The Flathead Water Solutions: Handbook for Decision-makers, highlighted in this post and also in the “Important Documents” section of this blog (left hand side of blog), is a tool for informed decision-making on the CSKT Compact that can be used going forward to create a REAL solution to the federal reserved water rights of the CSKT. We believe that the People’s Compact offers a “middle ground” solution that is a win-win for all.
Here is the handbook outline, with linked sections for your review.
Anticipating that Montana’s Congressional delegation could be luke-warm or possibly resistant to the idea of a people’s initiative to resolve the disastrous CSKT Compact, the entire People’s Compact effort was designed as a First Amendment petition for redress to Congress:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The grievance is the CSKT Compact, and the issues that led to this grievance were brought to the State of Montana for its consideration and use over a period of more than eight (8) years. This information was ignored “under the color of law” by a lot of elected officials.
As it turned out, the State of Montana had another plan for its citizens, and that was to give Montana’s water to the federal government by any means possible. In this case the means was an Indian water settlement that was somehow “unique” to Montana, because the state had determined that a Treaty-granted access right somehow became a water right over western Montana with time immemorial priority date. The state then allowed the Tribes and United States to file an additional 10,000 time immemorial water claims outside of the Compact and across eastern Montana based on this first theory.
In addition to the great water give-away, there are significant other documented problems with the CSKT Compact. The inability to “fix” these problems of CSKT Compact by working around the edges to “tweak” it is the major reason the People’s Compact was drafted. Because of the failure of all of our respective governments to take our input and suggestions–the Tribal Council, state, and federal government, the People are the only ones who can really preserve our liberty by solving the problem:
The Ninth Amendment: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
The Tenth Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Hence we return to the First Amendment, and a right to petition our government for a redress of the grievances of the CSKT Compact. Don’t forget that by jamming this down our throats in 2015 despite huge public outcry and an unconstitutional passage, our civil rights guaranteed under the Constitution were trampled upon.
Remember we’re not just complaining–we are proposing a truly great alternative as our grievance!
Right of First Refusal
The only thing that the citizens have asked our state and the respective governments to do is to follow existing law, including Montana’s specific requirement to meaningfully incorporate public comment in deliberations involving public and private resources–our water and land!
Our pledge in the initial effort for the People’s Compact, which began more than a year ago, was to take this initiall through our Congressional delegation and propose it as an alternative to be submitted simultaneously when the CSKT Compact is being considered.
The People’s Compact was designed as the middle ground between the CSKT Compact and endless litigation, which was the only choice offered to Montanans.
But despite the known and requested progress on the People’s Compact made by citizens and citizen legislators, Senator Daines, Congressman Gianforte, and AG Fox have recently raised the prospect of lipstick on cosmetic changes to the CSKT Compact and its introduction to Congress this year or in 2020. This is being done without public knowledge of the behind the scenes dealing, and the travesty of the 2013-2015 civil rights violations to Montanans under Title 42 is raised again.
The most important thing that citizens can do right now is to write to Senator Daines and let him know about your concerns about the CSKT Compact or its modification and request that the Senator consider the People’s Compact as a reasonable alternative.
Moving On
As a First Amendment Petition, the People’s Compact can be submitted by the people through any Congressional member or office or through a court of law if necessary. Consider the number of western states that will be impacted if the modified or current CSKT Compact in the Tester Bill is passed. Consider what happens if and who should know that the CSKT Compact is 100% in opposition to President Trump’s known policies regarding agriculture, farming, ranching, and every American’s heritage?
The CSKT Compact dragged itself outside of the state of Montana and onto the national stage, we didn’t. All of our politicians could have stopped that in an instant if they had done their homework. Now its potential impacts to other states can no longer be hidden nor the message controlled.
For the purposes of this first step, we begin introducing you to the federal legislation drafted for the People’s Compact, called the “Flathead Water Settlement and Mending Fences Act of 2019”.
Can the CSKT Compact be “fixed”? We would argue “no”. The non-negotiable document presented as an “all or nothing” document to the citizens and legislators of Montana in 2015 was designed so that the Tribes could appear to “give up” some of its elements without actually changing anything. See for yourself in the video below:
In a stunning development, we have just learned that Senator Steve Daines is planning on introducing a form of the CSKT Compact to Congress this fall. Without even looking at the People’s Compact, or talking with citizens who wrote it and those who will be most adversely affected by the CSKT Compact, and without understanding the CSKT Compact, Senator Daines and his staff think they are smart enough to come up with their own plan.
The “Daines Compact” is only nibbling around the edges of the CSKT Compact, picking off things they think will shut the people up. But it is a fool’s errand and the politicos are vastly outmatched by the Tribes’ lawyers and money, and by the fact they don’t know the law, history, or fundamentals of “federal reserved water rights”. The Senator has not sought the input or advice from professional staff available to him in the Senate who have the fundamental knowledge of water, Indian affairs, or Indian water settlements on open reservations. He is letting political staffers “handle it”.
In posts to follow, we will be discussing the information prepared for Senator Daines, per his request, to help him push back against, in his own words, “the most divisive legislation to ever come out of Montana”. Below is the Decision-Makers Handbook we developed for the Senator’s use, again per his request. Silly people, we thought he wanted to know the truth! The Table of Contents is attached.
Below is one of the excerpts from this Handbook, describing why the CSKT Compact cannot be “fixed”
We believe that the Senator “Daines Compact” has already suggested that “the People’s Compact was used to revise the CSKT Compact”. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Senator refused a meeting with his constituents—those who are most impacted by the CSKT Compact and who developed the People’s Compact.
The People's Compact 
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