St. Mary's Water Issue Update

Marko Manoukian planned to go to Washington, D.C., in July to testify on the House Bill related to the Ft. Belknap Water Compact that U. S. Representative Matt Rosendale was carrying, but due to a microsoft issue he was not able to make the trip. “I do know that all the bills including (MT. Representative Ryan) Zinke’s have been approved out of committee, but the House is unsure what they are going to do with them and they need the full vote of the House now to move forward.”

Manoukian said the good thing about Rosendale’s bill, which is the same bill that came out of the Senate is that they are the same – they would not need a conference call committee before it is signed by the President if it was voted out of the House. Zinke’s bill which has money for the Blackfeet Tribe would have to go to the conference committee, and so the likelihood of that is pretty small.

He said there is a lot of work that is going on at the site. All of the pipe has been smashed and will be hauled to Great Falls for recycling. He stated the only pipe remaining is that on the bridge that was built in 1915. N&M Construction is doing that work and soon they are going to dig where the pipe will go in the future.

“The 1915 bridge is going to be taken down by Sletten Construction and they built a temporary crossing across the St. Mary River, they put their big crane there and any day now they should be done with the deconstruction of the 1915 bridge.

They are then going to replace it with a new bridge to hold siphons in exactly the same footprint.”

The hope is to have that completed this winter. The straight pieces of pipe will be steel, just like Cyrus Babb designed it – eight-foot diameter, two barrels, it is coated this time, inside and out and the plan is for the straight pieces to start arriving in October. Just how much of it gets laid in the ground this fall will depend on Mother Nature.

“As far as funding, St. Mary’s and Halls Coulee, the other siphon, the total on that is $70 million dollars. The Joint Board has available $9.2 million dollars and the Reclamation has $7.5 million dollars for construction and the NRCS provided funding, just under $800,000 ...but unfortunately...at our current usage, we will be out of money on November 1st. And when we had the update, none of our congressional delegates, staffers...gasped when they heard we would be insolvent (in about three months) on this project. There is still $26 million, which is our share, through the State...the State has not said what interest rate they are going to charge us to borrow the money; the Joint Board and Jennifer Patrick have communicated to the state, that even though the money is coming back to us in a special revenue account for future construction, we do not want to pay more than $3 per acre. But the State has not told us what it will be.”

The other component is an aging infrastructure account and the Bureau (Reclamation) is waiting to access that and that funding is $32.7 million dollars. If the Ft. Belknap bill proposed by Rosendale passed and was signed by the governor, there would be $275 million dollars for disposal and that would solve a lot of issues. But, Congress would have to be in session and there may be little possibility of it being addressed during the upcoming months, with election the prime focus.

Senator Tester has also tried to get through appropriations $70 million dollars to get the siphons covered at no cost to the municipalities or irrigators but Congress would have to pass that as well.

“I think we are headed toward a continuing resolution and I don’t know what is going to happen. He did ask in the presidential supplemental domestic disaster bill which is where the money came from to help the people in Baltimore, who got hit on the bridge by the ship, which tells me they haven’t been funded yet, he asked we be included...all which takes congressional action.”

The real action needed is to get everyone in the same boat.

It is projected there will be no water until approximately August of 2025, and with this in mind, Manoukian said he was figuring on production based on an alfalfa field $130 a ton. He said with water one could anticipate four tons to the acre...and with no water there is the likelihood one might be lucky to get one ton per acre.

Applying that to just the project acres, just in production loss alone...there easily could be a loss of $44 million dollars, and the Bureau agreed with him.

The issue is going to affect more than just the local landowners. Across the hi-line it will be a $20 million dollar impact.

“From the Divide to Fresno Reservoir, there is no water. There are only 30,000 acre-feet in Fresno. We will use 20,000 acre-feet over the winter, if it is an average winter, there may be other segments below Fresno that are dry.”

First served with water will be municipalities, including Havre, Chinook, Harlem and Ft. Belknap.

Manoukian said at this point have an irrigation year to look at...crop adjusting is essential – a winter or spring annual crop should be considered. Hay barley and Winter hays should be looked at. Plan on winter forage.

“It’s going to be tough for 700 irrigators to get through this.”

He continued, “I hope they scream like wounded eagles! That’s what I hope they do. There are some SBA (Small Business Association) funds out there.”

A thought Manoukian had is to drain Nelson Reservoir and let those below irrigate, “...they have suffered enough.”

Even the rain that came Sunday evening didn’t produce much for relief, although there were some reports of up to two inches in the local area.

Keep on your congressional delegates and the governor. Relief should have been designated immediately. Zinke: 202-225-5628; Rosendale: 202-225-3211;

Tester: 202-224-2644, and Gov. Gianforte: 406-444-3111. Flood the lines, help save our livelihood, whether you live here or not...it’s a voice that is needed! Now.