Friday, August 22, 2014

Montana tribe's takeover of dam complicates water fight

Five miles below the southern shores of Flathead Lake, wedged between a rugged river canyon where a great waterfall once roared, Kerr Dam plays a prominent role in the landscape. Blockading the Flathead River behind a 200-foot concrete arch, the 194-megawatt plant produces an average of 1.1 million megawatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to power more than 100,000 homes annually. It can generate up to $60 million a year on the wholesale market in the West, depending on energy prices. It can also regulate the shore levels of the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi while at the same time feeding 13 different reservoirs that provide vital irrigation supplies to the area’s farmers, ranchers and other property owners. Yet alongside its power and influence, Kerr Dam has remained equally contentious and divisive among tribal members and non-Indian property owners trying to coexist amicably on the Flathead Indian Reservation while grappling over water rights. Nearly 80 years since the dam was developed, creating a significant domino effect of impacts that are still felt today, the controversial subject is approaching a tipping point. While the Montana Legislature prepares to revisit one of the most controversial subjects in recent memory — a water-rights compact for the Flathead Reservation — the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are preparing to take over Kerr Dam. Both events are being met with scrutiny, and both are equally significant. The CSKT have remained devoted to acquiring the dam for decades, and one year from now — Sept. 5, 2015 — that mission will finally come to fruition. The CSKT are slated to pay nearly $18.3 million for the facility, which will be operated through a tribally owned corporation known as Energy Keepers, Inc...more

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