WHEREAS, the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribal (CSKT) water compact which separates water rights from private property for legally deeded property owners on the reservation;
WHEREAS, the CSKT water compact gives a quasi-sovereign government off-reservation instream flow and recreational water rights which Montana citizens are unable to control and thus violates our Republican form of government;
WHEREAS, those water rights would then be held in “trust” for the tribes by the Federal Government;
WHEREAS, the current CSKT water compact is not justified under the wording of a 160 year old document that provided the “right to harvest fish in common with the general citizenry”;
WHEREAS, an early task of the Compact Commission was to quantify the amount of water needed to fulfill the reserved water needs of the reservation. That quantification of how much water is enough has not been done;
WHEREAS, we support fair and reasonable water compacts that benefits all of Montana.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, we oppose the current water compact; and BE IT FUTHER RESOLVED; that the CSKT water compact should not be ratified by the U.S. Congress unless and until it obtains a two thirds vote of the Montana State Legislature.
