Water Wars in Western Montana

Water Wars in Western Montana

This has been an ongoing tedious battle for those who know the consequences of losing. We know the grim future facing Reservation residents and property owners (both native and non-native) as well as some 250,000 off-reservation people, if the proposed CSKT compact goes through as presently submitted.  With passage the same type of water mismanagement becoming apparent  for reservation residents would eventually be applied to the remaining property owners in 11 western counties.

Details may be found on the following:  www.westernmtwaterrights.wordpress.com  

Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 11:58 AM
Subject: Water Wars
Importance: High

Please forward far and wide!!!! 

           

Subject: Water Wars 

We attended their meetings.  We asked questions and were lied to - accused of wanting a war and invited to leave the reservation with an Indian guide at our disposal.

We smelled a skunk and organized a 'town hall' meeting for public awareness.  We invited the triad to come and speak to the public; to give us an actual update as to the status of their decade of negotiations  The tribe and Feds backed out at the last minute (no surprise there - they held their own little town hall the same night as ours to split the public and diffuse our effort).  The State came and served up enough BS to fertilize most of Lake county while raising the hairs on the nape of our necks - convincing us we were right.....something was rotten in Denmark.

We read the original "Stipulation Agreement" in June.  We knew it was a "taking" of water rights and water.  We objected.  We wrote letters with questions (since they wouldn't come and speak before the public!).  We were told the questions would be answered within xxx days; they weren't.  We held more town hall meetings to expose and publicize the points of diversion in their offerings.

We attended more and more meetings.  We read, we talked, we questioned.  Every point we made, was not addressed or amended - they were used to reword the 'taking' and buried somewhere else in the compact or the now, retitled Water Use Agreement.

Obviously, the "government" machine had absolutely no idea that they would incur opposition at this juncture - they hadn't up this point, in their 30 year reign, as they fired their boilers to get up and over the last range in the Rockies.  Uh oh, outside agitators were on the scent.

More meetings, more questions, more lies, more non-answers and more changes to the greatest 1400 page, no, 1300 page, no, 1200 page, no, 1100+ page novel written in the 21st century.  Every time we exposed a lie, an illegal or unconstitutional act, they buried it deeper.

Questions, questions, questions; letters to the editor exposing the apparent secret agenda's of the Feds, State and Tribe.  The more we read, the more we asked, the more we realized how bad, deep and egregious this taking of water was going to be.  Powerpoint presentations, handouts and town hall meetings in most of the affected 11 counties to inform the county commissioners, the city officials, the PUBLIC.

Like flies at a summer picnic, we swirled around them, occasionally landing on a piece of fried chicken or potato salad or slice of waterman - more of an annoyance than a real threat (in their mind).  And then came the Legislative Sessions of 2012......

Well, it turns out we were flies with teeth; baby teeth maybe, but teeth!  We stopped the runaway train.  They were stunned, shocked and dismayed.  Can you even imagine what was being said behind closed doors.  The phone lines must have been near melting.  And we thought all the disturbance to our internet connections and cell phones were Sun Spots.  Not!  The out pouring of "What the hell happened?" must have been overwhelming.  Think - just how high up and how wide do you think this taking of Blue Gold runs?  Got a nose bleed yet?

Let's take stock.

Do you remember the second town hall meeting that took place in St. Ignatius at the senior center?  It was well attended.  A man named Tim Orr gave an opening prayer and spoke against the Stipulation Agreement.  He was disciplined ("verbal reprimand") at his place of work.  Say what?  For having an opinion that had no conflict whatsoever with his job (the performance thereof) or the company he worked for?!

The DNRC sent a man (Bill Schultz) to attend our meeting with the Granite County Commissioners, to take notes and report back.  Interesting.

The State Commission to negotiate the Federally Reserved Water rights of all the federal reservations in Montana, on behalf of the State of Montana, began their attack on us, the flies at the picnic, the body of the state of Montana.  They followed our 11 county tour with one of their own.  We were denounced, marginalized, labeled and libeled.  All the while, we took the moral highroad; we just talked plain, simple, honest, quiet, almost passive truths.  Okay, not ALL of us.....I attacked in my weekly offering of letters to the editor, loudly, pointedly.

The aforementioned Mr. Orr was again disciplined for his testifying in front of the legislature, on behalf of his personal life that would be affected by this compact....reduction in position and pay, after 10 days off without pay.

Is a picture of threats, coercion, intimidation, evil being painted before us?

So what's all this gotten us?  Where are we now?

The hornets nest we smacked is alive and well and angry.  The political train we stopped is still sitting there, steam pouring out the stack, boiler still fired and stoked, waiting to be turned loose down the tracks once again as soon as the rails are fixed.

"Invitation Only" meetings between the State (Compact commission and DNRC) and locals who have had their bellies filled with the Kool-aid.

Onslaught of Letters to the Editor by the proponents of the illegal and unconstitutional Compact.

Outright threats to the continued viability of businesses owned and operated by members of the Western Montana Water Users Association by fellow irrigators/friends who like the offered deal.

The Tribes publicly stating that they do not do business with any member of the WMWUA, LLC., carefully cross referencing names (blackballing/discriminating).

Multilayered, camouflaged use of a marketing outfit to disseminate extremely mis-fondled information concerning the current and future status of the irrigation project.

"Private citizen" Alan Mikkelsen's (recently released as 'consultant' by the FJBC) powerpoint presentational tour to county commissioners touting the goodness of the far reaching Compact - mimicking our efforts of 2012.

The Mission and Jocko district's attempt to dissolve the FJBC, utilizing 4 misled commissioners and their illegal district meetings to authorize themselves the "right" to retain their own individual attorneys (just in case they need a second opinion!) and to give the FJBC the 90-day notice of their intent to pull out of the Joint Board - resulting in an internal lawsuit to prevent the illegal act.

More proponent letters to the editor pointing 'blaming' fingers at the new 'majority' within the FJBC for problems that were actually created by the good old boys before they were overthrown.  In fact, an onslaught of LTTE when compared to my single voice.

More "invitational only" meetings between the state and local citizen proponents (soon to be challenged).

Now, the letters being received within the irrigation community, naming the original members of the WMWUA, LLC. as villainous proponents of frivolous lawsuits and wasting of monies.

What have I forgotten or overlooked?

The hornets nest is getting more and more active, more and more organized and more and more emboldened in their "clandestine" actions.

What are we doing?  Yeah, yeah, more reading, more justifying our position, more....what?  Can the affected public see us?  Can anyone see us?  Friends, the opposition is mounting a tsunami - are we going to just let it roll on in and over us?  Has this all been for not, an exercise in how to fight city hall and eventually cave in because we were out manned, out gunned, out thought, out played - by buffoons and clowns and nefarious creatures spawned of politics, good old boys clubs, greedy takers and ignorant, liberal followers?

The time is fast approaching for some decision making and action.....or not.  What's it going to be?  Are any of you willing to pledge anything more than a couple hours of missing Monday Night Football to this war we started???  I may not have equal $$$ invested, as a couple of the creators of the WMWUA, but I have thousands of hours of my personal time and a relatively large hunk of operating costs and retirement coinage invested, not to mention my personal name, committed to this project and I, for one, need to know if this battle to save our little piece of the pie is going forward or whether I'm just throwing good money after bad as I move forward.

I want to know whether all of those who have been disciplined and punished and threatened and cajoled and marginalized has been in vein?!

The fire of evil is beginning to throw embers everywhere again.  I'm getting out my 7-iron and I'm going to start hitting them back into the fire as fast as I can.  Don't think for one minute that you can fixate on each ember and beat it with a shovel, pour sand and water on it and it will go out; we don't have the time - 10 more embers will be fired out of the blaze into our midst in the same minutes.

The opposition is coming for us and it's not a ground level, grassroots group as ours was.  If we don't come up with some actionable items/plans, we're dead meat.  Me, I don't care, my life has been a great ride up to this point, and I'm in no way intimidated by what may come.  I will not go quietly into that good night.  Let your conscience be your guide.

Act or lie down.  Organize or be run out of town.  The time is upon us.

Think on this:  the CME works for the tribe because their 4 members vote the party line, no matter what; they are solidly unanimous.  The FJBC members are not; they think, evaluate, question, analyze and then vote - not always unanimously.  Get it?!

PS. you're welcome to fwd this on, beyond my meager distribution. list.....if you're so inclined.  You can delete it as well.....

- The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth........

IF ANYONE CAN HELP THESE FOLKS DEFEAT THESE FEDERAL AND STATE SCUMBAGS PLEASE CONTACT THESE FOLKS ASAP!!!!

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