H.R. 907 — Northern Montana Water Security Act of 2025

This section states the purposes of this title, which are (1) to achieve a fair, equitable, and final settlement of water rights claims in Montana for the Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana and the United States acting as trustee for the Community and allottees; (2) to authorize, ratify, and confirm the water rights compact entered into by the Community and the State of Montana, to the extent consistent with this title; (3) to authorize and direct the Secretary to execute the Compact and take any other necessary actions; (4) to authorize funds necessary for implementation of the Compact and this title; and (5) to authorize the exchange and transfer of certain federal and state land.

This section defines 21 terms for purposes of this title, including "allottee" (i.e., an individual holding a beneficial real property interest in trust land within the Fort Belknap Reservation); "Fort Belknap Indian Community" (i.e., the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana, a federally recognized tribe); "Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project" (i.e., the Bureau of Indian Affairs irrigation project on the Milk River unit, including specified units and additions constructed under this title); "Milk River Project" (i.e., the Bureau of Reclamation project from Lake Sherburne Reservoir to near Nashua, Montana, including the St. Mary Unit, Fresno Dam and Reservoir, and Dodson pumping unit); and "Reservation" (i.e., the Fort Belknap Reservation as modified by this title).

This section ratifies a Compact with the Fort Belknap Indian Community, as modified by this title, and authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to execute it (to the extent consistent with this title) and approve modifications to its appendices without congressional approval under 25 U.S.C. 177 (i.e., the federal statute generally requiring such approval for agreements affecting restricted Indian lands or claims). The section further requires the Secretary and the Community, in implementing the Compact, to comply with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and other applicable federal environmental laws; directs the Community to prepare necessary environmental documents (except under section 108 of this title) subject to the Secretary's independent evaluation and responsibility for their accuracy; deems the Secretary's execution of the Compact not a major federal action under NEPA; and allocates compliance costs to a Trust Fund (except for federal approval, review, or inherently federal functions borne by the Secretary).

This section ratifies, confirms, and declares valid the Tribal water rights of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, held in trust by the United States for the Community and allottees (not subject to loss by nonuse, forfeiture, or abandonment) and subject to the Compact and this title. It states Congress's intent to provide allottees benefits equivalent to or exceeding those held before enactment, considering litigation risks under section 7 of the Act of February 8, 1887 (25 U.S.C. 381, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to ensure just and equal irrigation water distribution on reservations), funding availability, water supply, and protections under that section and this title. The section applies 25 U.S.C. 381 to the Tribal water rights (satisfying allottee entitlements therefrom with just allocations), requires allottees to exhaust tribal remedies before federal claims, and authorizes the Secretary to protect allottee rights. It grants the Fort Belknap Indian Community authority to allocate, distribute, and lease the rights on-reservation per the Compact, this title, and federal law (with allottees able to lease appurtenant water rights per tribal water code), and off-reservation subject to Secretary approval or approved tribal leasing regulations. Finally, the section authorizes tribal water leasing regulations (approved by the Secretary within 120 days, after consultation if extended) that waive Secretary approval for leases up to 100 years (renewable once for 100 years), provided they include public environmental review processes consistent with the Compact and this title (or rely on federal agency reviews for federally funded projects).

This section authorizes the Secretaries of the Interior (for Bureau of Land Management-administered public lands) and Agriculture (for National Forest System lands) to negotiate, with priority during the five-year period beginning on the date of enactment, an exchange of federal eligible lands for 37 specified parcels of State land totaling 22,985 acres located on and off the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation (identified by township, range, section, and acreage). Federal lands conveyed to the State must be of equal value to the State lands, subject to valid existing rights and reservations of necessary easements or rights-of-way, and must exclude any parcels within the National Landscape Conservation System, designated wilderness areas, components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, or Forest Service Research Natural Areas. The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for all administrative requirements to complete the exchange and, upon its completion, takes the acquired State lands into trust for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian Community.

This section allocates 20,000 acre-feet per year of water stored in Lake Elwell (i.e., Tiber Reservoir on the Marias River in Montana, managed by the Bureau of Reclamation) to the Fort Belknap Indian Community for any beneficial purpose on or off the reservation, as part of the tribe's water rights with the Bureau's Lake Elwell water right priority date, measured at Tiber Dam outlet works or via direct pumping. The allocation requires an agreement with the Secretary of the Interior specifying unlimited term; tribe receipt of all lease consideration; no U.S. monitoring of tribal funds; equal storage rights if reservoir capacity is reduced; nonreimbursable construction costs allocable to the tribe; no water service capital charges; and no payments to the U.S. except proportional operations, maintenance, and replacement costs for water leased or transferred for industrial purposes (adjusted annually). The tribe may use, lease, contract, exchange, or agree on the water within the Missouri River Basin without permanent alienation; the allocation takes effect on the settlement's enforceability date, includes no year-to-year carryover storage, and imposes no U.S. obligation for development or delivery costs.

This section directs the Secretary, acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation and in cooperation with the State of Montana, the Blackfeet Tribe, and the Fort Belknap Indian Community, to restore the St. Mary Canal and associated facilities to convey 850 cubic feet per second and enlarge the Dodson South Canal and headworks to divert and convey 700 cubic feet per second, in complete satisfaction of Milk River Project mitigation requirements under Article VI.B. of the Compact. (As background, the Milk River Project is a Bureau of Reclamation irrigation and municipal water project in northern Montana serving irrigators, tribes, and communities under the 1909 Milk River Compact among Montana, North Dakota, and Canada, with Compact mitigation addressing impacts on tribal water rights.) The section caps total obligations at $300 million prior to adjustments under section 114(b), deems mitigation satisfied upon completion of the specified restorations or exhaustion of available funding under section 114(a)(1)(D) despite diligent efforts, and makes all costs nonreimbursable.

This section directs the Secretary of the Interior, subject to appropriations, to rehabilitate, modernize, and expand the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project—managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to deliver Milk River water for irrigated agriculture on the Fort Belknap Indian Community reservation in Montana—up to $415,832,153 (nonreimbursable), as generally described in the tribe's February 2019 Comprehensive Water Development Plan. Activities include planning, studies, design, rehabilitation, modernization, and construction of the existing and expanded Milk River unit (i.e., irrigation system, pumping plant, delivery pipe and canal, Fort Belknap Dam and Reservoir, and Peoples Creek Flood Protection Project). The section designates BIA, in coordination with the Bureau of Reclamation, as lead agency; requires consultation with the tribe on design and cost changes; caps agency oversight costs at 3% of total project costs; and directs formation of a project management committee within one year of enactment, comprising BIA, Reclamation, and tribal representatives, to review costs, budgets, and implementation. Additional provisions (1) allow deposit of any cost savings, at tribal request, into the tribe's water resources administration, operation, and maintenance account; (2) make project improvements part of the BIA inventory; (3) authorize self-determination contracts under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act; (4) preserve existing BIA assessment and operations-and-maintenance authorities; and (5) deem obligations satisfied upon completion or exhaustion of specified funding under section 114 despite diligent efforts.

This section provides that benefits under this title constitute complete satisfaction of all claims waived by the Fort Belknap Indian Community against the United States under section 111(a). It further provides that benefits to allottees constitute complete satisfaction of (1) all claims waived by the United States as trustee for the allottees under section 111(a)(2); and (2) any similar claims allottees asserted or could have asserted against the United States.

This section requires the Fort Belknap Indian Community (excluding allottees) and the United States, acting as trustee for the tribe (excluding allottees), to execute waivers and releases of all claims to water rights within Montana asserted or that could have been asserted before the enforceability date, except to the extent recognized in the Compact and this title. It further requires the United States, acting as trustee for allottees, to waive claims to water rights within the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation; and requires the tribe (excluding allottees) to waive claims against the United States arising before the enforceability date relating to specified water rights matters (e.g., foregone benefits from nontribal water use, irrigation project failures, Milk River allocations under the 1909 U.S.-Canada treaty), the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project, past litigation and Compact negotiations, and mining damages in the Little Rockies Mountains prior to trust land acquisition. The waivers take effect on the enforceability date but permit objections to water claims in Montana Water Court proceedings; the tribe and United States retain claims to enforce recognized rights, water quality under CERCLA, and rights accruing after the enforceability date. (As background, such waivers are standard in congressional Indian water rights settlements to resolve disputes over federally reserved rights on the Milk River in Montana in exchange for quantified allocations and funding.)

This section establishes the Aaniiih Nakoda Settlement Trust Fund for the Fort Belknap Indian Community to fund water resources projects under this title, consisting of amounts deposited under section 114(a) plus investment earnings and to be managed, invested, and distributed by the Secretary under 25 U.S.C. 162a (authorizing deposit and investment of tribal trust funds in banks), the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), and this section. The Secretary must create three accounts in the fund: (1) Fort Belknap Indian Community Tribal Irrigation and Other Water Resources Development Account, receiving amounts under section 114(a)(1)(A) and (2)(A)(i); (2) Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Resources and Water Rights Administration, Operation, and Maintenance Account, receiving amounts under section 114(a)(2)(A)(ii); and (3) Fort Belknap Indian Community Clean and Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, and Lake Elwell Project Account, receiving amounts under section 114(a)(1)(B) and (2)(A)(iii). Amounts in the fund, including earnings, become available to the Community on the enforceability date (with exceptions allowing immediate use upon deposit for specified purposes in each account, subject to conditions including section 111(f)(1) for account (2)). The Community may withdraw funds via (1) a Tribal management plan approved under the 1994 Act, requiring expenditures consistent with this title, or (2) an approved expenditure plan detailing uses under subsections (e) and (g); the Secretary may enforce compliance through judicial and administrative actions.

This section establishes in the Treasury of the United States the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Settlement Implementation Fund, a non-trust, interest-bearing account managed by the Secretary of the Interior to carry out this title. The Secretary must create two sub-accounts in the fund—(1) the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project System Account, and (2) the Milk River Project Mitigation Account—and deposit into them specified amounts made available under section 114(a) (i.e., paragraphs (1)(C) and (2)(A)(iv) into the irrigation account, and paragraph (1)(D) into the mitigation account). The irrigation account funds section 109 activities (except as provided in section 109(h)), and the mitigation account funds only section 108; amounts generally are unavailable until the enforceability date except those in the irrigation account, which are available immediately for section 109(a)(1) and (2); and interest on unexpended balances may be appropriated for the account uses.

This section authorizes discretionary appropriations to the Secretary for deposit into specified accounts of the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Trust Fund (established under §112) and Implementation Fund (established under §113)—(1) $89,643,100 for the Tribal Irrigation and Other Water Resources Development Account; (2) $331,885,220 for the Clean and Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, and Lake Elwell Project Account; (3) up to $187,124,469 for the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project System Account to carry out §109; and (4) up to $300,000,000 for the Milk River Project Mitigation Account to carry out obligations under §108. It further mandates deposits, without further appropriation, from any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated—(1) $29,881,034 into the Tribal Irrigation and Other Water Resources Development Account; (2) $66,630,752 into the Water Resources and Water Rights Administration, Operation, and Maintenance Account; (3) $110,628,407 into the Clean and Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, and Lake Elwell Project Account; and (4) $228,707,684 into the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project System Account. This section also requires a $5,000,000 state cost-share contribution, plus earned interest, to the Tribal Irrigation and Other Water Resources Development Account upon Montana Water Court approval of a final decree for Upper Peoples Creek Dam and Reservoir activities; and it adjusts all authorized amounts for cost fluctuations based on the Bureau of Reclamation Construction Cost Index—Composite Trend (with annual adjustments for the Implementation Fund and adjustments ending on deposit for the Trust Fund), repeating until fully appropriated. (Thus, these funds support irrigation rehabilitation, domestic water and sewer infrastructure, Lake Elwell improvements, Milk River mitigation, and related operations for the Fort Belknap Indian Community water rights settlement, with amounts retained until expended, withdrawn, or reverted to the Treasury.)

This section provides miscellaneous provisions, including (1) clarifying that, except as provided in 43 U.S.C. 666(a)-(c) (i.e., the McCarran Amendment consenting to U.S. joinder in state water rights suits), nothing in this title waives U.S. sovereign immunity; (2) stating that nothing in this title quantifies or diminishes land or water rights of other Indian tribes; (3) directing the Secretary, on the date of enactment, to cancel all debts or liens against Fort Belknap Indian Community allotments due to construction assessments and operation and maintenance charges for the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project; and (4) including savings clauses preserving (a) pre-enforcement review of federal environmental actions, (b) other reclamation laws (including the Reclamation Rural Water Supply Act of 2006 and title X of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009), (c) the tribe's ability to seek additional funding, (d) acquisition of state water rights outside the reservation by purchase or application, and (e) participation in Milk River Basin water importation or storage projects.

This section provides that the United States is not liable for any failure to carry out obligations or activities authorized by this title—including any under the Compact—if (1) Congress does not provide adequate appropriations expressly for this title's purposes, or (2) insufficient funds are available in the Reclamation Water Settlements Fund (43 U.S.C. 407(a)). (Thus, this antideficiency provision protects against liability for nonperformance due to funding shortfalls in the fund, which receives $120 million annually in fiscal years 2020 through 2029 from certain reclamation revenues available without further appropriation to assist with congressionally approved water settlements involving Bureau of Reclamation projects.)

This section authorizes the appropriation of $250 million to the Secretary of the Interior to plan, design, construct, operate, maintain, and replace community water distribution and wastewater treatment facilities for the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana.