WASHINGTON D.C. (NMB) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester has announced that up to $100 million for rehabilitation of the St. Mary’s Canal and Conveyance Works System is included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework he has been negotiating with other members of Congress on.
The framework was voted out of Committee on Wednesday with a bipartisan majority that included U.S. Senator Steve Daines.
In a statement, Tester called the vote, “a historic step forward in making long-overdue and critically needed investments in the Milk River Project and provide water certainty for folks living and working on the Hi-Line.”
A press release says the funding will go directly towards rehabilitating the Diversion Dam while improving efficiency and reliability of the overall system. The funding would not require a non-federal match.
The framework also includes a separate provision allowing state and local recovery funding from the American Rescue Plan to be eligible to be used towards the nonfederal cost share of Bureau of Reclamation Infrastructure like the Milk River Project.
The framework must still pass out of both the full US House and Senate.
