Crow Tribe discusses water rights settlement in advance of vote
Friday, January 21, 2011
Filed Under:
National
The
Crow Tribe of Montana is asking its members to approve a water rights settlement that
President Barack Obama signed
into law last month.
The law secures the tribe's rights to 500,000 acre-feet a year from the Bighorn River and 300,000 acre-feet a year of water stored in Bighorn Lake. It also authorizes $460 million to improve the water system on the reservation.
Tribal members will vote March 8 whether to accept the deal. An attorney who works for the tribe said it will be hard to pass Indian water rights settlements in the future.
“Any Indian tribe, from this point on, that wants to take a water rights settlement through Congress is going to have a very, very difficult time,” attorney Rod Lewis said at a meeting on the reservation, The Billings Gazette reported.
Get the Story:
Crow Tribe meets over fate of water rights bill
(The Billings Gazette 1/21)
Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2009:
H.R.
3563 |
S.375
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Letter: Members of Crow Tribe should vote against
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