(Havre) The St. Mary’s Rehabilitation Working Group met in Havre City Hall at 10am Thursday.
The meeting was initially scheduled for February 5th but was rescheduled for the 20th.
There was discussion over the Northern Montana Water Security Act currently in federal congress, staff members from both Senator Daines and Senator Sheehy were present to say the bill is looking to be included as part of a larger collection of bills. This piece of legislation would allow for 300 million dollars to be put towards the St. Mary and Milk River projects if passed.
Neither Fort Belknap nor Blackfeet representatives spoke this time around.
Federal funding was also announced as now unfrozen; Milk River Project’s Jennifer Patrick said that forward progress was not stalled due to the freeze, though, largely crediting loan funding from Montana’s House Bill 6 with keeping the progress moving.
Around 900 thousand dollars was also designated to be used for concrete repair for dams and reservoirs in the area, which will increase the amount of water it’s able to hold at any given time.
