One of the session’s most misguided bills, HB 575 (Rep. Bill McChesney, D-Miles City), was passed by both chambers of the legislature (in the House 56-44, in the Senate 30-20) but was vetoed by Governor Schweitzer. The bill had originally been stalled in the House Agriculture Committee on a 10-10 vote, but was revived after two representatives changed their minds more than a month later and voted to pass it out of committee and on to the House floor.

The bill would have turned 100 years of water rights law on its head by reclassifying ground water pumped to the surface during coal bed methane (CBM) extraction as “surface water,” and allowing CBM companies to obtain special temporary permits to use or sell this water.  The intent of this bill was to reverse a December 2008 ruling by former district court judge Thomas Honzel that CBM water is, in fact, ground water and that water rights are valuable property rights protected by the Constitution.

Under the bill, developers would have been able to sell CBM water to ranchers for irrigation, dust suppression, and livestock watering. This provision threatened water quality because CBM water is extremely saline, and it ignored the numerical standards set by the Board of Environmental Review in 2003 to limit the amount of salt in water discharged during CBM development.

The bill also would have given authority over the ground water pumped during CBM extraction to the Board of Oil and Gas Conservation. By doing so, it circumvented a Montana district court ruling that the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has the duty to manage CBM groundwater for beneficial purposes.

Despite the CBM industry’s claims that the water could benefit landowners, ranchers and senior water rights holders in southeastern Montana’s Powder River Basin strongly opposed the bill because it jeopardized their existing water rights.

Like many bad bills this session, the fate of HB 575 came down to the Governor. By vetoing the bill, Gov. Schweitzer defended long-standing senior water rights, upheld over a century of Montana water law, and protected Montana’s precious water quality.

Bills that passed 

HB 483: Rep. Llew Jones (R-Conrad). This bill would essentially make it impossible for citizens to appeal DEQ approvals of all air, water and major facility siting act permits. MEIC Position: STRONGLY OPPOSE

• Signed into law by Governor 5/5/2009
  

IN THE NEWS:  Amendments to permit-process bill welcomed by key supporters (by Matt Gouras, AP, 04/17/09)

U.S. EPA SUBMITS LETTER TO GOVERNOR QUESTIONING LEGALITY OF HB 483

SB 95:  (John Brueggeman, R-Polson). This bill would allow economic hardship and technology limits as legal justifications for holders of water pollution permits to be exempt from compliance with stringent new nutrient pollution control standards. An illustration of the situation occurs in the Lake Helena watershed, where the City of Helena’s contribution to the problem is less than 20%, but in order to meet the new standards, Helena would have to spend many millions of dollars. Yet only a tiny fraction of the overall pollution would be reduced. This creates a very unfair situation in which the primary polluters do nothing while significant public resources are spent with little benefit. The real solution to nutrient pollution is for non-point source polluters to be required to substantially reduce their pollution. This can only happen with changes in federal and state laws.  MEIC Position: SUPPORT

• Signed into law by Governor 4/17/09

SB 120:  (Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish).  This bill would essentially eliminate the public’s ability to petition the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to establish controlled groundwater areas.  MEIC Position: OPPOSE

• Signed into law by Governor 3/25/09
  

SB 303: Sen. Dave Wanzenreid (D-Missoula).  Since 1967, Montana has had a requirement that the State create a statewide plan for how it will manage its water resources. But, alas, no such plan exists, or ever has.  This bill would require the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to complete and submit to the Legislature by 2015 State water plan sections for the Missouri, Yellowstone, Clark Fork, and Flathead River basins.  MEIC Position: SUPPORT

• Signed into law by Governor 4/29/09
  

SB 507 (Bob Story, R-Park City).  This bill would exempt from MEPA review the license, leases, and easements of irrigation structures in navigable riverbeds.  MEIC Position:  OPPPOSE.

• Signed into law by Governor    5/6/2009

BILLS THAT DIED:

HB 455: (Rep. Michele Reinhart, D-Missoula).  Dubbed the Big Sky Rivers Act, this bill would establish a “streamside management area” along ten “Big Sky Rivers” where new buildings are prohibited. The streamside management area is generally 250 feet, with a 150-foot vegetated buffer adjacent to the river. The bill would also set up criteria for local governments to adopt streamside management areas for local streams and rivers that are not named in the legislation.

The ten Big Sky Rivers are: Bitterroot River; Blackfoot River; Clark Fork River; Flathead River; Gallatin River; Jefferson River; Madison River; Missouri River (from the headwaters near Three Forks to the county line between Cascade and Choteau counties); Smith River; and Yellowstone River (from the Montana-Wyoming border to the county line between Treasurer and Rosebud counties).  MEIC Position:  SUPPORT

• (H) Local Government Committee Vote Failed 3/13/2009 (vote: 9-9); Remains in Committee; (H) Missed Deadline for Revenue Bill Transmittal    03/31/2009
  

SEE FACT SHEET ON THE BIG SKY RIVERS ACT

SB 17:  Require public water and sewer systems for certain subdivisions (Perry, R-Manhattan)  MEIC Position: SUPPORT

• (S) Hearing 01/21/2009, (S) Local Government.  Tabled in Committee    01/23/2009
• Missed Deadline for General Bill Transmittal    02/26/2009

SB 505: Sen. Keith Bales (R-Otter).  This bill, promoted by Fidelity Exploration and Production Company, a coal bed methane production subsidiary of Montana–Dakota Utilities, would define ground water found in association with methane gas in underground coal seams as “produced” water. The so-called produced water would then be exempt from the State’s traditional water rights permit process.  MEIC Position: OPPOSE

• (S) Finance and Claims Committee Executive Action--Bill Passed as Amended 3/20/09
• (S) 2nd Reading Passed ; 3/24/2009 (vote: 28-22); (S) 3rd Reading Passed  3/25/2009 (vote: 28-22).  Transmitted to House.
• (H) Natural Resources Committee Vote Failed 4/08/2009 (vote: 9-9); Died in Standing Committee    04/28/2009