After 18 years of meetings, St. Mary/Milk River project receives large appropriation

On November 18, 2003, Lt. Governor Karl Ohs convened a meeting in Havre, Montana, to raise awareness of the urgent need to rehabilitate the aging St. Mary Facilities of the Milk River Project. On November 6, 2021 as part of the Federal Infrastructure bill the St. Mary/Milk River project will receive $100 million in funding. “It would be nice for a project that provides water and food to stand on its own merit, but the appropriation is fantastic” said, Marko Manoukian Co-Chair of the St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group. Additionally, the funding is non-reimbursable and does not need to be paid by the beneficiaries. All of the money can go towards construction and construction can be for any part of the system.

Cost is an issue, recently Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) updated cost for the Diversion structure. Construction cost will be $63 million including fish passage and non-construction cost are 30% of that, making the diversion structure $82 million. This is double the estimated value from two years ago. It may take the BOR until the winter of 2024 to finish the design and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis to allow for construction on the diversion dam by spring of 2024. “We need to make sure the BOR is using the $100 million in a timely and efficient manner” said Manoukian. It is a great day for the Hi-Line because with out the flow of the St. Mary there would be no Milk River.

Publisher's Note: Phillips County Extension Agent Marko Manoukian sent this letter to the Phillips County News on Friday, November 12. The message found with the intention of being published but was later buried in the inbox. The news was released on the Phillipscountynews.com website as Breaking News last Wednesday after print. I apologize that this letter was not run in last week's issue.