Irrigators Hopeful Lame-Duck Congress Will Deliver Funding For Milk River Repairs

Reprinted with permission: https://montanafreepress.org/2024/12/04/irrigators-hopeful-lame-duck-congress-will-deliver-funding-for-milk-river-repairs/

That mythical December character bearing gifts, could it be the Congressional Lame Duck? Irrigators along Montana’s Milk River hope it’s so.

With weeks left in the congressional term, farmers along the Milk River are hopeful federal lawmakers will deliver at least some of the more than $300 million promised earlier in the year for the Milk River Irrigation Project, which delivers water to 18,000 people spread across 350-miles of the Montana Hi-line.

The project’s plumbing rerouting water from the St. Mary River to the Milk blew in June. A scramble ensued to raise several millions of dollars in state and federal funding to start repairs, while Congress rolled out legislation to address the Milk’s aging infrastructure more comprehensively.

The bills stalled out. First, there was a $70 million Milk River disaster package conjoined to a much larger request for $1.7 billion to replace a collapsed Baltimore bridge. With the 2024 general election on the horizon, the bill didn’t launch. Then, there were proposals by Montana’s federal delegation to add $250 million to $270 million for the Milk River Project to the Fort Belknap Water Compact. The compact made it through the Senate but hasn’t reached the House floor, despite two different Republican versions of the bill, one by Montana eastern district Rep. Matt Rosendale, the other by western district Rep. Ryan Zinke.

The Fort Belknap Water Compact and Settlement bill, which U.S Sen. Jon Tester carried through the Senate in June, is a $1.3 billion piece of legislation settling the water rights claims of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes of the Fort Belknap Reservation. Tester, a Democrat, lost his reelection bid in November to Republican Tim Sheehy. Tester is now in his final weeks in Congress, as is Rosendale, who didn’t seek reelection in the House. Republican Troy Downing begins representing Montana’s eastern district in January.

There’s still a chance, said Jennifer Patrick, Milk River Project manager. The National Defense Authorization Act, a key money bill, still needs a vote this year during the lame-duck session of Congress, before a newly elected Congress is seated in January. The disaster money for the Milk could be added to the NDAA. There might be room for a funding package for several tribal water compacts, including the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation Compact. A continuing resolution, or “CR,” to keep the federal government fully funded into early 2025 is another possibility.

Christmas came early for Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, pardoned for felony gun and tax convictions last week. It could come early for the Milk River Project, too, Patrick said.

“If Hunter can get a pardon, we can get a Fort Belknap Compact passed,” Patrick told Montana Free Press on Wednesday.

Montana Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines is looking for an opportunity to get Milk River Project funding attached to a must-pass bill.

“The senator is working to secure the resources needed to repair the St. Mary siphons through any means possible,” said Rachel Dumke, a Daines spokesperson, “including the CR, or a disaster aid package.”

On Dec. 3, Zinke’s office produced a funding list for several aging infrastructure projects managed by the Bureau of Reclamation. The St. Mary Siphon was on the list at $37 million. There was also $10 million for the St. Mary Diversion Dam, both key parts of the Milk River irrigation system. Patrick said the money will be used to backfill some of the millions of dollars scraped from other projects to get repairs started on the Milk.

Siphon repairs are underway. Roughly 900 feet of 8-foot-diameter pipe has been installed where the siphon blew. There are more than 2,200 feet to go, a bridge to be built to shoulder pipes across the St. Mary River, plus bank stabilization and drainage work to be done. Crews will need to work through next summer to get everything done, Patrick said.

Meanwhile, the communities along the Milk, which naturally goes dry without supplemental water from the St. Mary River, will rely on reservoirs and runoff. Patrick and Project Board Member Marko Manoukian say the communities should make it to next fall, though a dry winter would make the next 10 months challenging.