Zinke Introduces Legislation for the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement

(Washington, D.C.) -Today, Congressman Zinke introduced, The Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 2024 to provide a solution for the settlement of water rights in the Fort Belknap Indian Community (FBIC). The bill will achieve a fair and final settlement of claims to water rights in the State of Montana for the Fort Belknap Indian Community. Senator Daines and Senator Tester have sponsored a similar bill in the senate. 

Among other things, the bill includes:

• $300 million to rehabilitate the St. Mary Canal and Dodson South Canal, part of the federal Milk River Project, for non-tribal water users in northcentral Montana
• $250 million for an upstream wastewater treatment facility
• $416 million to rehabilitate, modernize, and expand the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project and to restore and develop irrigation systems. 

“President Stiffarm and the entire team with the FBIC has worked diligently with me and my staff for over a year to make this legislation possible which meets long-overdue treaty obligations and delivers clean and reliable water to the great nation,” said Congressman Zinke. "The settlement honors commitments to the tribes while also meeting the needs of Montana’s ag producers, private property owners, and other stakeholders along the hi-line.” 

“The Fort Belknap Indian Community strongly supports Congressman Zinke’s effort to introduce and pass our water settlement bill,” said FBIC President Jeffery Stiffarm. “Our water settlement bill is our top priority and will help to address urgent water infrastructure needs on our Reservation and across the Montana Hi-Line.  Just this week another siphon on the St. Mary Canal blew out.  The Canal provides critical water resources to our Reservation and surrounding communities.  Congressional passage of our bill will finally protect our water rights and provide the funding we all need to secure our future for generations to come.”