By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D) met virtually with the St. Mary’s Rehabilitation Working Group on Friday morning to discuss the latest on potential legislation to flip the cost sharing agreement for the St. Mary’s Canal and Conveyance Works System.
The current cost sharing agreement places around 75 percent of the cost on irrigation stakeholders and the remaining 25 percent on the federal government.
Montana’s congressional delegation has been hoping to flip the agreement to put the majority of the burden on the federal government.
On the conference call, Tester told the Working Group that Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), has been holding up discussion of the legislation and does not want to set precedent that could open the door for similar projects to look to Congress to alter cost-sharing agreements.
Tester told the working group that the, “irrigators are driving the bus,” on his decision-making, but that altering the cost sharing agreement through Congress during the election season would be a Herculean task. He told the working group to discuss potential alternatives to a cost-sharing alteration that may have an easier time passing through Congress.
Discussions among the working group are expected to continue over the coming days, with another virtual meeting possible during the week of September 21st to decide on a path forward.
The cost sharing agreement for current repairs, which includes replacements of Drops 2 and 5, places about 52 percent of costs of the estimated $8 million project on the federal government, and the remaining 48 percent on stakeholders. This is because the Bureau of Reclamation designated the repairs as Emergency and Extraordinary Operations of Maintenance following the collapse of Drop 5 in May.
That project is expected to be completed in the coming weeks, allowing water to flow back into the Milk River from the St. Mary’s System. However, more repairs and replacements will be needed in the coming years to prevent another catastrophic failure of the more than 100-year-old system.
The St. Mary Canal and Conveyance Works System provides supplemental irrigation water along the Milk River, as well as water to the Fort Belknap Indian Community, the Blackfeet Nation and many towns along the Hi-Line.
