Landowners from Crow Tribe rally against water rights settlement

Thursday, January 27, 2011  

Several women from the Crow Tribe of Montana staged a protest against a water rights settlement that was signed into law by President Barack Obama.

The women said the deal tramples on the rights of individual landowners on the reservation. "The tribe is going to determine whether or not I get water for my livestock or my land,” Colleen Simpson told The Billings Gazette.

The law secures the tribe's rights to 500,000 acre-feet a year from the Bighorn River and 300,000 acre-feet a year of water stored in Bighorn Lake. It also authorizes $460 million to improve the water system on the reservation.

The deal, however, won't become final until tribal members vote in a March 8 election.

Get the Story:
Crow landowners oppose water settlement act (The Billings Gazette 1/27)
Protesters protest each other in Billings (KTVO-TV 1/26)

Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2009:
H.R. 3563 | S.375

Related Stories:
Crow Tribe discusses water rights settlement in advance of vote (1/21)
Crow Tribe holds a series of meetings for water rights settlement (1/12)
Crow Tribe to celebrate settlement of water rights at NMAI in DC (12/10)
Claims Settlement Act authorizes $460M Crow water settlement (12/1)
Senate passes water rights settlements for tribes in three states (11/22)
Letter: Members of Crow Tribe should vote against water rights (10/6)
Crow Chairman: Water settlement in tribe's best interests (4/2)
Opinion: Water bill hurts landowners on Crow Reservation (3/29)
Crow Tribe's water rights settlement advances (9/11)
Crow Tribe near deal on water rights settlement (08/03)