East Bench Irrigation District Water Contract Extension

Floor Speech

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Mr. DAINES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Hearing that water services delivery could be in jeopardy for 60,000 acres of some of the most productive farmland in my home State of Montana, I was happy to introduce this legislation that ensures that irrigation in southwest Montana is protected.

H.R. 4508 protects irrigation and water supplies in the Beaverhead Valley by extending the district's contract while an updated contract is pending approval by the Montana Water Court. This contract extension is necessary since the Montana court system is in the middle of conducting a necessary State-required review of the new contract between the irrigation district and the United States. This bill does not prejudice the outcome of that examination but keeps in place the existing 1958 contract so area farmers and ranchers in the Beaverhead Valley of Montana have water supply certainty for nearly 60,000 acres.

The legislation has no cost to the Federal Government and is based on congressional precedent. In fact, Congress has extended this 1958 contract a number of times, since an extension provides an irrigation district with an absolute right under Federal law to negotiate a new contract with the Bureau of Reclamation. This bill simply adds 6 additional years to the last extension, thereby extending the 1958 contract until December 31, 2019, or until a new contract is executed.

This bill is the result of hard work that is being done in Montana. I especially want to thank Mr. Bill Hritsco and the East Bench Irrigation District for their leadership and for working with me on this legislation to provide Montana farmers and Montana ranchers with much-needed certainty about their water supply.

Mr. Hritsco, the Dillon, Montana-based attorney representing the Irrigation District, provided expert testimony on this bill before the House Natural Resources Committee earlier this year. The Irrigation District's work with me on this bill represents how Montanans can roll up their sleeves and get good things done. As a result, water will continue to flow in the Beaverhead Valley's fields for years to come if this legislation is enacted. I urge adoption of the bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. DAINES. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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