Tester Raps Burns for Doing Little To Move St. Mary Canal Project Forward
Senate President Helped Move State Funding to Rehabilitate Canal
Montana Senate President Jon Tester today rapped Senator Burns for failing to introduce legislation to get the St. Mary Canal project moving to ensure water for the Milk River basin on Montana’s Hi-Line.
“Senator Burns pledged to get this critical project moving, but so far he has not delivered for Montana farmers and irrigators who count on this water to make their living,” Tester said. “It’s time to elect a senator who will fight for Montanans, not disgraced lobbyists like Jack Abramoff.”
Tester said that if he is elected he will work hard to ensure that Congress provides funding to restore the St. Mary Canal, an aging system in danger of failing. The system provides critical water supply for agriculture and communities in the Milk River basin.
Senator Conrad Burns has claimed that the St. Mary’s canal rehabilitation project is a top priority. Yet, to this point, Burns has made little progress in getting the more than $100 million needed to complete the project. In fact, this spring, Senator Burns pledged to craft and introduce legislation to initiate the rehabilitation of the St. Mary’s canal. The time to introduce legislation draws short with no St. Mary’s bill from the senator.
In the 2005 Montana Legislature, Tester helped provide state funding to move the project forward. And Tester was a chief sponsor of a successful resolution that urged Congress and the federal government to advance the St. Mary project.
Meanwhile, the St. Mary’s working group, composed of irrigators, recreationists, tribal representatives, and municipalities, continues to collaborate with State and Federal agencies on this important project for Montana.
As a U.S. Senator, Tester said he will be a determined voice for the project and work together with these grass-roots representatives to get the job done.
BACKGROUND
The St. Mary Rehabilitation Program will restore the aging infrastructure built almost a century ago to provide drinking and irrigation water to a large portion of the Hi-Line by diverting water from the St. Mary River Basin to the Milk River Basin. Havre, Chinook and Harlem rely on this system for their municipal water supply.
The St. Mary facilities are located on the Blackfeet Reservation in Glacier County.
Tester was the chief sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 9, which passed the 2005 Montana Legislature and requested federal funds for rehabilitation of the St. Mary Diversion Facilities and urged the support and leadership of the Montana congressional delegation.
Tester noted irrigators and others who rely on the canal just don’t have the resources or operating and maintenance revenue to pay for the much-needed repairs to the system.
Tester’s resolution also requested the U.S. Department of the Interior to work with the State of Montana, the Blackfeet Tribe, and residents in the Milk River Basin in their efforts to rehabilitate these critical structures and improve management of the Milk River Basin. The resolution was sent to Montana’s Congressional Delegation, the Governor of Montana, the Blackfeet Tribe, the Fort Belknap Tribe, and the St. Mary rehabilitation working group.
Tester also said he will ensure that Montana and water users along the Hi-line get their fair share of water from the Milk and St. Mary’s rivers as they flow from the Blackfeet Reservation through the St Mary’s canal, then into Canada and back to the U.S.
As a farmer and resident of north-central Montana, Tester applauds this effort on both sides of the border to find a better way to use our precious water.
Tester supports the State of Montana’s recommendation for annual apportionment of water and encourages the International Joint Commission to seriously consider the data from the task force and then implement the Montana strategy.
In the U.S. Senate, Tester will work with Montanans on all the pieces of puzzle associated with the St. Mary project – tribal interests, international water apportionment, municipal and recreational concerns, and canal rehabilitation.
Posted on Wednesday, May 24th, 2006 at 9:36 am.
