US House approves Blackfeet water settlement

BILLINGS – The U.S. House approved a water rights settlement with Montana’s Blackfeet American Indian tribe on Thursday as part of a broader bill addressing water projects across the nation.

The passage on a 360-61 vote sends the measure back to the Senate.

The bill proposes to rehabilitate the Four Horns Dam and Blackfeet Irrigation Project and make other improvements on the Blackfeet tribe’s northwestern Montana reservation.

It has already cleared the Senate once.

Yet the success of the broader bill it’s attached to remains uncertain. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California has vowed to defeat it because of a disagreement on provisions that apply to that state’s drought.

U.S. House poised to pass Blackfeet water compact

The water rights settlement has a $422 million price tag, according to the U.S. Department of Interior. Money for the settlement was authorized but not appropriated in Thursday’s bill and will have to be addressed separately.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke said he was hopeful Montana’s two U.S. senators would be able to convince Boxer to support the measure.

“I’m incredibly proud and humbled to deliver this victory for the Blackfeet Nation,” Zinke said in a news release. “The Blackfeet are warriors and they have given up so much during this long process. Water is more than a drinking source to the Blackfeet, it’s their life source and we must respect and honor their culture and rights. ... It is my hope that Senators Daines and Tester will be able to talk some sense into Senate Democrats who have promised to block the bill.”

Negotiations on the agreement began more than 30 years ago. It was approved by the Montana Legislature in 2009.

Prior attempts failed to advance the settlement through Congress. The administration of President Barack Obama objected to its original price tag of $591 million.