Flathead Lake Levels: Part of a Much Larger Problem

© 2023 Concerned Citizens of Western Montana

We are hearing a tremendous number of stories about the damage that is occurring all over the lake because of the water shortages this year.  If there is any doubt in your mind about the cause of these shortages, we think that the information in this article will help you understand the seriousness of the issue that we are dealing with.

Over the weekend we saw articles such as this one from the Daily Interlake concerning the levels on Flathead Lake:  Plan to raise Flathead Lake level Torpedoed by Water Management team

It would seem that everyone is being blamed for the situation except for those who are in control of Kerr Dam.

Those responsible for this mess are hoping that the public will believe their climate change gaslighting, and to some extent, that FERC restrictions are the causes.  There is little doubt that these lies are also being used in an attempt to prepare and condition the people of western Montana for a new water / lake level “normal.”

The real goal of course is to hide the very real impacts of the Flathead Water Compact under the all encompassing veil of “Climate Change”.

Yesterday, an email sent out by Lake County Commissioner Gale Decker on Sunday July 12, 2023 was forwarded to us:

You probably saw the articles put out by the media as to why Hungry Horse Reservoir (HH) won’t be sending any water to Flathead Lake; there had been no studies of how the release from HH would affect the biology to the fisheries.

I was a participant in the two-hour meeting and can relate what really happened.

First, the governor’s Systems Operating Request to the Bureau of Reclamation was not specific as to how much water he wanted for Flathead. His first letter last Wednesday requested enough water to raise the level to one foot below full pool and keep that level until September 15. His second letter on Friday was not as specific with no mention of a minimum level.

When the Technical Management Team meeting began, HH had come up with a plan to raise the lake to 18″ below full pool by the end of July. Flathead Commissioner Randy Brodehl and myself argued that doing that did not solve the problem for either county, we needed at minimum to raise to 12″ below full pool.

I felt we had a realistic chance of getting that until Brian Lipscomb, CEO of Energy Keepers, was asked if water was sent from HH would he guarantee to keep it in Flathead and the answer was “no.”

When pressed on this, he stated that not only wouldn’t they keep it, they would be sending it downstream. His reason was that the FERC license required that. Interesting that he would maintain that license requirements drove the operation of Kerr when they routinely violate the license whenever they see fit.

Without assurance that the water would remain in Flathead, any request for HH water was dead. The tribe again displayed that they could care less about the lake level and the businesses and people who recreate on it or need it for irrigation.

So, we now have a “new normal” with climate change being the culprit.

A year ago we had water on top of our dock on Flathead, this year 2 feet below full. Don’t know if Friday was the end of the story,

I believe it to be for this year but we’ll see what happens.

Gale

In 2014, a year before the ownership of Kerr Dam was transferred to the CSKT, then Vice Chairwoman of the tribal council visited Washington DC to testify in support of Senate Bill 2132. The bill, sponsored by Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, was for amendments the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act of 2005.

At the time, Energy Keepers Inc.  published a press release pertaining to the tribal acquisition of Kerr Dam.  It says in part:

“By acquiring the Kerr Project, CSKT will be restoring ownership and control over lands of the Flathead Indian Reservation, our treaty-reserved homeland,” Lankford said. “By assuming control over Kerr Dam, CSKT will be asserting management and control over Flathead Lake and the Flathead River, two critically important water resources of the Flathead Indian Reservation.

And by selling the electricity generated at the Kerr Project, CSKT will receive more income than it gets from rental of the Project land, which will allow the tribe to better meet the needs of our people.”

Lankford concluded her testimony by thanking the Committee for working toward empowering tribes to develop and manage their energy resources.

“Your support for tribal self-determination and tribal sovereignty is greatly appreciated,” she said. “Indian energy development is a key component of our ability to control our destiny and provide for our people. We look forward to working further with Congress to figure out how CSKT and other tribes can further maximize our energy potential, and we invite future discussions on how to create win-win scenarios for both the tribes and the federal government.”

If this doesn’t tell you where this is all going, we don’t know what will.

It is Congress that feeds, funds and expands upon the mess they have created with their flawed and agenda driven Federal Indian Policy.  We firmly believe that the CSKT does very little without the support, funding and approval of the United States Government.

The cancer that Congress has allowed to fester for at least more than half a century, is now manifesting itself in all areas of western Montana that are affected by the pending Flathead Compact, coupled with the tribe’s ownership and control of Kerr Dam.

We also would argue that the 10,000 claims filed by the United States / CSKT in 2015 covering 2/3 of the state of Montana will expand the malignancy of failed Federal Indian Policy even further.

Remember, the United States is actively participating in all of these overreaches.

The tribe’s mission statement, adopted by the tribal council in 1996 says this:

Through his federal ratification of the Flathead Water Compact, Steve Daines is helping the CSKT achieve their mission statement goal of restoring the former reservation to complete tribal ownership, including the reclamation of any remnants of the lands allotted to individual Indians more than a century ago.

Despite the fact that the CSKT mission statement makes it look as though it is the reservation that is being targeted, the Flathead Water Compact and 10,000 claims are prima facie proof that the tribe’s United States’ agenda to re-federalize Montana via its water, expands throughout and far beyond the tribes “ceded aboriginal territory.”

In his two part series in the Ronan Pioneer in 1973, titled Reservation History, Legal Issues Analyzed, Lloyd Ingraham, local attorney and warrior said this:

The present federal Indian policy, as a whole, has done exactly what law is usually intended to prevent. It has been the cause of the polarization of the Reservation population. It has arbitrarily created two distinct classes of citizenship with distinct and opposing governments, each competing for dominance, within the same territorial area. It has created friction and abrasion between these classes and their governments where little had previously existed.

Lloyd’s article provides a great deal of history about the reservation and his legal analysis of the issues people were dealing with.  That article is 50 years old, and if anything the situation has significantly worsened.  This is because Montana’s policies have migrated toward the cession of its jurisdiction to the tribes, the Unitary Ordinance provisions of the Flathead Compact being a perfect example.

Lloyd also wanted to point out that Congress was responsible for the mess due to its failure to fix the problems it has created.

Not Council’s Fault
Before going further, the writer wishes to state unequivocally that, if there is fault to be found, it cannot be placed at the door of the Tribe’s governing body, the Tribal Council.

Each member of that body has taken a sworn oath to support and defend the tribal constitution and its bylaws and to cooperate, promote and protect the best interests of the tribe.

Each member of the tribal council must be accorded the recognition that he is acting in accordance with his oath and, that, therefore, any blame or fault for the multitude of problems and inequities presently existing must be placed at the doors of Congress for its failure and inaction in acting laws which would have eliminated such a deplorable legal structure.

We agree with Lloyd that the people of western Montana would not be in this untenable situation if it weren’t for the failure of Congress to address the serious problems they created by not bringing all of the people together under one constitution and set of laws.

Having said that however, as American citizens, the tribal council should also be accountable if proven to be responsible for any depredation upon the property of other American citizens.

Unfortunately the state of Montana, and Senator Steve Daines have intentionally condoned and aggravated this situation through their support of and respective ratifications of the Flathead Water Compact.

For starters, the Flathead Compact must be killed in its entirety. There is no lipstick that you can put on the pig that can fix it.

After that, Montana’s “leadership,” and Senators Daines and Tester need to be held fully accountable for agreeing to cede Montana’s constitutionally mandated jurisdiction over water, for not protecting the state’s interests, or utterly failing to protect the property interests of Montana citizens.

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act.

It would seem that federal and now state Indian Policy serves to exploit, and to expand upon the divide that their policies have created.  As long as our federal and state governments continue to treat Indians as though they are not citizens of the United States and the state of Montana, the divide will continue to grow.

Congress is exploiting the divide they have created for the purpose of federalizing Montana’s abundant land and water, and Montana’s “leadership” is allowing it to happen.