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WASHINGTON (NMB) – U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester have announced that they are calling on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to hold a hearing on their St. Mary’s Reinvestment Act.
Montana’s Senators sent a letter to the leaders of the Committee stating that the project is critical to providing water for Montanans on the Hi-Line.
As written, the legislation would authorize $52 million to rehabilitate the St. Mary’s Diversion Dam and require the Bureau of Reclamation to use an ability-to-pay study to determine what current water users would be able to afford.
The current cost-sharing agreement places 74 percent of operations and maintenance costs on users, who lack the millions of dollars needed for critical repairs on the system.
The Act was re-introduced in Congress back in early March but has yet to be scheduled for a hearing. Previous versions of the Act was were introduced in Congress last decade but never went up for a vote in Committee.
