S. 241 — Northern Montana Water Security Act of 2025

This section sets forth the purposes of the 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 and the United States as trustee for the Community and allottees; (2) to authorize, ratify, and confirm the water rights compact between 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 necessary actions to implement it; (4) to authorize funds necessary for implementation of the compact and this title; and (5) to authorize exchanges and transfers of certain federal and state land.

This section provides definitions for 21 terms used in this title, including “allottee” (i.e., an individual holding a beneficial real property interest in trust land within the reservation), “Fort Belknap Indian Community” (i.e., the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana), “Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project,” “Milk River Project,” “Compact” (i.e., the Fort Belknap-Montana water rights compact dated April 16, 2001, as amended to conform to this title), and “Reservation” (i.e., the Fort Belknap Reservation as modified by this title).

This section ratifies a Compact involving the Fort Belknap Indian Community, as modified by this title; authorizes and confirms amendments to make the Compact consistent with this title; and directs the Secretary of the Interior to execute the Compact (including appendices) and approve modifications to its appendices consistent with this title without congressional approval under 25 U.S.C. 177 (i.e., the statute generally requiring congressional ratification of agreements settling Indian land claims). This section requires the Secretary and Fort Belknap Indian Community, in implementing the Compact, to comply with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 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 provides that compliance costs be paid from a specified 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; declares those rights held in trust by the United States for the Community and allottees (not subject to loss by non-use, forfeiture, or abandonment); and subjects their use to the Compact and this title. (Congress intends that allottees receive benefits equivalent to or exceeding current levels, accounting for litigation risks averted, funding availability, water supply, and protections under 25 U.S.C. 381—which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to ensure just and equal irrigation water distribution on reservations—and this title.) The section applies 25 U.S.C. 381 to the Tribal water rights (satisfying allottees' Federal water entitlements therefrom with just and equitable irrigation allocations); requires allottees to exhaust Tribal remedies before pursuing claims against the United States thereunder or under other law; and authorizes the Secretary to protect allottees' rights. The section authorizes the Fort Belknap Indian Community to allocate, distribute, and lease Tribal water rights on-reservation per the Compact, this title, and Federal law—and off-reservation subject to Secretary approval or approved Tribal leasing regulations—and permits allottees to lease land with appurtenant water rights under Tribal law. Finally, the section authorizes the Community to develop Tribal water leasing regulations (for on- or off-reservation leases up to 100 years, renewable once for up to 100 years) that, if approved by the Secretary within 120 days based on environmental review processes and consistency with the Compact and this title, exempt such leases from further Secretary approval; for federally funded projects, the Community may instead use the funding agency's environmental review.

This section authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-administered public lands, and the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to National Forest System (NFS) lands, to negotiate exchanges during the five-year period beginning on the date of enactment with the State for 37 specified parcels of State land totaling approximately 22,985 acres located on and off the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation (primarily sections 16 and 36 in townships 25 N. to 31 N., ranges 21 E. to 26 E., with certain exclusions for existing leases). It directs conveyance to the State of agreed-upon eligible federal lands of equal value, subject to valid existing rights, retention of necessary easements or rights-of-way, and exclusion of lands in the National Landscape Conservation System, congressionally designated wilderness, components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, or Forest Service Research Natural Areas designated in a forest plan. Upon exchange completion, the Secretary of the Interior takes the acquired State lands into trust for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian Community. (Thus, the exchanges enable the Community to consolidate reservation-area lands, typically State school sections, into federal trust status.)

This section allocates to the Fort Belknap Indian Community 20,000 acre-feet per year of water stored in Lake Elwell (i.e., Tiber Reservoir on the Marias River in Montana, operated by the Bureau of Reclamation) for any beneficial purpose on or off the reservation, under a U.S.-held water right with the Bureau's Lake Elwell priority date and administered by the tribe per the applicable compact and title. The allocation, which takes effect on the settlement's enforceability date and includes no year-to-year carryover storage, requires an agreement with the Secretary specifying (1) unlimited term; (2) tribe retains all lease/contract proceeds with no U.S. monitoring obligation; (3) equal rights to reduced storage; (4) nonreimbursable construction costs and no capital charges; (5) no payments except proportional operations, maintenance, and replacement costs for water leased/transferred for industrial purposes; and (6) tribe authority to lease, exchange, or contract water within the Missouri River Basin without permanent alienation. (Thus, the United States incurs no development, delivery, or general payment obligations.)

This section directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation, (1) in cooperation with the state of Montana and the Blackfeet Tribe, to restore the St. Mary Canal and associated facilities to convey 850 cubic feet per second (cfs) through planning, design, rehabilitation, construction, and repair; and (2) in cooperation with Montana and the Fort Belknap Indian Community, to enlarge the Dodson South Canal and headworks to divert and convey 700 cfs through similar activities. These actions satisfy in full the Milk River Project mitigation requirements under Article VI.B. of the Compact, subject to a $300 million cap on obligations (prior to adjustments under section 114(b)); satisfaction is deemed complete upon achieving the specified capacities or exhausting available funds under section 114(a)(1)(D) despite diligent efforts. Costs incurred are nonreimbursable.

This section directs the Secretary of the Interior, subject to appropriations, to rehabilitate, modernize, and expand the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project—a Bureau of Indian Affairs-operated irrigation system serving the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana—as described in a February 2019 water development plan, with total obligations not to exceed $415,832,153 (prior to adjustments under section 114(b)). Activities include (1) planning, studies, and design of the existing and expanded Milk River unit (including irrigation system, pumping plant, delivery pipe and canal, Fort Belknap Dam and Reservoir, and Peoples Creek Flood Protection Project); (2) rehabilitation, modernization, and construction of the existing Milk River unit; and (3) construction of the expanded Milk River unit. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, in coordination with the Bureau of Reclamation, serves as lead agency; the Secretary must consult the tribe on design and cost changes and form a project management committee within one year of enactment. All costs are nonreimbursable; oversight costs are capped at 3% of total project costs; cost savings are deposited in the tribe's water resources account at tribal request; improvements are added to the project inventory; and the tribe may enter Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act agreements to perform activities. Obligations are satisfied upon completion or exhaustion of specified funding despite diligent efforts.

This section establishes that benefits provided under this title fully satisfy (1) all claims of the Fort Belknap Indian Community against the United States waived under section 111(a); and (2) for allottees, all claims waived by the United States (as trustee) under section 111(a)(2), plus any similar claims the 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 Community (excluding allottees), to execute a waiver and release of all claims to water rights within Montana asserted or that could have been asserted on or before the enforceability date, except to the extent recognized in the Compact and this title. It further requires (1) the United States, acting as trustee for allottees, to waive and release all claims to water rights within the Fort Belknap Reservation asserted or that could have been asserted on or before the enforceability date, except to the extent recognized in the Compact and this title; and (2) the Fort Belknap Indian Community (excluding allottees) to waive and release all claims against the United States arising before the enforceability date relating to water rights, foregone benefits from nontribal water use, damages to water-related resources, failures to protect or develop water infrastructure (including the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project), litigation and negotiation costs, land takings for irrigation projects, Milk River and St. Mary River allocations under the 1909 U.S.-Canada treaty, 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 and reserve claims for enforcement of rights recognized under the Compact, this title, or post-enforceability accruals; water quality under CERCLA; and other specified matters.

This section establishes the Aaniiih Nakoda Settlement Trust Fund for the Fort Belknap Indian Community, consisting of amounts deposited under section 114(a) into three accounts—(1) the Tribal Irrigation and Other Water Resources Development Account, (2) the Water Resources and Water Rights Administration, Operation, and Maintenance Account, and (3) the Clean and Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, and Lake Elwell Project Account—plus investment earnings, to remain available until expended, withdrawn, or reverted to the Treasury for purposes of this title. The Secretary must manage, invest, and distribute the funds in accordance with the first section of the Act of June 24, 1938 (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; makes amounts available to the tribe generally on the enforceability date (with exceptions allowing immediate use upon deposit for specified account purposes, subject to conditions); and authorizes tribal withdrawals upon Secretary approval of either a tribal management plan (per the 1994 Act, requiring spending consistent with this title) or an expenditure plan (detailing uses per subsections (e) and (g)).

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 for carrying out this title of the Act. The fund includes two subaccounts—(1) the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project System Account, to receive specified deposits under section 114(a)(1)(C) and (2)(A)(iv) and to be used for activities under section 109 (except subsection (h)); and (2) the Milk River Project Mitigation Account, to receive specified deposits under section 114(a)(1)(D) and to be used solely for activities under section 108. Amounts in the fund generally are unavailable for expenditure until the enforceability date, except those in the irrigation project account, which are available upon deposit for section 109(a)(1) and (2); interest accrued on unexpended amounts also is available for the specified uses. (As background, these provisions implement a water rights settlement for the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana, addressing irrigation rehabilitation on the tribe's federal irrigation project and mitigation for impacts from the Bureau of Reclamation's Milk River Project.)

This section authorizes discretionary appropriations to the Secretary for deposit into specified accounts of the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Trust Fund and Implementation Fund, as follows: (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 irrigation system improvements; and (4) up to $300,000,000 for the Milk River Project Mitigation Account to fulfill Bureau of Reclamation mitigation obligations. It further provides mandatory appropriations, available without further appropriation, from funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, totaling approximately $436 million across four accounts: $29,881,034 for the Tribal Irrigation and Other Water Resources Development Account; $66,630,752 for the Water Resources and Water Rights Administration, Operation, and Maintenance Account; $110,628,407 for the Clean and Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, and Lake Elwell Project Account; and $228,707,684 for the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project System Account. This section also requires a $5 million state cost-share contribution, plus 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. Finally, it adjusts all authorized amounts for cost fluctuations based on the Bureau of Reclamation Construction Cost Index—Composite Trend and market volatility, with adjustments repeated until fully appropriated (annually for the Implementation Fund and through deposit for the Trust Fund).

This section provides miscellaneous provisions, including (1) clarifying that nothing in this title waives U.S. sovereign immunity except as provided in 43 U.S.C. 666(a)-(c) (i.e., the McCarran Amendment, which consents to U.S. joinder in certain state water rights suits); (2) stating that nothing quantifies or diminishes land or water rights of other Indian tribes; (3) directing the Secretary to cancel, as of enactment, all debts and liens against Fort Belknap Indian Community allotments due to construction assessments and operation and maintenance charges for the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project; (4) preserving existing law on pre-enforcement review of federal environmental actions; (5) providing that activities under this title do not establish precedent or affect other reclamation laws, including the Reclamation Rural Water Supply Act of 2006 (43 U.S.C. 2401 et seq.) and title X of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-11); (6) allowing the Fort Belknap Indian Community to seek additional federal or state funding; (7) preserving the tribe's ability to acquire water rights under state law outside the reservation by purchase or application (except as provided in the compact); and (8) allowing tribal participation in Milk River Basin water importation or storage projects.

This section provides that the United States is not liable for failing to carry out any obligation or activity 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.

This section authorizes appropriations 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 of Montana.