical to address the Tribe's water issues, but so many state projects are tied to the completion of this water settlement. The Blackfeet nation are warriors. They have fought for hundreds of years to protect their culture and traditions. Water is a critical part of their way of life, which is why this Compact is so important. Whether it's for economic purposes or religious ceremonies, water is, as Chairman Barnes notes, "…the source of creation of the Blackfeet People.'"

Among other provisions, the Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement Act of 2016 would:

Establish the tribe's water rights in all six drainages within the reservation, including St. Mary River, Milk River, Cut Bank Creek, Two Medicine River, Badger Creek and Birch Creek.
Give the Blackfeet Tribe the ability to use, lease, contract, or exchange water on tribal land, and protect the tribe's water rights from development by others.
Rehabilitate and upgrade the aging Four Horns Dam and long-neglected 100-year-old Blackfeet Irrigation Project.

Zinke later served as a questioning Member of the House of Representatives and had the following exchange with Chairman Barnes. The full transcript is below.

In February of 2015, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop introduced new rules governing how water compacts move through Congress. The revised procedure requires the Department of Justice and Department of Interior to work together with the tribe to settle any extenuating claims or come to final terms. Under this new process, this is the first time the Blackfeet Compact has seen any substantive action. Congressman Zinke has been a vocal advocate for the compact throughout this new process, urging the Obama Administration and House Leadership to act swiftly on its approval. In April of 2015, Zinke wrote to the Attorney General and Secretary of the Interior to speed up the process. Earlier this month, Zinke helped push efforts between Office of Management and Budget, DOI, and DOJ to accomplish the criteria in the Bishop letter -- that letter can be viewed here.

The video of the full hearing can be viewed here.

TRANSCRIPT

Zinke: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am both excited and proud to welcome Chairman Harry Barnes of the Blackfeet Nation of Montana to Washington, DC. Mr. Barnes was elected Chairman of the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council on July 10, 2014, and has worked diligently over the past few years to rebuild and bolster the Tribe's government and community. Chairman, I know you have waited long time for this day to come, but I'm glad we've crossed one major hurdle. It's a historic day for Montana. Today marks the first time in the Blackfeet Water Compact has received a hearing on the House side. Shortly after this hearing I'll be proud to formally introduce the bill to the house itself. This accomplishment has been made possible because of the hard work of many people. The collaborative efforts between both sides of the aisle the Tribe, the State, and the Congressional delegation clearly show how much of a priority this is to Montana. We all jointly support the Compact and will continue to fight to see its passage through Congress. The Compact has also reached significant milestones within the Administration -- the letter provided to the Committee is the first of its kind, and I was glad to help push the efforts between OMB, Interior, and Justice forward. I can't stress how critical this water settlement is to the country, the tribe and the state of Montana, which speaks to why it is widely supported across the state. This is not a contentious issue. Not only is it critical to address the Tribe's water issues, but so many state projects are tied to the completion of this water settlement. The Blackfeet nation are warriors. They have fought for hundreds of years to protect their culture and traditions. Water is a critical part of their way of life, which is why this Compact is so important. Whether it's for economic purposes or religious ceremonies, waters is, as Chairman Barnes notes, "…the source of creation of the Blackfeet People." I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to speak about the importance of the Compact and thank the Committee for holding a hearing on this issue. On a personal note, I grew up in the mountains, over the great Blackfeet Nation. I have a map in my office that shows what the state looked like in 1889, when Montana became a state. I can tell you the Blackfeet nation has given a lot to this country. They have given this country a lot of reservation land. They have given us warriors, they have fought in every battle this nation has ever fought. My respect for this tribe is undaunted, and I ask for your support. I yield back.

ZINKE: Thank you Mr. Chairman, Chairman Barnes as you know this compact is critical to Montana and all concerned. We have also noticed the concern as expressed by Chairman Bishop in Congress about the OMB assessment, there is some cost concerns, but as you pointed out in your written testimony that if it continues then the settlement does not come become law. Can you expand further on the importance of moving forward on this settlement and settling these claims rather than letting litigation continue?

BARNES: As you noted in your opening statements, very eloquently, that being warriors are in our DNA, as witnessed by the reason of the eliquis cabbel settlement case. There's a lot of other eliquis cabbel's on the Blackfeet Reservation. I personally know that no good ever comes out of litigation. It becomes something that neither part appreciates and neither party has generally a whole lot to do with the ultimate settlement. We of course would press our case. I was trained as a journeyman electrician, and as an electrician I negotiated contracts. And with no disrespect to the law trade we realize that the highest paid nonproductive journeyman on the job was an attorney. But it becomes money spent that doesn't go to the benefit of either party, and so I would press our case understanding of course that 260 million dollars in this settlement is unfunded, problematic, federal responsibility. But we would press our case just on that trust responsibility of the federal government's lack of carrying out those changes, and regular routine maintenance things that have been deferred because of budget constraints. So that's our first, and that is just out of this settlement, just in things that were not done, but we rolled into this in the interest of settlement. Than we would go back on the other issues of claims, the boundary treaty of 1907, the Blackfeet were not at the table, nor were we invited to. So that treaty did not take into the Blackfeet's concerns, so that feeds into the largest issue in here. You know we as Blackfeet, today, have figured out that if we are not at the table we are on the menu. We refuse to be on the menu. Going forward we want to be at the table at our rightful place on a government to government basis. So we are not demanding government trust responsibility, we are demanding input upon our future. We have the Melk river project which really is for the downstream users. That whole irrigation project and diversion was not to the benefit of the Blackfeet, it was to the benefit of the downstream Montana users. I don't begrudge them for their need for their croplands and ranchlands, but again we weren't at the table on that. So a lot of the table has to do with all of the clearly defined written in our written testimony. There's a lot of right of way issues there. We would rather not fight that, but we are prepared to. As you know a warriors main responsibly is to always be prepared, and we are, we would rather go with the negotiated settlement, and it was very toughly negotiated. I don't necessarily agree with everything that the department put before us but we did for the betterment of the entire settlement. The settlement not only affects the Blackfeet people but all those downstream users as was pointed out, we are the headwaters. We are the source water for that and we aim to find justice in this settlement. We understanding the wording that we were not appreciated. It seems counterstatements in the same sentence that we agree in support but, that famous "but." So now you know that has caused a tremendous amount of consternation. I want the department to fully agree to support this. If they need to go back to ONB, I would encourage them to go down there this afternoon and get this thing resolved. Thank you Representative Zinke.

ZINKE: And as I would note the headwaters go down to Louisiana

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