Us Congress House Bill HB8791 Introduced / Bill

                    I 
118THCONGRESS 
2
DSESSION H. R. 8791 
To provide for the settlement of the water rights claims of the Fort Belknap 
Indian Community, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE18, 2024 
Mr. Z
INKEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To provide for the settlement of the water rights claims 
of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fort Belknap Indian 4
Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 2024’’. 5
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 6
The purposes of this Act are— 7
(1) to achieve a fair, equitable, and final settle-8
ment of claims to water rights in the State of Mon-9
tana for— 10
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(A) the Fort Belknap Indian Community 1
of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana; 2
and 3
(B) the United States, acting as trustee 4
for the Fort Belknap Indian Community and 5
allottees; 6
(2) to authorize, ratify, and confirm the water 7
rights compact entered into by the Fort Belknap In-8
dian Community and the State, to the extent that 9
the Compact is consistent with this Act; 10
(3) to authorize and direct the Secretary— 11
(A) to execute the Compact; and 12
(B) to take any other actions necessary to 13
carry out the Compact in accordance with this 14
Act; 15
(4) to authorize funds necessary for the imple-16
mentation of the Compact and this Act; and 17
(5) to authorize the exchange and transfer of 18
certain Federal and State land. 19
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 20
In this Act: 21
(1) A
LLOTTEE.—The term ‘‘allottee’’ means an 22
individual who holds a beneficial real property inter-23
est in an allotment of Indian land that is— 24
(A) located within the Reservation; and 25
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(B) held in trust by the United States. 1
(2) B
LACKFEET TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Blackfeet 2
Tribe’’ means the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet 3
Indian Reservation of Montana. 4
(3) CERCLA.—The term ‘‘CERCLA’’ means 5
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com-6
pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 7
9601 et seq.). 8
(4) C
OMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis-9
sioner’’ means the Commissioner of Reclamation. 10
(5) C
OMPACT.—The term ‘‘Compact’’ means— 11
(A) the Fort Belknap-Montana water 12
rights compact dated April 16, 2001, as con-13
tained in section 85–20–1001 of the Montana 14
Code Annotated (2021); and 15
(B) any appendix (including appendix 16
amendments), part, or amendment to the Com-17
pact that is executed to make the Compact con-18
sistent with this Act. 19
(6) E
NFORCEABILITY DATE .—The term ‘‘en-20
forceability date’’ means the date described in sec-21
tion 11(f). 22
(7) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY .—The 23
term ‘‘Fort Belknap Indian Community’’ means the 24
Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort 25
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Belknap Reservation of Montana, a federally recog-1
nized Indian Tribal entity included on the list pub-2
lished by the Secretary pursuant to section 104(a) 3
of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 4
1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131(a)). 5
(8) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY COUN -6
CIL.—The term ‘‘Fort Belknap Indian Community 7
Council’’ means the governing body of the Fort 8
Belknap Indian Community. 9
(9) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN IRRIGATION 10
PROJECT.— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL .—The term ‘‘Fort 12
Belknap Indian Irrigation Project’’ means the 13
Federal Indian irrigation project constructed 14
and operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 15
consisting of the Milk River unit, including— 16
(i) the Three Mile unit; and 17
(ii) the White Bear unit. 18
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Fort 19
Belknap Indian Irrigation Project’’ includes any 20
addition to the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation 21
Project constructed pursuant to this Act, in-22
cluding expansion of the Fort Belknap Indian 23
Irrigation Project, the Pumping Plant, delivery 24
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Pipe and Canal, the Fort Belknap Reservoir 1
and Dam, and the Peoples Creek Flood Project. 2
(10) I
MPLEMENTATION FUND .—The term ‘‘Im-3
plementation Fund’’ means the Fort Belknap Indian 4
Community Water Settlement Implementation Fund 5
established by section 13(a). 6
(11) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 7
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 8
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 9
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 10
(12) L
AKE ELWELL.—The term ‘‘Lake Elwell’’ 11
means the water impounded on the Marias River in 12
the State by Tiber Dam, a feature of the Lower 13
Marias Unit of the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin 14
Program authorized by section 9 of the Act of De-15
cember 22, 1944 (commonly known as the ‘‘Flood 16
Control Act of 1944’’) (58 Stat. 891, chapter 665). 17
(13) M
ALTA IRRIGATION DISTRICT .—The term 18
‘‘Malta Irrigation District’’ means the public cor-19
poration— 20
(A) created on December 28, 1923, pursu-21
ant to the laws of the State relating to irriga-22
tion districts; and 23
(B) headquartered in Malta, Montana. 24
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(14) MILK RIVER.—The term ‘‘Milk River’’ 1
means the mainstem of the Milk River and each 2
tributary of the Milk River between the headwaters 3
of the Milk River and the confluence of the Milk 4
River with the Missouri River, consisting of— 5
(A) Montana Water Court Basins 40F, 6
40G, 40H, 40I, 40J, 40K, 40L, 40M, 40N, and 7
40O; and 8
(B) the portion of the Milk River and each 9
tributary of the Milk River that flows through 10
the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Sas-11
katchewan. 12
(15) M
ILK RIVER PROJECT.— 13
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Milk River 14
Project’’ means the Bureau of Reclamation 15
project conditionally approved by the Secretary 16
on March 14, 1903, pursuant to the Act of 17
June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, chapter 1093), 18
commencing at Lake Sherburne Reservoir and 19
providing water to a point approximately 6 20
miles east of Nashua, Montana. 21
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Milk River 22
Project’’ includes— 23
(i) the St. Mary Unit; 24
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(ii) the Fresno Dam and Reservoir; 1
and 2
(iii) the Dodson pumping unit. 3
(16) M
ISSOURI RIVER BASIN.—The term ‘‘Mis-4
souri River Basin’’ means the hydrologic basin of 5
the Missouri River, including tributaries. 6
(17) O
PERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE .—The 7
term ‘‘operations and maintenance’’ means the Bu-8
reau of Indian Affairs operations and maintenance 9
activities related to costs described in section 10
171.500 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations (or 11
a successor regulation). 12
(18) O
PERATIONS, MAINTENANCE, AND RE-13
PLACEMENT.—The term ‘‘operations, maintenance, 14
and replacement’’ means— 15
(A) any recurring or ongoing activity asso-16
ciated with the day-to-day operation of a 17
project; 18
(B) any activity relating to scheduled or 19
unscheduled maintenance of a project; and 20
(C) any activity relating to repairing, re-21
placing, or rehabilitating a feature of a project. 22
(19) P
ICK-SLOAN MISSOURI RIVER BASIN PRO -23
GRAM.—The term ‘‘Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin 24
Program’’ means the Pick-Sloan Missouri River 25
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Basin Program (authorized by section 9 of the Act 1
of December 22, 1944 (commonly known as the 2
‘‘Flood Control Act of 1944’’) (58 Stat. 891, chapter 3
665)). 4
(20) PMM.—The term ‘‘PMM’’ means the 5
Principal Meridian, Montana. 6
(21) R
ESERVATION.— 7
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Reserva-8
tion’’ means the area of the Fort Belknap Res-9
ervation in the State, as modified by this Act. 10
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Reserva-11
tion’’ includes— 12
(i) all land and interests in land es-13
tablished by— 14
(I) the Agreement with the Gros 15
Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the 16
Fort Belknap Reservation, ratified by 17
the Act of May 1, 1888 (25 Stat. 113, 18
chapter 212), as modified by the 19
Agreement with the Indians of the 20
Fort Belknap Reservation of October 21
9, 1895 (ratified by the Act of June 22
10, 1896) (29 Stat. 350, chapter 23
398); 24
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(II) the Act of March 3, 1921 1
(41 Stat. 1355, chapter 135); and 2
(III) Public Law 94–114 (25 3
U.S.C. 5501 et seq.); 4
(ii) the land known as the ‘‘Hancock 5
lands’’ purchased by the Fort Belknap In-6
dian Community pursuant to the Fort 7
Belknap Indian Community Council Reso-8
lution No. 234–89 (October 2, 1989); and 9
(iii) all land transferred to the United 10
States to be held in trust for the benefit of 11
the Fort Belknap Indian Community under 12
section 6. 13
(22) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 14
means the Secretary of the Interior. 15
(23) S
T. MARY UNIT.— 16
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘St. Mary 17
Unit’’ means the St. Mary Storage Unit of the 18
Milk River Project authorized by Congress on 19
March 25, 1905. 20
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘St. Mary 21
Unit’’ includes— 22
(i) Sherburne Dam and Reservoir; 23
(ii) Swift Current Creek Dike; 24
(iii) Lower St. Mary Lake; 25
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(iv) St. Mary Canal Diversion Dam; 1
and 2
(v) St. Mary Canal and appur-3
tenances. 4
(24) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 5
State of Montana. 6
(25) T
RIBAL WATER CODE .—The term ‘‘Tribal 7
water code’’ means the Tribal water code enacted by 8
the Fort Belknap Indian Community pursuant to 9
section 5(g). 10
(26) T
RIBAL WATER RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘Trib-11
al water rights’’ means the water rights of the Fort 12
Belknap Indian Community, as described in Article 13
III of the Compact and this Act, including the allo-14
cation of water to the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-15
nity from Lake Elwell under section 7. 16
(27) T
RUST FUND.—The term ‘‘Trust Fund’’ 17
means the Aaniiih Nakoda Settlement Trust Fund 18
established for the Fort Belknap Indian Community 19
under section 12(a). 20
SEC. 4. RATIFICATION OF COMPACT. 21
(a) R
ATIFICATION OFCOMPACT.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—As modified by this Act, the 23
Compact is authorized, ratified, and confirmed. 24
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(2) AMENDMENTS.—Any amendment to the 1
Compact is authorized, ratified, and confirmed to 2
the extent that the amendment is executed to make 3
the Compact consistent with this Act. 4
(b) E
XECUTION.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—To the extent that the Com-6
pact does not conflict with this Act, the Secretary 7
shall execute the Compact, including all appendices 8
to, or parts of, the Compact requiring the signature 9
of the Secretary. 10
(2) M
ODIFICATIONS.—Nothing in this Act pre-11
cludes the Secretary from approving any modifica-12
tion to an appendix to the Compact that is con-13
sistent with this Act, to the extent that the modifica-14
tion does not otherwise require congressional ap-15
proval under section 2116 of the Revised Statutes 16
(25 U.S.C. 177) or any other applicable provision of 17
Federal law. 18
(c) E
NVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In implementing the Com-20
pact and this Act, the Secretary shall comply with 21
all applicable provisions of— 22
(A) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 23
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 24
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(B) the National Environmental Policy Act 1
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), including the 2
implementing regulations of that Act; and 3
(C) other applicable Federal environmental 4
laws and regulations. 5
(2) C
OMPLIANCE.— 6
(A) I
N GENERAL.—In implementing the 7
Compact and this Act, the Fort Belknap Indian 8
Community shall prepare any necessary envi-9
ronmental documents, consistent with all appli-10
cable provisions of— 11
(i) the Endangered Species Act of 12
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 13
(ii) the National Environmental Policy 14
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4231 et seq.), in-15
cluding the implementing regulations of 16
that Act; and 17
(iii) all other applicable Federal envi-18
ronmental laws and regulations. 19
(B) A
UTHORIZATIONS.—The Secretary 20
shall— 21
(i) independently evaluate the docu-22
mentation submitted under subparagraph 23
(A); and 24
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(ii) be responsible for the accuracy, 1
scope, and contents of that documentation. 2
(3) E
FFECT OF EXECUTION .—The execution of 3
the Compact by the Secretary under this section 4
shall not constitute a major Federal action for pur-5
poses of the National Environmental Policy Act of 6
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 7
(4) C
OSTS.—Any costs associated with the per-8
formance of the compliance activities under this sub-9
section shall be paid from funds deposited in the 10
Trust Fund, subject to the condition that any costs 11
associated with the performance of Federal approval 12
or other review of such compliance work or costs as-13
sociated with inherently Federal functions shall re-14
main the responsibility of the Secretary. 15
SEC. 5. TRIBAL WATER RIGHTS. 16
(a) C
ONFIRMATION OFTRIBALWATERRIGHTS.— 17
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Tribal water rights are 18
ratified, confirmed, and declared to be valid. 19
(2) U
SE.—Any use of the Tribal water rights 20
shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the 21
Compact and this Act. 22
(3) C
ONFLICT.—In the event of a conflict be-23
tween the Compact and this Act, this Act shall con-24
trol. 25
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(b) INTENT OFCONGRESS.—It is the intent of Con-1
gress to provide to each allottee benefits that are equiva-2
lent to, or exceed, the benefits the allottees possess on the 3
day before the date of enactment of this Act, taking into 4
consideration— 5
(1) the potential risks, cost, and time delay as-6
sociated with litigation that would be resolved by the 7
Compact and this Act; 8
(2) the availability of funding under this Act 9
and from other sources; 10
(3) the availability of water from the Tribal 11
water rights; and 12
(4) the applicability of section 7 of the Act of 13
February 8, 1887 (24 Stat. 390, chapter 119; 25 14
U.S.C. 381), and this Act to protect the interests of 15
allottees. 16
(c) T
RUSTSTATUS OFTRIBALWATERRIGHTS.— 17
The Tribal water rights— 18
(1) shall be held in trust by the United States 19
for the use and benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 20
Community and allottees in accordance with this 21
Act; and 22
(2) shall not be subject to loss through non-use, 23
forfeiture, or abandonment. 24
(d) A
LLOTTEES.— 25
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(1) APPLICABILITY OF THE ACT OF FEBRUARY 1
8, 1887.—The provisions of section 7 of the Act of 2
February 8, 1887 (24 Stat. 390, chapter 119; 25 3
U.S.C. 381), relating to the use of water for irriga-4
tion purposes, shall apply to the Tribal water rights. 5
(2) E
NTITLEMENT TO WATER .—Any entitle-6
ment to water of an allottee under Federal law shall 7
be satisfied from the Tribal water rights. 8
(3) A
LLOCATIONS.—An allottee shall be entitled 9
to a just and equitable allocation of water for irriga-10
tion purposes. 11
(4) C
LAIMS.— 12
(A) E
XHAUSTION OF REMEDIES .—Before 13
asserting any claim against the United States 14
under section 7 of the Act of February 8, 1887 15
(24 Stat. 390, chapter 119; 25 U.S.C. 381), or 16
any other applicable law, an allottee shall ex-17
haust remedies available under the Tribal water 18
code or other applicable Tribal law. 19
(B) A
CTION FOR RELIEF.—After the ex-20
haustion of all remedies available under the 21
Tribal water code or other applicable Tribal 22
law, an allottee may seek relief under section 7 23
of the Act of February 8, 1887 (24 Stat. 390, 24
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chapter 119; 25 U.S.C. 381), or other applica-1
ble law. 2
(5) A
UTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY .—The Sec-3
retary shall have the authority to protect the rights 4
of allottees in accordance with this section. 5
(e) A
UTHORITY OF THE FORTBELKNAPINDIAN 6
C
OMMUNITY.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Fort Belknap Indian 8
Community shall have the authority to allocate, dis-9
tribute, and lease the Tribal water rights for use on 10
the Reservation in accordance with the Compact, 11
this Act, and applicable Federal law. 12
(2) O
FF-RESERVATION USE .—The Fort 13
Belknap Indian Community may allocate, distribute, 14
and lease the Tribal water rights for off-Reservation 15
use in accordance with the Compact, this Act, and 16
applicable Federal law— 17
(A) subject to the approval of the Sec-18
retary; or 19
(B) pursuant to Tribal water leasing regu-20
lations consistent with the requirements of sub-21
section (f). 22
(3) L
AND LEASES BY ALLOTTEES .—Notwith-23
standing paragraph (1), an allottee may lease any 24
interest in land held by the allottee, together with 25
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any water right determined to be appurtenant to the 1
interest in land, in accordance with the Tribal water 2
code. 3
(f) T
RIBALWATERLEASINGREGULATIONS.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—At the discretion of the Fort 5
Belknap Indian Community, any water lease of the 6
Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Tribal water 7
rights for use on or off the Reservation shall not re-8
quire the approval of the Secretary if the lease— 9
(A) is executed under tribal regulations, 10
approved by the Secretary under this sub-11
section; 12
(B) is in accordance with the Compact; 13
and 14
(C) does not exceed a term of 100 years, 15
except that a lease may include an option to 16
renew for 1 additional term of not to exceed 17
100 years. 18
(2) A
UTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OVER 19
TRIBAL WATER LEASING REGULATIONS .— 20
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 21
have the authority to approve or disapprove any 22
Tribal water leasing regulations issued in ac-23
cordance with paragraph (1). 24
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(B) CONSIDERATIONS FOR APPROVAL .— 1
The Secretary shall approve any Tribal water 2
leasing regulations issued in accordance with 3
paragraph (1) if the Tribal water leasing regu-4
lations— 5
(i) provide for an environmental re-6
view process that includes— 7
(I) the identification and evalua-8
tion of any significant effects of the 9
proposed action on the environment; 10
and 11
(II) a process for ensuring that— 12
(aa) the public is informed 13
of, and has a reasonable oppor-14
tunity to comment on, any sig-15
nificant environmental impacts of 16
the proposed action identified by 17
the Fort Belknap Indian Com-18
munity; and 19
(bb) the Fort Belknap In-20
dian Community provides re-21
sponses to relevant and sub-22
stantive public comments on 23
those impacts prior to its ap-24
proval of a water lease; and 25
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(ii) are consistent with this Act and 1
the Compact. 2
(3) R
EVIEW PROCESS.— 3
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 120 4
days after the date on which Tribal water leas-5
ing regulations under paragraph (1) are sub-6
mitted to the Secretary, the Secretary shall re-7
view and approve or disapprove the regulations. 8
(B) W
RITTEN DOCUMENTATION .—If the 9
Secretary disapproves the Tribal water leasing 10
regulations described in subparagraph (A), the 11
Secretary shall include written documentation 12
with the disapproval notification that describes 13
the basis for this disapproval. 14
(C) E
XTENSION.—The deadline described 15
in subparagraph (A) may be extended by the 16
Secretary, after consultation with the Fort 17
Belknap Indian Community. 18
(4) F
EDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW .—Not-19
withstanding paragraphs (2) and (3), if the Fort 20
Belknap Indian Community carries out a project or 21
activity funded by a Federal agency, the Fort 22
Belknap Indian Community— 23
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(A) shall have the authority to rely on the 1
environmental review process of the applicable 2
Federal agency; and 3
(B) shall not be required to carry out a 4
tribal environmental review process under this 5
subsection. 6
(5) D
OCUMENTATION.—If the Fort Belknap In-7
dian Community issues a lease pursuant to Tribal 8
water leasing regulations under paragraph (1), the 9
Fort Belknap Indian Community shall provide the 10
Secretary and the State a copy of the lease, includ-11
ing any amendments or renewals to the lease. 12
(6) L
IMITATION OF LIABILITY.— 13
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The United States 14
shall not be liable in any claim relating to the 15
negotiation, execution, or approval of any lease 16
or exchange agreement or storage agreement, 17
including any claims relating to the terms in-18
cluded in such an agreement, made pursuant to 19
Tribal water leasing regulations under para-20
graph (1). 21
(B) O
BLIGATIONS.—The United States 22
shall have no trust obligation or other obliga-23
tion to monitor, administer, or account for— 24
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(i) any funds received by the Fort 1
Belknap Indian Community as consider-2
ation under any lease or exchange agree-3
ment or storage agreement; or 4
(ii) the expenditure of those funds. 5
(g) T
RIBALWATERCODE.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding Article 7
IV.A.2. of the Compact, not later than 4 years after 8
the date on which the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-9
nity approves the Compact in accordance with sec-10
tion 11(f)(1), the Fort Belknap Indian Community 11
shall enact a Tribal water code that provides for— 12
(A) the management, regulation, and gov-13
ernance of all uses of the Tribal water rights in 14
accordance with the Compact and this Act; and 15
(B) the establishment by the Fort Belknap 16
Indian Community of the conditions, permit re-17
quirements, and other requirements for the allo-18
cation, distribution, or use of the Tribal water 19
rights in accordance with the Compact and this 20
Act. 21
(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—Subject to the approval of 22
the Secretary, the Tribal water code shall provide— 23
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(A) that use of water by allottees shall be 1
satisfied with water from the Tribal water 2
rights; 3
(B) a process by which an allottee may re-4
quest that the Fort Belknap Indian Community 5
provide water for irrigation use in accordance 6
with this Act, including the provision of water 7
under any allottee lease under section 4 of the 8
Act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 856, chapter 9
431; 25 U.S.C. 403); 10
(C) a due process system for the consider-11
ation and determination by the Fort Belknap 12
Indian Community of any request of an allottee 13
(or a successor in interest to an allottee) for an 14
allocation of water for irrigation purposes on al-15
lotted land, including a process for— 16
(i) appeal and adjudication of any de-17
nied or disputed distribution of water; and 18
(ii) resolution of any contested admin-19
istrative decision; 20
(D) a requirement that any allottee assert-21
ing a claim relating to the enforcement of rights 22
of the allottee under the Tribal water code, in-23
cluding to the quantity of water allocated to 24
land of the allottee, shall exhaust all remedies 25
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available to the allottee under Tribal law before 1
initiating an action against the United States 2
or petitioning the Secretary pursuant to sub-3
section (d)(4)(B); 4
(E) a process by which an owner of fee 5
land within the boundaries of the Reservation 6
may apply for use of a portion of the Tribal 7
water rights; and 8
(F) a process for the establishment of a 9
controlled Groundwater area and for the man-10
agement of that area in cooperation with estab-11
lishment of a contiguous controlled Ground-12
water area off the Reservation established pur-13
suant to Section B.2. of Article IV of the Com-14
pact and State law. 15
(3) A
CTION BY SECRETARY.— 16
(A) I
N GENERAL.—During the period be-17
ginning on the date of enactment of this Act 18
and ending on the date on which a Tribal water 19
code described in paragraphs (1) and (2) is en-20
acted, the Secretary shall administer, with re-21
spect to the rights of allottees, the Tribal water 22
rights in accordance with the Compact and this 23
Act. 24
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(B) APPROVAL.—The Tribal water code 1
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not be 2
valid unless— 3
(i) the provisions of the Tribal water 4
code required by paragraph (2) are ap-5
proved by the Secretary; and 6
(ii) each amendment to the Tribal 7
water code that affects a right of an allot-8
tee is approved by the Secretary. 9
(C) A
PPROVAL PERIOD.— 10
(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 11
approve or disapprove the Tribal water 12
code or an amendment to the Tribal water 13
code by not later than 180 days after the 14
date on which the Tribal water code or 15
amendment to the Tribal water code is 16
submitted to the Secretary. 17
(ii) E
XTENSIONS.—The deadline de-18
scribed in clause (i) may be extended by 19
the Secretary, after consultation with the 20
Fort Belknap Indian Community. 21
(h) A
DMINISTRATION.— 22
(1) N
O ALIENATION.—The Fort Belknap In-23
dian Community shall not permanently alienate any 24
portion of the Tribal water rights. 25
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(2) PURCHASES OR GRANTS OF LAND FROM IN -1
DIANS.—An authorization provided by this Act for 2
the allocation, distribution, leasing, or other ar-3
rangement entered into pursuant to this Act shall be 4
considered to satisfy any requirement for authoriza-5
tion of the action required by Federal law. 6
(3) P
ROHIBITION ON FORFEITURE .—The non- 7
use of all or any portion of the Tribal water rights 8
by any water user shall not result in the forfeiture, 9
abandonment, relinquishment, or other loss of all or 10
any portion of the Tribal water rights. 11
(i) E
FFECT.—Except as otherwise expressly provided 12
in this section, nothing in this Act— 13
(1) authorizes any action by an allottee against 14
any individual or entity, or against the Fort Belknap 15
Indian Community, under Federal, State, Tribal, or 16
local law; or 17
(2) alters or affects the status of any action 18
brought pursuant to section 1491(a) of title 28, 19
United States Code. 20
(j) P
ICK-SLOANMISSOURIRIVERBASINPROGRAM 21
P
OWERRATES.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 23
provision of law, the Secretary, in cooperation with 24
the Secretary of Energy, shall make available the 25
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Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin Program irrigation 1
project pumping power rates to the Fort Belknap 2
Indian Community, the Fort Belknap Indian Irriga-3
tion Project, and any projects funded under this Act. 4
(2) A
UTHORIZED PURPOSES .—The power rates 5
made available under paragraph (1) shall be author-6
ized for the purposes of wheeling, administration, 7
and payment of irrigation project pumping power 8
rates, including project use power for gravity power. 9
SEC. 6. EXCHANGE AND TRANSFER OF PUBLIC LAND INTO 10
TRUST. 11
(a) E
XCHANGE OFFEDERAL ANDSTATELAND.— 12
(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 13
(A) P
UBLIC LAND.—The term ‘‘public 14
land’’ means, as applicable— 15
(i) public lands (as defined in section 16
103 of the Federal Land Policy and Man-17
agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)); 18
and 19
(ii) land managed by the Secretary of 20
Agriculture under the jurisdiction of the 21
Forest Service. 22
(B) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term 23
‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means, as applicable— 24
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•HR 8791 IH
(i) the Secretary, with respect to the 1
public land managed by the Department of 2
the Interior; and 3
(ii) the Secretary of Agriculture, with 4
respect to land managed by the Forest 5
Service. 6
(2) N
EGOTIATIONS AUTHORIZED .— 7
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary con-8
cerned shall offer to enter into negotiations 9
with the State for the purpose of exchanging 10
Federal land described in paragraph (4) for the 11
State land described in paragraph (3). 12
(B) R
EQUIREMENT.—Any exchange of 13
land made pursuant to this subsection shall be 14
subject to the requirements of this subsection. 15
(C) P
RIORITY.—In carrying out this para-16
graph, the Secretary concerned shall, during the 17
5-year period beginning on the date of enact-18
ment of this Act, give priority to an exchange 19
of public land located within the State for trust 20
land owned by the State. 21
(3) S
TATE LAND.—The Secretary concerned is 22
authorized to accept the following parcels of land 23
owned by the State located on and off of the Res-24
ervation: 25
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(A) 717.56 acres in T. 26 N., R. 22 E., 1
sec. 16. 2
(B) 707.04 acres in T. 27 N., R. 22 E., 3
sec. 16. 4
(C) 640 acres in T. 27 N., R. 21 E., sec. 5
36. 6
(D) 640 acres in T. 26 N., R. 23 E., sec. 7
16. 8
(E) 640 acres in T. 26 N., R. 23 E., sec. 9
36. 10
(F) 640 acres in T. 26 N., R. 26 E., sec. 11
16. 12
(G) 640 acres in T. 26 N., R. 22 E., sec. 13
36. 14
(H) 640 acres in T. 27 N., R. 23 E., sec. 15
16. 16
(I) 640 acres in T. 27 N., R. 25 E., sec. 17
36. 18
(J) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 22 E., sec. 19
36. 20
(K) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 23 E., sec. 21
16. 22
(L) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 24 E., sec. 23
36. 24
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•HR 8791 IH
(M) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 25 E., sec. 1
16. 2
(N) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 25 E., sec. 3
36. 4
(O) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 26 E., sec. 5
16. 6
(P) 94.96 acres in T. 28 N., R. 26 E., sec. 7
36, under lease by the Fort Belknap Indian 8
Community Council on the date of enactment of 9
this Act, comprised of— 10
(i) 30.68 acres in lot 5; 11
(ii) 26.06 acres in lot 6; 12
(iii) 21.42 acres in lot 7; and 13
(iv) 16.8 acres in lot 8. 14
(Q) 652.32 acres in T. 29 N., R. 22 E., 15
sec. 16, excluding the 73.36 acres under lease 16
by individuals who are not members of the Fort 17
Belknap Indian Community, on the date of en-18
actment of this Act. 19
(R) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 22 E., sec. 20
36. 21
(S) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 23 E., sec. 22
16. 23
(T) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 24 E., sec. 24
16. 25
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(U) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 24 E., sec. 1
36. 2
(V) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 25 E., sec. 3
16. 4
(W) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 25 E., sec. 5
36. 6
(X) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 26 E., sec. 7
16. 8
(Y) 663.22 acres in T. 30 N., R. 22 E., 9
sec. 16, excluding the 58.72 acres under lease 10
by individuals who are not members of the Fort 11
Belknap Indian Community on the date of en-12
actment of this Act. 13
(Z) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 22 E., sec. 14
36. 15
(AA) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 23 E., sec. 16
16. 17
(BB) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 23 E., sec. 18
36. 19
(CC) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 24 E., sec. 20
16. 21
(DD) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 24 E., sec. 22
36. 23
(EE) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 25 E., sec. 24
16. 25
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•HR 8791 IH
(FF) 275.88 acres in T. 30 N., R. 26 E., 1
sec. 36, under lease by the Fort Belknap Indian 2
Community Council on the date of enactment of 3
this Act. 4
(GG) 640 acres in T. 31 N., R. 22 E., sec. 5
36. 6
(HH) 640 acres in T. 31 N., R. 23 E., sec. 7
16. 8
(II) 640 acres in T. 31 N., R. 23 E., sec. 9
36. 10
(JJ) 34.04 acres in T. 31 N., R. 26 E., 11
sec. 16, lot 4. 12
(4) F
EDERAL LAND.—Subject to valid existing 13
rights, and the requirements of this subsection, the 14
Secretary concerned is authorized to convey to the 15
State any public land within the State, except for 16
land that is included within the National Landscape 17
Conservation System established by section 2002(a) 18
of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 19
2009 (16 U.S.C. 7202(a)), without regard to wheth-20
er that land has been identified as available for dis-21
posal in a land use plan. 22
(5) L
AND INTO TRUST.—On completion of the 23
land exchange authorized by this subsection, the 24
Secretary shall, as soon as practicable after the en-25
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•HR 8791 IH
forceability date, take the land received by the 1
United States pursuant to this subsection into trust 2
for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-3
nity. 4
(6) T
ERMS AND CONDITIONS .— 5
(A) E
QUAL VALUE.—The values of the 6
Federal land and State land exchanged under 7
this subsection shall be equal, except that the 8
Secretary concerned may— 9
(i) exchange land that is of approxi-10
mately equal value if such an exchange 11
complies with the requirements of section 12
206(h) of the Federal Land Policy and 13
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 14
1716(h)) (and any regulations imple-15
menting that section) without regard to 16
the monetary limitation described in para-17
graph (1)(A) of that section; and 18
(ii) make or accept an equalization 19
payment, or waive an equalization pay-20
ment, if such a payment or waiver of a 21
payment complies with the requirements of 22
section 206(b) of that Act (43 U.S.C. 23
1716(b)) (and any regulations imple-24
menting that section). 25
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(B) IMPACTS ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS .— 1
In selecting public land to offer to the State, 2
the Secretary concerned may— 3
(i) consider the financial impacts of 4
exchanging specific Federal land on local 5
governments; and 6
(ii) attempt to minimize the financial 7
impact of the exchange on local govern-8
ments. 9
(C) E
XISTING AUTHORIZATIONS .— 10
(i) F
EDERAL LAND TRANSFERRED TO 11
THE STATE.— 12
(I) I
N GENERAL.—Any Federal 13
land transferred to the State under 14
this subsection shall be conveyed sub-15
ject to any valid existing rights, con-16
tracts, leases, permits, and rights-of- 17
way, unless the holder of the right, 18
contract, lease, permit, or right-of-way 19
requests an earlier termination in ac-20
cordance with existing law. 21
(II) A
SSUMPTION BY STATE .— 22
The State shall assume all benefits 23
and obligations of the Forest Service 24
or the Bureau of Land Management, 25
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as applicable, under the existing 1
rights, contracts, leases, permits, and 2
rights-of-way described in subclause 3
(I). 4
(ii) S
TATE LAND TRANSFERRED TO 5
THE UNITED STATES.— 6
(I) I
N GENERAL.—Any State 7
land transferred to the United States 8
under this subsection shall be con-9
veyed and taken into trust for the 10
benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 11
Community subject to any valid exist-12
ing rights, contracts, leases, permits, 13
and rights-of-way, unless the holder of 14
the right, contract, lease, permit, or 15
right-of-way requests an earlier termi-16
nation in accordance with existing 17
law. 18
(II) A
SSUMPTION BY BIA.—The 19
Bureau of Indian Affairs shall— 20
(aa) assume all benefits and 21
obligations of the State under the 22
existing rights, contracts, leases, 23
permits, and rights-of-way de-24
scribed in subclause (I); and 25
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(bb) disburse to the Fort 1
Belknap Indian Community any 2
amounts that accrue to the 3
United States from those rights, 4
contracts, leases, permits, and 5
rights-of-way, after the date of 6
transfer from any sale, bonus, 7
royalty, or rental relating to that 8
land in the same manner as 9
amounts received from other land 10
held by the Secretary in trust for 11
the benefit of the Fort Belknap 12
Indian Community. 13
(D) P
ERSONAL PROPERTY .— 14
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Any improvements 15
constituting personal property, as defined 16
by State law, belonging to the holder of a 17
right, contract, lease, permit, or right-of- 18
way on land transferred to the United 19
States under this subsection shall— 20
(I) remain the property of the 21
holder; and 22
(II) be removed not later than 90 23
days after the date on which the 24
right, contract, lease, permit, or right- 25
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of-way expires, unless the Fort 1
Belknap Indian Community and the 2
holder agree otherwise. 3
(ii) R
EMAINING PROPERTY.—Any per-4
sonal property described in clause (i) re-5
maining with the holder described in that 6
clause beyond the 90-day period described 7
in subclause (II) of that clause shall— 8
(I) become the property of the 9
Fort Belknap Indian Community; and 10
(II) be subject to removal and 11
disposition at the discretion of the 12
Fort Belknap Indian Community. 13
(iii) L
IABILITY OF PREVIOUS HOLD -14
ER.—The holder of personal property de-15
scribed in clause (i) shall be liable for costs 16
incurred by the Fort Belknap Indian Com-17
munity in removing and disposing of the 18
personal property under clause (ii)(II). 19
(7) T
ECHNICAL CORRECTIONS .—Notwith-20
standing the descriptions of the parcels of land 21
owned by the State under paragraph (3), the State 22
may, with the consent of the Fort Belknap Indian 23
Community, make technical corrections to the legal 24
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land descriptions to more specifically identify the 1
State parcels to be exchanged. 2
(8) A
SSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall provide 3
$10,000,000 of financial or other assistance to the 4
State and the Fort Belknap Indian Community as 5
may be necessary to obtain the appraisals, and to 6
satisfy administrative requirements, necessary to ac-7
complish the exchanges under paragraph (2). 8
(b) F
EDERALLANDTRANSFERS.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to valid existing 10
rights and the requirements of this subsection, all 11
right, title, and interest of the United States in and 12
to the land described in paragraph (2) shall be held 13
by the United States in trust for the benefit of the 14
Fort Belknap Indian Community as part of the Res-15
ervation on the enforceability date. 16
(2) F
EDERAL LAND.— 17
(A) B
UREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT PAR -18
CELS.— 19
(i) 59.46 acres in T. 25 N., R. 22 E., 20
sec. 4, comprised of— 21
(I) 19.55 acres in lot 10; 22
(II) 19.82 acres in lot 11; and 23
(III) 20.09 acres in lot 16. 24
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(ii) 324.24 acres in the N
1
⁄2of T. 25 1
N., R. 22 E., sec. 5. 2
(iii) 403.56 acres in T. 25 N., R. 22 3
E., sec. 9, comprised of— 4
(I) 20.39 acres in lot 2; 5
(II) 20.72 acres in lot 7; 6
(III) 21.06 acres in lot 8; 7
(IV) 40.00 acres in lot 9; 8
(V) 40.00 acres in lot 10; 9
(VI) 40.00 acres in lot 11; 10
(VII) 40.00 acres in lot 12; 11
(VIII) 21.39 acres in lot 13; and 12
(IX) 160 acres in SW
1
⁄4. 13
(iv) 70.63 acres in T. 25 N., R. 22 14
E., sec. 13, comprised of— 15
(I) 18.06 acres in lot 5; 16
(II) 18.25 acres in lot 6; 17
(III) 18.44 acres in lot 7; and 18
(IV) 15.88 acres in lot 8. 19
(v) 71.12 acres in T. 25 N., R. 22 E., 20
sec. 14, comprised of— 21
(I) 17.65 acres in lot 5; 22
(II) 17.73 acres in lot 6; 23
(III) 17.83 acres in lot 7; and 24
(IV) 17.91 acres in lot 8. 25
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(vi) 103.29 acres in T. 25 N., R. 22 1
E., sec. 15, comprised of— 2
(I) 21.56 acres in lot 6; 3
(II) 29.50 acres in lot 7; 4
(III) 17.28 acres in lot 8; 5
(IV) 17.41 acres in lot 9; and 6
(V) 17.54 acres in lot 10. 7
(vii) 160 acres in T. 26 N., R. 21 E., 8
sec. 1, comprised of— 9
(I) 80 acres in the S
1
⁄2of the 10
NW
1
⁄4; and 11
(II) 80 acres in the W
1
⁄2of the 12
SW
1
⁄4. 13
(viii) 567.50 acres in T. 26 N., R. 21 14
E., sec. 2, comprised of— 15
(I) 82.54 acres in the E
1
⁄2of the 16
NW
1
⁄4; 17
(II) 164.96 acres in the NE
1
⁄4; 18
and 19
(III) 320 acres in the S
1
⁄2. 20
(ix) 240 acres in T. 26 N., R. 21 E., 21
sec. 3, comprised of— 22
(I) 40 acres in the SE
1
⁄4of the 23
NW
1
⁄4; 24
(II) 160 acres in the SW
1
⁄4; and 25
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(III) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 1
SE
1
⁄4. 2
(x) 120 acres in T. 26 N., R. 21 E., 3
sec. 4, comprised of— 4
(I) 80 acres in the E
1
⁄2of the 5
SE
1
⁄4; and 6
(II) 40 acres in the NW
1
⁄4of the 7
SE
1
⁄4. 8
(xi) 200 acres in T. 26 N., R. 21 E., 9
sec. 5, comprised of— 10
(I) 160 acres in the SW
1
⁄4; and 11
(II) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 12
NW
1
⁄4. 13
(xii) 40 acres in the SE
1
⁄4of the 14
SE
1
⁄4of T. 26 N., R. 21 E., sec. 6. 15
(xiii) 240 acres in T. 26 N., R. 21 E., 16
sec. 8, comprised of— 17
(I) 40 acres in the NE
1
⁄4of the 18
SW
1
⁄4; 19
(II) 160 acres in the NW
1
⁄4; and 20
(III) 40 acres in the NW
1
⁄4of 21
the SE
1
⁄4. 22
(xiv) 320 acres in the E
1
⁄2of T. 26 23
N., R. 21 E., sec. 9. 24
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(xv) 640 acres in T. 26 N., R. 21 E., 1
sec. 10. 2
(xvi) 600 acres in T. 26 N., R. 21 E., 3
sec. 11, comprised of— 4
(I) 320 acres in the N
1
⁄2; 5
(II) 80 acres in the N
1
⁄2of the 6
SE
1
⁄4; 7
(III) 160 acres in the SW
1
⁄4; and 8
(IV) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 9
SE
1
⁄4. 10
(xvii) 525.81 acres in T. 26 N., R. 22 11
E., sec. 21, comprised of— 12
(I) 6.62 acres in lot 1; 13
(II) 5.70 acres in lot 2; 14
(III) 56.61 acres in lot 5; 15
(IV) 56.88 acres in lot 6; 16
(V) 320 acres in the W
1
⁄2; and 17
(VI) 80 acres in the W
1
⁄2of the 18
SE
1
⁄4. 19
(xviii) 719.58 acres in T. 26 N., R. 22 20
E., sec. 28. 21
(xix) 560 acres in T. 26 N., R. 22 E., 22
sec. 29, comprised of— 23
(I) 320 acres in the N
1
⁄2; 24
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(II) 160 acres in the N
1
⁄2of the 1
S
1
⁄2; and 2
(III) 80 acres in the S
1
⁄2of the 3
SE
1
⁄4. 4
(xx) 400 acres in T. 26 N., R. 22 E., 5
sec. 32, comprised of— 6
(I) 320 acres in the S
1
⁄2; and 7
(II) 80 acres in the S
1
⁄2of the 8
NW
1
⁄4. 9
(xxi) 455.51 acres in T. 26 N., R. 22 10
E., sec. 33, comprised of— 11
(I) 58.25 acres in lot 3; 12
(II) 58.5 acres in lot 4; 13
(III) 58.76 acres in lot 5; 14
(IV) 40 acres in the NW
1
⁄4of the 15
NE
1
⁄4; 16
(V) 160 acres in the SW
1
⁄4; and 17
(VI) 80 acres in the W
1
⁄2of the 18
SE
1
⁄4. 19
(xxii) 88.71 acres in T. 27 N., R. 21 20
E., sec. 1, comprised of— 21
(I) 24.36 acres in lot 1; 22
(II) 24.35 acres in lot 2; and 23
(III) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 24
SW
1
⁄4. 25
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(xxiii) 80 acres in T. 27 N., R. 21 E., 1
sec. 3, comprised of— 2
(I) 40 acres in lot 11; and 3
(II) 40 acres in lot 12. 4
(xxiv) 80 acres in T. 27 N., R. 21 E., 5
sec. 11, comprised of— 6
(I) 40 acres in the NW
1
⁄4of the 7
SW
1
⁄4; and 8
(II) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 9
NW
1
⁄4. 10
(xxv) 200 acres in T. 27 N., R. 21 E., 11
sec. 12, comprised of— 12
(I) 80 acres in the E
1
⁄2of the 13
SW
1
⁄4; 14
(II) 40 acres in the NW
1
⁄4of the 15
NW
1
⁄4; and 16
(III) 80 acres in the S
1
⁄2of the 17
NW
1
⁄4. 18
(xxvi) 40 acres in the SE
1
⁄4of the 19
NE
1
⁄4of T. 27 N., R. 21 E., sec. 23. 20
(xxvii) 320 acres in T. 27 N., R. 21 21
E., sec. 24, comprised of— 22
(I) 80 acres in the E
1
⁄2of the 23
NW
1
⁄4; 24
(II) 160 acres in the NE
1
⁄4; 25
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(III) 40 acres in the NE
1
⁄4of the 1
SE
1
⁄4; and 2
(IV) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 3
SW
1
⁄4. 4
(xxviii) 120 acres in T. 27 N., R. 21 5
E., sec. 25, comprised of— 6
(I) 80 acres in the S
1
⁄2of the 7
NE
1
⁄4; and 8
(II) 40 acres in the SE
1
⁄4of the 9
NW
1
⁄4. 10
(xxix) 40 acres in the NE
1
⁄4of the 11
SE
1
⁄4of T. 27 N., R. 21 E., sec. 26. 12
(xxx) 160 acres in the NW
1
⁄4of T. 27 13
N., R. 21 E., sec. 27. 14
(xxxi) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 15
SW
1
⁄4of T. 27 N., R. 21 E., sec. 29. 16
(xxxii) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 17
NE
1
⁄4of T. 27 N., R. 21 E., sec 30. 18
(xxxiii) 120 acres in T. 27 N., R. 21 19
E., sec. 33, comprised of— 20
(I) 40 acres in the SE
1
⁄4of the 21
NE
1
⁄4; and 22
(II) 80 acres in the N
1
⁄2of the 23
SE
1
⁄4. 24
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(xxxiv) 440 acres in T. 27 N., R. 21 1
E., sec. 34, comprised of— 2
(I) 160 acres in the N
1
⁄2of the 3
S
1
⁄2; 4
(II) 160 acres in the NE
1
⁄4; 5
(III) 80 acres in the S
1
⁄2of the 6
NW
1
⁄4; and 7
(IV) 40 acres in the SE
1
⁄4of the 8
SE
1
⁄4. 9
(xxxv) 133.44 acres in T. 27 N., R. 10
22 E., sec. 4, comprised of— 11
(I) 28.09 acres in lot 5; 12
(II) 25.35 acres in lot 6; 13
(III) 40 acres in lot 10; and 14
(IV) 40 acres in lot 15. 15
(xxxvi) 160 acres in T. 27 N., R. 22 16
E., sec. 7, comprised of— 17
(I) 40 acres in the NE
1
⁄4of the 18
NE
1
⁄4; 19
(II) 40 acres in the NW
1
⁄4of the 20
SW
1
⁄4; and 21
(III) 80 acres in the W
1
⁄2of the 22
NW
1
⁄4. 23
(xxxvii) 120 acres in T. 27 N., R. 22 24
E., sec. 8, comprised of— 25
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(I) 80 acres in the E
1
⁄2of the 1
NW
1
⁄4; and 2
(II) 40 acres in the NE
1
⁄4of the 3
SW
1
⁄4. 4
(xxxviii) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 5
NW
1
⁄4of T. 27 N., R. 22 E., sec. 9. 6
(xxxix) 40 acres in the NE
1
⁄4of the 7
SW
1
⁄4of T. 27 N., R. 22 E., sec. 17. 8
(xl) 40 acres in the NW
1
⁄4of the 9
NW
1
⁄4of T. 27 N., R. 22 E., sec. 19. 10
(xli) 40 acres in the SE
1
⁄4of the 11
NW
1
⁄4of T. 27 N., R22 E., sec. 20. 12
(xlii) 80 acres in the W
1
⁄2of the SE
1
⁄4 13
of T. 27 N., R. 22 E., sec. 31. 14
(xliii) 52.36 acres in the SE
1
⁄4of the 15
SE
1
⁄4of T. 27 N., R. 22 E., sec. 33. 16
(xliv) 40 acres in the NE
1
⁄4of the 17
SW
1
⁄4of T. 28 N., R. 22 E., sec. 29. 18
(xlv) 40 acres in the NE
1
⁄4of the 19
NE
1
⁄4of T. 26 N., R. 21 E., sec. 7. 20
(xlvi) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 21
NW
1
⁄4of T. 26 N., R. 21 E., sec. 12. 22
(xlvii) 42.38 acres in the NW
1
⁄4of the 23
NE
1
⁄4of T. 26 N., R. 22 E., sec. 6. 24
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(xlviii) 320 acres in the E
1
⁄2of T. 26 1
N., R. 22 E., sec. 17. 2
(xlix) 80 acres in the E
1
⁄2of the 3
NE
1
⁄4of T. 26 N., R. 22 E., sec. 20. 4
(xii) 240 acres in T. 26 N., R. 22 E., 5
sec. 30, comprised of— 6
(I) 80 acres in the E
1
⁄2of the 7
NE
1
⁄4; 8
(II) 80 acres in the N
1
⁄2of the 9
SE
1
⁄4; 10
(III) 40 acres in the SE
1
⁄4of the 11
NW
1
⁄4; and 12
(IV) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of the 13
NE
1
⁄4. 14
(B) B
UREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS .—The 15
parcels of approximately 3,519.3 acres of trust 16
land that have been converted to fee land, judi-17
cially foreclosed on, acquired by the Depart-18
ment of Agriculture, and transferred to the Bu-19
reau of Indian Affairs, described in clauses (i) 20
through (iii). 21
(i) P
ARCEL 1.—The land described in 22
this clause is 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 26 23
E., comprised of— 24
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(I) 160 acres in the SW
1
⁄4of sec. 1
27; 2
(II) 160 acres in the NE
1
⁄4of 3
sec. 33; and 4
(III) 320 acres in the W
1
⁄2of 5
sec. 34. 6
(ii) P
ARCEL 2.—The land described in 7
this clause is 320 acres in the N
1
⁄2of T. 8
30 N., R. 23 E., sec. 28. 9
(iii) P
ARCEL 3.—The land described 10
in this clause is 2,559.3 acres, comprised 11
of— 12
(I) T. 28 N., R. 24 E., includ-13
ing— 14
(aa) of sec. 16— 15
(AA) 5 acres in the 16
E
1
⁄2, W
1
⁄2, E
1
⁄2, W
1
⁄2, W
1
⁄2, 17
NE
1
⁄4; 18
(BB) 10 acres in the 19
E
1
⁄2, E
1
⁄2, W
1
⁄2, W
1
⁄2, 20
NE
1
⁄4; 21
(CC) 40 acres in the 22
E
1
⁄2, W
1
⁄2, NE
1
⁄4; 23
(DD) 40 acres in the 24
W
1
⁄2, E
1
⁄2, NE
1
⁄4; 25
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(EE) 20 acres in the 1
W
1
⁄2, E
1
⁄2, E
1
⁄2, NE
1
⁄4; 2
(FF) 5 acres in the 3
W
1
⁄2, W
1
⁄2, E
1
⁄2, E
1
⁄2, E
1
⁄2, 4
NE
1
⁄4; and 5
(GG) 160 acres in the 6
SE
1
⁄4; 7
(bb) 640 acres in sec. 21; 8
(cc) 320 acres in the S
1
⁄2of 9
sec. 22; and 10
(dd) 320 acres in the W
1
⁄2 11
of sec. 27; 12
(II) T. 29 N., R. 25 E., PMM, 13
including— 14
(aa) 320 acres in the S
1
⁄2of 15
sec. 1; and 16
(bb) 320 acres in the N
1
⁄2of 17
sec. 12; 18
(III) 39.9 acres in T. 29 N., R. 19
26 E., PMM, sec. 6, lot 2; 20
(IV) T. 30 N., R. 26 E., PMM, 21
including— 22
(aa) 39.4 acres in sec. 3, lot 23
2; 24
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(bb) 40 acres in the SW
1
⁄4 1
of the SW
1
⁄4of sec. 4; 2
(cc) 80 acres in the E
1
⁄2of 3
the SE
1
⁄4of sec. 5; 4
(dd) 80 acres in the S
1
⁄2of 5
the SE
1
⁄4of sec. 7; and 6
(ee) 40 acres in the N
1
⁄2, 7
N
1
⁄2, NE
1
⁄4of sec. 18; and 8
(V) 40 acres in T. 31 N., R. 26 9
E., PMM, the NW
1
⁄4of the SE
1
⁄4of 10
sec. 31. 11
(C) F
ORECLOSED DEPARTMENT OF AGRI -12
CULTURE LAND .—Any Department of Agri-13
culture trust land within the Reservation that 14
has been or is converted to fee land, judicially 15
foreclosed on, and acquired by the United 16
States. 17
(3) T
ERMS AND CONDITIONS .— 18
(A) E
XISTING AUTHORIZATIONS .— 19
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Federal land trans-20
ferred under this subsection shall be con-21
veyed and taken into trust subject to valid 22
existing rights, contracts, leases, permits, 23
and rights-of-way, unless the holder of the 24
right, contract, lease, permit, and rights- 25
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•HR 8791 IH
of-way requests an earlier termination in 1
accordance with existing law. 2
(ii) A
SSUMPTION BY BIA .—The Bu-3
reau of Indian Affairs shall— 4
(I) assume all benefits and obli-5
gations of the previous land manage-6
ment agency under the existing rights, 7
contracts, leases, permits, and rights- 8
of-way described in clause (i); and 9
(II) disburse to the Fort Belknap 10
Indian Community any amounts that 11
accrue to the United States from 12
those rights, contracts, leases, per-13
mits, and rights-of-ways after the date 14
of transfer from any sale, bonus, roy-15
alty, or rental relating to that land in 16
the same manner as amounts received 17
from other land held by the Secretary 18
in trust for the Fort Belknap Indian 19
Community. 20
(B) P
ERSONAL PROPERTY .— 21
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Any improvements 22
constituting personal property, as defined 23
by State law, belonging to the holder of a 24
right, contract, lease, permit, or right-of- 25
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way on land transferred under this sub-1
section shall— 2
(I) remain the property of the 3
holder; and 4
(II) be removed from the land 5
not later than 90 days after the date 6
on which the right, contract, lease, 7
permit, or right-of-way expires, unless 8
the Fort Belknap Indian Community 9
and the holder agree otherwise. 10
(ii) R
EMAINING PROPERTY.—Any per-11
sonal property described in clause (i) re-12
maining with the holder described in that 13
clause beyond the 90-day period described 14
in subclause (II) of that clause shall— 15
(I) become the property of the 16
Fort Belknap Indian Community; and 17
(II) be subject to removal and 18
disposition at the discretion of the 19
Fort Belknap Indian Community. 20
(iii) L
IABILITY OF PREVIOUS HOLD -21
ER.—The holder of personal property de-22
scribed in clause (i) shall be liable to the 23
Fort Belknap Indian Community for costs 24
incurred by the Fort Belknap Indian Com-25
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munity in removing and disposing of the 1
property under clause (ii)(II). 2
(C) E
XISTING ROADS.—If any road within 3
the Federal land transferred under this sub-4
section is necessary for customary access to pri-5
vate land, the Bureau of Indian Affairs shall 6
offer the owner of the private land to apply for 7
a right-of-way along the existing road, at the 8
expense of the landowner. 9
(D) L
IMITATION ON THE TRANSFER OF 10
WATER RIGHTS.—Water rights that transfer 11
with the land described in paragraph (2) shall 12
not become part of the Tribal water rights. 13
(4) W
ITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL LAND .— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to valid exist-15
ing rights, effective on the date of enactment of 16
this Act, all Federal land within the parcels de-17
scribed in paragraph (2) is withdrawn from all 18
forms of— 19
(i) entry, appropriation, or disposal 20
under the public land laws; 21
(ii) location, entry, and patent under 22
the mining laws; and 23
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•HR 8791 IH
(iii) disposition under all laws per-1
taining to mineral and geothermal leasing 2
or mineral materials. 3
(B) E
XPIRATION.—The withdrawals pursu-4
ant to subparagraph (A) shall terminate on the 5
date that the Secretary takes the land into 6
trust for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 7
Community pursuant to paragraph (1). 8
(C) N
O NEW RESERVATION OF FEDERAL 9
WATER RIGHTS.—Nothing in this paragraph es-10
tablishes a new reservation in favor of the 11
United States or the Fort Belknap Indian Com-12
munity with respect to any water or water right 13
on the land withdrawn by paragraph (2). 14
(5) T
ECHNICAL CORRECTIONS .—Notwith-15
standing the descriptions of the parcels of Federal 16
land in paragraph (2), the United States may, with 17
the consent of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, 18
make technical corrections to the legal land descrip-19
tions to more specifically identify the parcels. 20
(6) S
URVEY.— 21
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Unless the United 22
States or the Fort Belknap Indian Community 23
request an additional survey for the transferred 24
land or a technical correction is made under 25
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•HR 8791 IH
paragraph (5), the description of land under 1
this subsection shall be controlling. 2
(B) A
DDITIONAL SURVEY.—If the United 3
States or the Fort Belknap Indian Community 4
requests an additional survey, that survey shall 5
control the total acreage to be transferred into 6
trust under this subsection. 7
(C) A
SSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 8
provide such financial or other assistance as 9
may be necessary— 10
(i) to conduct additional surveys 11
under this subsection; and 12
(ii) to satisfy administrative require-13
ments necessary to accomplish the land 14
transfers under this subsection. 15
(7) D
ATE OF TRANSFER.—The Secretary shall 16
complete all land transfers under this subsection and 17
shall take the land into trust for the benefit of the 18
Fort Belknap Indian Community as expeditiously as 19
practicable after the enforceability date, but not 20
later than 10 years after the enforceability date. 21
(c) T
RIBALLYOWNEDFEELAND.—Not later than 22
10 years after the enforceability date, the Secretary shall 23
take into trust for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 24
Community all fee land owned by the Fort Belknap Indian 25
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Community on or adjacent to the Reservation to become 1
part of the Reservation, provided that— 2
(1) the land is free from any liens, encum-3
brances, or other infirmities; and 4
(2) no evidence exists of any hazardous sub-5
stances on, or other environmental liability with re-6
spect to, the land. 7
(d) D
ODSONLAND.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), as 9
soon as practicable after the enforceability date, but 10
not later than 10 years after the enforceability date, 11
the Dodson Land described in paragraph (3) shall 12
be taken into trust by the United States for the ben-13
efit of the Fort Belknap Indian Community as part 14
of the Reservation. 15
(2) R
ESTRICTIONS.—The land taken into trust 16
under paragraph (1) shall be subject to a perpetual 17
easement, reserved by the United States for use by 18
the Bureau of Reclamation, its contractors, and its 19
assigns for— 20
(A) the right of ingress and egress for 21
Milk River Project purposes; and 22
(B) the right to— 23
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(i) seep, flood, and overflow the trans-1
ferred land for Milk River Project pur-2
poses; 3
(ii) conduct routine and non-routine 4
operation, maintenance, and replacement 5
activities on the Milk River Project facili-6
ties, including modification to the 7
headworks at the upstream end of the 8
Dodson South Canal in support of Dodson 9
South Canal enlargement, to include all as-10
sociated access, construction, and material 11
storage necessary to complete those activi-12
ties; and 13
(iii) prohibit the construction of per-14
manent structures on the transferred land, 15
except— 16
(I) as provided in the cooperative 17
agreement under paragraph (4); and 18
(II) to meet the requirements of 19
the Milk River Project. 20
(3) D
ESCRIPTION OF DODSON LAND .— 21
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Dodson Land re-22
ferred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) is the ap-23
proximately 2,500 acres of land owned by the 24
United States that is, as of the date of enact-25
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•HR 8791 IH
ment of this Act, under the jurisdiction of the 1
Bureau of Reclamation and located at the 2
northeastern corner of the Reservation (which 3
extends to the point in the middle of the main 4
channel of the Milk River), where the Milk 5
River Project facilities, including the Dodson 6
Diversion Dam, headworks to the Dodson 7
South Canal, and Dodson South Canal, are lo-8
cated, and more particularly described as fol-9
lows: 10
(i) Supplemental Plat of T. 30 N., R. 11
26 E., PMM, secs. 1 and 2. 12
(ii) Supplemental Plat of T. 31 N., R. 13
25 E., PMM, sec. 13. 14
(iii) Supplemental Plat of T. 31 N., 15
R. 26 E., PMM, secs. 18, 19, 20, and 29. 16
(iv) Supplemental Plat of T. 31 N., R. 17
26 E., PMM, secs. 26, 27, 35, and 36. 18
(B) C
LARIFICATION.—The supplemental 19
plats described in clauses (i) through (iv) of 20
subparagraph (A) are official plats, as docu-21
mented by retracement boundary surveys of the 22
General Land Office, approved on March 11, 23
1938, and on record at the Bureau of Land 24
Management. 25
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•HR 8791 IH
(C) TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS .—Notwith-1
standing the descriptions of the parcels of Fed-2
eral land in subparagraph (A), the United 3
States may, with the consent of the Fort 4
Belknap Indian Community, make technical 5
corrections to the legal land descriptions to 6
more specifically identify the parcels to be 7
transferred. 8
(4) C
OOPERATIVE AGREEMENT .—Not later 9
than 3 years after the enforceability date, the Bu-10
reau of Reclamation, the Malta Irrigation District, 11
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Fort Belknap 12
Indian Community shall negotiate and enter into a 13
cooperative agreement that identifies the uses to 14
which the Fort Belknap Indian Community may put 15
the land described in paragraph (3), provided that 16
the cooperative agreement may be amended by mu-17
tual agreement of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-18
nity, Bureau of Reclamation, the Malta Irrigation 19
District, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including 20
to modify the perpetual easement to narrow the 21
boundaries of the easement or to terminate the per-22
petual easement and cooperative agreement. 23
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(e) LANDSTATUS.—All land held in trust by the 1
United States for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 2
Community under this section shall be— 3
(1) beneficially owned by the Fort Belknap In-4
dian Community; and 5
(2) part of the Reservation and administered in 6
accordance with the laws and regulations generally 7
applicable to land held in trust by the United States 8
for the benefit of an Indian Tribe. 9
SEC. 7. STORAGE ALLOCATION FROM LAKE ELWELL. 10
(a) S
TORAGEALLOCATION OF WATER TOFORT 11
B
ELKNAPINDIANCOMMUNITY.—The Secretary shall allo-12
cate to the Fort Belknap Indian Community 20,000 acre- 13
feet per year of water stored in Lake Elwell for use by 14
the Fort Belknap Indian Community for any beneficial 15
purpose on or off the Reservation, under a water right 16
held by the United States and managed by the Bureau 17
of Reclamation for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 18
Community, as measured and diverted at the outlet works 19
of the Tiber Dam or through direct pumping from Lake 20
Elwell. 21
(b) T
REATMENT.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The allocation to the Fort 23
Belknap Indian Community under subsection (a) 24
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shall be considered to be part of the Tribal water 1
rights. 2
(2) P
RIORITY DATE.—The priority date of the 3
allocation to the Fort Belknap Indian Community 4
under subsection (a) shall be the priority date of the 5
Lake Elwell water right held by the Bureau of Rec-6
lamation. 7
(3) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Fort Belknap In-8
dian Community shall administer the water allocated 9
under subsection (a) in accordance with the Com-10
pact and this Act. 11
(c) A
LLOCATIONAGREEMENT.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—As a condition of receiving 13
an allocation under this section, the Fort Belknap 14
Indian Community shall enter into an agreement 15
with the Secretary to establish the terms and condi-16
tions of the allocation, in accordance with the Com-17
pact and this Act. 18
(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—The agreement under para-19
graph (1) shall include provisions establishing that— 20
(A) the agreement shall be without limit as 21
to term; 22
(B) the Fort Belknap Indian Community, 23
and not the United States, shall be entitled to 24
all consideration due to the Fort Belknap In-25
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dian Community under any lease, contract, ex-1
change, or agreement entered into by the Fort 2
Belknap Indian Community pursuant to sub-3
section (d); 4
(C) the United States shall have no obliga-5
tion to monitor, administer, or account for— 6
(i) any funds received by the Fort 7
Belknap Indian Community as consider-8
ation under any lease, contract, exchange, 9
or agreement entered into by the Fort 10
Belknap Indian Community pursuant to 11
subsection (d); or 12
(ii) the expenditure of those funds; 13
(D) if the capacity or function of Lake 14
Elwell facilities are significantly reduced, or are 15
anticipated to be significantly reduced, for an 16
extended period of time, the Fort Belknap In-17
dian Community shall have the same storage 18
rights as other storage contractors with respect 19
to the allocation under this section; 20
(E) the costs associated with the construc-21
tion of the storage facilities at Tiber Dam allo-22
cable to the Fort Belknap Indian Community 23
shall be nonreimbursable; 24
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(F) no water service capital charge shall be 1
due or payable for any water allocated to the 2
Fort Belknap Indian Community under this 3
section or the allocation agreement, regardless 4
of whether that water is delivered for use by the 5
Fort Belknap Indian Community or under a 6
lease, contract, exchange, or by agreement en-7
tered into by the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-8
nity pursuant to subsection (d); 9
(G) the Fort Belknap Indian Community 10
shall not be required to make payments to the 11
United States for any water allocated to the 12
Fort Belknap Indian Community under this 13
section or the allocation agreement, except for 14
each acre-foot of stored water leased or trans-15
ferred for industrial purposes as described in 16
subparagraph (H); and 17
(H) for each acre-foot of stored water 18
leased or transferred by the Fort Belknap In-19
dian Community for industrial purposes— 20
(i) the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-21
nity shall pay annually to the United 22
States an amount necessary to cover the 23
proportional share of the annual oper-24
ations, maintenance, and replacement costs 25
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allocable to the quantity of water leased or 1
transferred by the Fort Belknap Indian 2
Community for industrial purposes; and 3
(ii) the annual payments of the Fort 4
Belknap Indian Community shall be re-5
viewed and adjusted, as appropriate, to re-6
flect the actual operations, maintenance, 7
and replacement costs for Tiber Dam. 8
(d) A
GREEMENT BYFORTBELKNAPINDIANCOMMU-9
NITY.—The Fort Belknap Indian Community may use, 10
lease, contract, exchange, or enter into other agreements 11
for the use of the water allocated to the Fort Belknap 12
Indian Community under subsection (a) if— 13
(1) the use of water that is the subject of such 14
an agreement occurs within the Missouri River 15
Basin; and 16
(2) the agreement does not permanently alien-17
ate any water allocated to the Fort Belknap Indian 18
Community under that subsection. 19
(e) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The allocation under sub-20
section (a) takes effect on the enforceability date. 21
(f) N
OCARRYOVERSTORAGE.—The allocation under 22
subsection (a) shall not be increased by any year-to-year 23
carryover storage. 24
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(g) DEVELOPMENT AND DELIVERYCOSTS.—The 1
United States shall not be required to pay the cost of de-2
veloping or delivering any water allocated under this sec-3
tion. 4
SEC. 8. MILK RIVER PROJECT MITIGATION. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In complete satisfaction of the 6
Milk River Project mitigation requirements provided for 7
in Article VI.B. of the Compact, the Secretary, acting 8
through the Commissioner— 9
(1) in cooperation with the State and the 10
Blackfeet Tribe, shall carry out appropriate activi-11
ties concerning the restoration of the St. Mary 12
Canal and associated facilities, including activities 13
relating to the— 14
(A) planning and design to restore the St. 15
Mary Canal and appurtenances to convey 850 16
cubic-feet per second; and 17
(B) rehabilitating, constructing, and re-18
pairing of the St. Mary Canal and appur-19
tenances; and 20
(2) in cooperation with the State and the Fort 21
Belknap Indian Community, shall carry out appro-22
priate activities concerning the enlargement of 23
Dodson South Canal and associated facilities, includ-24
ing activities relating to the— 25
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(A) planning and design to enlarge Dodson 1
South Canal and headworks at the upstream 2
end of Dodson South Canal to divert and con-3
vey 700 cubic-feet per second; and 4
(B) rehabilitating, constructing, and en-5
larging the Dodson South Canal and headworks 6
at the upstream end of Dodson South Canal to 7
divert and convey 700 cubic-feet per second. 8
(b) F
UNDING.—The total amount of obligations in-9
curred by the Secretary, prior to any adjustments provided 10
for in section 14(b), shall not exceed $300,000,000 to 11
carry out activities described in subsection (c)(1). 12
(c) S
ATISFACTION OFMITIGATIONREQUIREMENT.— 13
Notwithstanding any provision of the Compact, the miti-14
gation required by Article VI.B. of the Compact shall be 15
deemed satisfied if— 16
(1) the Secretary has— 17
(A) restored the St. Mary Canal and asso-18
ciated facilities to convey 850 cubic-feet per sec-19
ond; and 20
(B) enlarged the Dodson South Canal and 21
headworks at the upstream end of Dodson 22
South Canal to divert and convey 700 cubic-feet 23
per second; and 24
(2) the Secretary— 25
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(A) has expended all of the available fund-1
ing provided pursuant to section 14(a)(1)(D) to 2
rehabilitate the St Mary Canal and enlarge the 3
Dodson South Canal; and 4
(B) despite diligent efforts, could not com-5
plete the activities described in subsection (a). 6
(d) N
ONREIMBURSABILITY OF COSTS.—The costs to 7
the Secretary of carrying out this section shall be nonreim-8
bursable. 9
SEC. 9. FORT BELKNAP INDIAN IRRIGATION PROJECT SYS-10
TEM. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap-12
propriations, the Secretary, acting through the Assistant 13
Secretary for Indian Affairs, shall rehabilitate, modernize, 14
and expand the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project, 15
which shall include— 16
(1) planning, studies, and designing of the ex-17
isting and expanded Milk River unit, including the 18
Pumping Plant, delivery pipe and canal, Fort 19
Belknap Dam and Reservoir, and Peoples Creek 20
Flood Protection Project; 21
(2) the rehabilitation, modernization, and con-22
struction of the existing Milk River unit; and 23
(3) construction of the expanded Milk River 24
Project, including the Pumping Plant, delivery pipe 25
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and canal, Fort Belknap Dam and Reservoir, and 1
Peoples Creek Flood Protection Project. 2
(b) L
EADAGENCY.—The Bureau of Indian Affairs 3
shall serve as the lead agency with respect to any activities 4
carried out under this section. 5
(c) C
ONSULTATIONWITH THEFORTBELKNAPIN-6
DIANCOMMUNITY.—The Secretary shall consult with the 7
Fort Belknap Indian Community on appropriate changes 8
to the final design and costs of any activity under this 9
section. 10
(d) F
UNDING.—The total amount of obligations in-11
curred by the Secretary in carrying out this section, prior 12
to any adjustment provided for in section 14(b), shall not 13
exceed $415,832,153. 14
(e) N
ONREIMBURSABILITY OF COSTS.—All costs in-15
curred by the Secretary in carrying out this section shall 16
be nonreimbursable. 17
(f) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Assistant Secretary of 18
Indian Affairs and the Fort Belknap Indian Community 19
shall negotiate the cost of any oversight activity carried 20
out by the Bureau of Indian Affairs under any agreement 21
entered into under subsection (i), subject to the condition 22
that the total cost for the oversight shall not exceed 3 per-23
cent of the total project costs for each project. 24
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(g) PROJECTEFFICIENCIES.—If the total cost of 1
planning, studies, design, rehabilitation, modernization, 2
and construction activities relating to the projects de-3
scribed in subsection (a) results in cost savings and is less 4
than the amounts authorized to be obligated, the Sec-5
retary, at the request of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-6
nity, shall deposit those savings in the the Fort Belknap 7
Indian Community Water Resources and Water Rights 8
Administration, Operation, and Maintenance Account es-9
tablished under section 12(b)(2). 10
(h) T
REATMENT.—Any activities carried out pursu-11
ant to this section that result in improvements, additions, 12
or modifications to the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation 13
Project shall— 14
(1) become a part of the Fort Belknap Indian 15
Irrigation Project; and 16
(2) be recorded in the inventory of the Sec-17
retary relating to the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation 18
Project. 19
(i) A
PPLICABILITY OFISDEAA.—At the request of 20
the Fort Belknap Indian Community, and in accordance 21
with the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assist-22
ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.), the Secretary shall 23
enter into agreements with the Fort Belknap Indian Com-24
munity to carry out all or a portion of this section. 25
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(j) EFFECT.—Nothing in this section— 1
(1) alters any applicable law under which the 2
Bureau of Indian Affairs collects assessments or car-3
ries out the operations and maintenance of the Fort 4
Belknap Indian Irrigation Project; or 5
(2) impacts the availability of amounts under 6
section 14. 7
(k) S
ATISFACTION OFFORTBELKNAPINDIANIRRI-8
GATIONPROJECTSYSTEMREQUIREMENT.—The obliga-9
tions of the Secretary under subsection (a) shall be 10
deemed satisfied if— 11
(1) the Secretary has rehabilitated, modernized, 12
and expanded the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation 13
Project in accordance with subsection (a); or 14
(2) the Secretary— 15
(A) has expended all of the available fund-16
ing provided pursuant to paragraphs (1)(C) and 17
(2)(A)(iv) of section 14(a); and 18
(B) despite diligent efforts, could not com-19
plete the activities described in subsection (a). 20
SEC. 10. SATISFACTION OF CLAIMS. 21
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The benefits provided under this 22
Act shall be in complete replacement of, complete substi-23
tution for, and full satisfaction of any claim of the Fort 24
Belknap Indian Community against the United States 25
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that is waived and released by the Fort Belknap Indian 1
Community under section 11(a). 2
(b) A
LLOTTEES.—The benefits realized by the 3
allottees under this Act shall be in complete replacement 4
of, complete substitution for, and full satisfaction of— 5
(1) all claims waived and released by the United 6
States (acting as trustee for the allottees) under sec-7
tion 11(a)(2); and 8
(2) any claims of the allottees against the 9
United States similar to the claims described in sec-10
tion 11(a)(2) that the allottee asserted or could have 11
asserted. 12
SEC. 11. WAIVERS AND RELEASES OF CLAIMS. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 14
(1) W
AIVER AND RELEASE OF CLAIMS BY THE 15
FORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY AND UNITED 16
STATES AS TRUSTEE FOR THE FORT BELKNAP IN -17
DIAN COMMUNITY .—Subject to the reservation of 18
rights and retention of claims under subsection (d), 19
as consideration for recognition of the Tribal water 20
rights and other benefits described in the Compact 21
and this Act, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, 22
acting on behalf of the Fort Belknap Indian Com-23
munity and members of the Fort Belknap Indian 24
Community (but not any member of the Fort 25
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Belknap Indian Community as an allottee), and the 1
United States, acting as trustee for the Fort 2
Belknap Indian Community and the members of the 3
Fort Belknap Indian Community (but not any mem-4
ber of the Fort Belknap Indian Community as an al-5
lottee), shall execute a waiver and release of all 6
claims for water rights within the State that the 7
Fort Belknap Indian Community, or the United 8
States acting as trustee for the Fort Belknap Indian 9
Community, asserted or could have asserted in any 10
proceeding, including a State stream adjudication, 11
on or before the enforceability date, except to the ex-12
tent that such rights are recognized in the Compact 13
and this Act. 14
(2) W
AIVER AND RELEASE OF CLAIMS BY THE 15
UNITED STATES AS TRUSTEE FOR ALLOTTEES .— 16
Subject to the reservation of rights and the retention 17
of claims under subsection (d), as consideration for 18
recognition of the Tribal water rights and other ben-19
efits described in the Compact and this Act, the 20
United States, acting as trustee for the allottees, 21
shall execute a waiver and release of all claims for 22
water rights within the Reservation that the United 23
States, acting as trustee for the allottees, asserted or 24
could have asserted in any proceeding, including a 25
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State stream adjudication, on or before the enforce-1
ability date, except to the extent that such rights are 2
recognized in the Compact and this Act. 3
(3) W
AIVER AND RELEASE OF CLAIMS BY THE 4
FORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY AGAINST THE 5
UNITED STATES.—Subject to the reservation of 6
rights and retention of claims under subsection (d), 7
the Fort Belknap Indian Community, acting on be-8
half of the Fort Belknap Indian Community and 9
members of the Fort Belknap Indian Community 10
(but not any member of the Fort Belknap Indian 11
Community as an allottee), shall execute a waiver 12
and release of all claims against the United States 13
(including any agency or employee of the United 14
States)— 15
(A) first arising before the enforceability 16
date relating to— 17
(i) water rights within the State that 18
the United States, acting as trustee for the 19
Fort Belknap Indian Community, asserted 20
or could have asserted in any proceeding, 21
including a general stream adjudication in 22
the State, except to the extent that such 23
rights are recognized as Tribal water 24
rights under this Act; 25
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(ii) foregone benefits from nontribal 1
use of water, on and off the Reservation 2
(including water from all sources and for 3
all uses); 4
(iii) damage, loss, or injury to water, 5
water rights, land, or natural resources 6
due to loss of water or water rights, in-7
cluding damages, losses, or injuries to 8
hunting, fishing, gathering, or cultural 9
rights due to loss of water or water rights, 10
claims relating to interference with, diver-11
sion of, or taking of water, or claims relat-12
ing to a failure to protect, acquire, replace, 13
or develop water, water rights, or water in-14
frastructure within the State; 15
(iv) a failure to establish or provide a 16
municipal rural or industrial water delivery 17
system on the Reservation; 18
(v) damage, loss, or injury to water, 19
water rights, land, or natural resources 20
due to construction, operation, and man-21
agement of the Fort Belknap Indian Irri-22
gation Project and other Federal land and 23
facilities (including damages, losses, or in-24
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juries to Tribal fisheries, fish habitat, wild-1
life, and wildlife habitat); 2
(vi) a failure to provide for operation 3
and maintenance, or deferred maintenance, 4
for the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation 5
Project or any other irrigation system or 6
irrigation project; 7
(vii) the litigation of claims relating to 8
any water rights of the Fort Belknap In-9
dian Community in the State; 10
(viii) the negotiation, execution, or 11
adoption of the Compact (including appen-12
dices) and this Act; 13
(ix) the taking or acquisition of land 14
or resources of the Fort Belknap Indian 15
Community for the construction or oper-16
ation of the Fort Belknap Indian Irriga-17
tion Project or the Milk River Project; and 18
(x) the allocation of water of the Milk 19
River and the St. Mary River (including 20
tributaries) between the United States and 21
Canada pursuant to the International 22
Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 (36 Stat. 23
2448); and 24
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(B) relating to damage, loss, or injury to 1
water, water rights, land, or natural resources 2
due to mining activities in the Little Rockies 3
Mountains prior to the date of trust acquisition, 4
including damages, losses, or injuries to hunt-5
ing, fishing, gathering, or cultural rights. 6
(b) E
FFECTIVENESS.—The waivers and releases 7
under subsection (a) shall take effect on the enforceability 8
date. 9
(c) O
BJECTIONS IN MONTANAWATERCOURT.— 10
Nothing in this Act or the Compact prohibits the Fort 11
Belknap Indian Community, a member of the Fort 12
Belknap Indian Community, an allottee, or the United 13
States in any capacity from objecting to any claim to a 14
water right filed in any general stream adjudication in the 15
Montana Water Court. 16
(d) R
ESERVATION OF RIGHTS ANDRETENTION OF 17
C
LAIMS.—Notwithstanding the waivers and releases under 18
subsection (a), the Fort Belknap Indian Community, act-19
ing on behalf of the Fort Belknap Indian Community and 20
members of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, and the 21
United States, acting as trustee for the Fort Belknap In-22
dian Community and the allottees shall retain— 23
(1) all claims relating to— 24
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(A) the enforcement of water rights recog-1
nized under the Compact, any final court decree 2
relating to those water rights, or this Act or to 3
water rights accruing on or after the enforce-4
ability date; 5
(B) the quality of water under— 6
(i) CERCLA, including damages to 7
natural resources; 8
(ii) the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 9
U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 10
(iii) the Federal Water Pollution Con-11
trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); and 12
(iv) any regulations implementing the 13
Acts described in clauses (i) through (iii); 14
(C) damage, loss, or injury to land or nat-15
ural resources that are— 16
(i) not due to loss of water or water 17
rights (including hunting, fishing, gath-18
ering, or cultural rights); and 19
(ii) not described in subsection (a)(3); 20
and 21
(D) an action to prevent any person or 22
party (as defined in sections 29 and 30 of Arti-23
cle II of the Compact) from interfering with the 24
enjoyment of the Tribal water rights; 25
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(2) all claims relating to off-Reservation hunt-1
ing rights, fishing rights, gathering rights, or other 2
rights; 3
(3) all claims relating to the right to use and 4
protect water rights acquired after the date of enact-5
ment of this Act; 6
(4) all claims relating to the allocation of 7
waters of the Milk River and the Milk River Project 8
between the Fort Belknap Indian Community and 9
the Blackfeet Tribe, pursuant to section 3705(e)(3) 10
of the Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement Act (Pub-11
lic Law 114–322; 130 Stat. 1818); 12
(5) all claims relating to the enforcement of the 13
Act, including the required transfer of land under 14
section 6; and 15
(6) all rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, 16
and powers not specifically waived and released pur-17
suant to this Act or the Compact. 18
(e) E
FFECT OFCOMPACT ANDACT.—Nothing in the 19
Compact or this Act— 20
(1) affects the authority of the Fort Belknap 21
Indian Community to enforce the laws of the Fort 22
Belknap Indian Community, including with respect 23
to environmental protections; 24
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(2) affects the ability of the United States, act-1
ing as sovereign, to carry out any activity authorized 2
by law, including— 3
(A) the Federal Water Pollution Control 4
Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); 5
(B) the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 6
U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 7
(C) CERCLA; and 8
(D) any regulations implementing the Acts 9
described in subparagraphs (A) through (C); 10
(3) affects the ability of the United States to 11
act as trustee for any other Indian Tribe or an allot-12
tee of any other Indian Tribe; 13
(4) confers jurisdiction on any State court— 14
(A) to interpret Federal law relating to 15
health, safety, or the environment; 16
(B) to determine the duties of the United 17
States or any other party under Federal law re-18
lating to health, safety, or the environment; or 19
(C) to conduct judicial review of any Fed-20
eral agency action; 21
(5) waives any claim of a member of the Fort 22
Belknap Indian Community in an individual capacity 23
that does not derive from a right of the Fort 24
Belknap Indian Community; 25
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(6) revives any claim adjudicated in the decision 1
in Gros Ventre Tribe v. United States, 469 F.3d 2
801 (9th Cir. 2006); or 3
(7) revives any claim released by an allottee or 4
member of the Fort Belknap Indian Community in 5
the settlement in Cobell v. Salazar, No. 6
1:96CV01285–JR (D.D.C. 2012). 7
(f) E
NFORCEABILITYDATE.—The enforceability date 8
shall be the date on which the Secretary publishes in the 9
Federal Register a statement of findings that— 10
(1) the eligible members of the Fort Belknap 11
Indian Community have voted to approve this Act 12
and the Compact by a majority of votes cast on the 13
day of the vote; 14
(2)(A) the Montana Water Court has approved 15
the Compact in a manner from which no further ap-16
peal may be taken; or 17
(B) if the Montana Water Court is found to 18
lack jurisdiction, the appropriate district court of the 19
United States has approved the Compact as a con-20
sent decree from which no further appeal may be 21
taken; 22
(3) all of the amounts authorized to be appro-23
priated under section 14 have been appropriated and 24
deposited in the designated accounts; 25
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(4) the Secretary and the Fort Belknap Indian 1
Community have executed an allocation agreement 2
described in section 7(c)(1); 3
(5) the State has provided the required funding 4
into the Fort Belknap Indian Community Tribal Ir-5
rigation and Other Water Resources Development 6
Account of the Trust Fund pursuant to section 7
14(a)(3); and 8
(6) the waivers and releases under subsection 9
(a) have been executed by the Fort Belknap Indian 10
Community and the Secretary. 11
(g) T
OLLING OFCLAIMS.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Each applicable period of 13
limitation and time-based equitable defense relating 14
to a claim described in this section shall be tolled for 15
the period beginning on the date of enactment of 16
this Act and ending on the enforceability date. 17
(2) E
FFECT OF SUBSECTION .—Nothing in this 18
subsection revives any claim or tolls any period of 19
limitations or time-based equitable defense that ex-20
pired before the date of enactment of this Act. 21
(h) E
XPIRATION.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—This Act shall expire in any 23
case in which— 24
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(A) the amounts authorized to be appro-1
priated by this Act have not been made avail-2
able to the Secretary by not later than— 3
(i) January 21, 2034; and 4
(ii) such alternative later date as is 5
agreed to by the Fort Belknap Indian 6
Community and the Secretary; or 7
(B) the Secretary fails to publish a state-8
ment of findings under subsection (f) by not 9
later than— 10
(i) January 21, 2035; and 11
(ii) such alternative later date as is 12
agreed to by the Fort Belknap Indian 13
Community and the Secretary, after pro-14
viding reasonable notice to the State. 15
(2) C
ONSEQUENCES.—If this Act expires under 16
paragraph (1)— 17
(A) the waivers and releases under sub-18
section (a) shall— 19
(i) expire; and 20
(ii) have no further force or effect; 21
(B) the authorization, ratification, con-22
firmation, and execution of the Compact under 23
section 4 shall no longer be effective; 24
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(C) any action carried out by the Sec-1
retary, and any contract or agreement entered 2
into, pursuant to this Act shall be void; 3
(D) any unexpended Federal funds appro-4
priated or made available to carry out the ac-5
tivities authorized by this Act, together with 6
any interest earned on those funds, and any 7
water rights or contracts to use water and title 8
to other property acquired or constructed with 9
Federal funds appropriated or made available 10
to carry out the activities authorized by this Act 11
shall be returned to the Federal Government, 12
unless otherwise agreed to by the Fort Belknap 13
Indian Community and the United States and 14
approved by Congress; and 15
(E) except for Federal funds used to ac-16
quire or construct property that is returned to 17
the Federal Government under subparagraph 18
(D), the United States shall be entitled to offset 19
any Federal funds made available to carry out 20
this Act that were expended or withdrawn, or 21
any funds made available to carry out this Act 22
from other Federal authorized sources, together 23
with any interest accrued on those funds, 24
against any claims against the United States— 25
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(i) relating to— 1
(I) water rights in the State as-2
serted by— 3
(aa) the Fort Belknap In-4
dian Community; or 5
(bb) any user of the Tribal 6
water rights; or 7
(II) any other matter described 8
in subsection (a)(3); or 9
(ii) in any future settlement of water 10
rights of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-11
nity or an allottee. 12
SEC. 12. AANIIIH NAKODA SETTLEMENT TRUST FUND. 13
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 14
a trust fund for the Fort Belknap Indian Community, to 15
be known as the ‘‘Aaniiih Nakoda Settlement Trust 16
Fund’’, to be managed, invested, and distributed by the 17
Secretary and to remain available until expended, with-18
drawn, or reverted to the general fund of the Treasury, 19
consisting of the amounts deposited in the Trust Fund 20
under subsection (c), together with any investment earn-21
ings, including interest, earned on those amounts, for the 22
purpose of carrying out this Act. 23
(b) A
CCOUNTS.—The Secretary shall establish in the 24
Trust Fund the following accounts: 25
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(1) The Fort Belknap Indian Community Trib-1
al Irrigation and Other Water Resources Develop-2
ment Account. 3
(2) The Fort Belknap Indian Community 4
Water Resources and Water Rights Administration, 5
Operation, and Maintenance Account. 6
(3) The Fort Belknap Indian Community Clean 7
and Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, and 8
Lake Elwell Project Account. 9
(c) D
EPOSITS.—The Secretary shall deposit— 10
(1) in the Fort Belknap Indian Community 11
Tribal Irrigation and Other Water Resources Devel-12
opment Account established under subsection (b)(1), 13
the amounts made available pursuant to paragraphs 14
(1)(A) and (2)(A)(i) of section 14(a); 15
(2) in the Fort Belknap Indian Community 16
Water Resources and Water Rights Administration, 17
Operation, and Maintenance Account established 18
under subsection (b)(2), the amounts made available 19
pursuant to section 14(a)(2)(A)(ii); and 20
(3) in the Fort Belknap Indian Community 21
Clean and Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, 22
and Lake Elwell Project Account established under 23
subsection (b)(3), the amounts made available pur-24
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suant to paragraphs (1)(B) and (2)(A)(iii) of section 1
14(a). 2
(d) M
ANAGEMENT AND INTEREST.— 3
(1) M
ANAGEMENT.—On receipt and deposit of 4
the funds into the accounts in the Trust Fund pur-5
suant to subsection (c), the Secretary shall manage, 6
invest, and distribute all amounts in the Trust Fund 7
in accordance with the investment authority of the 8
Secretary under— 9
(A) the first section of the Act of June 24, 10
1938 (25 U.S.C. 162a); 11
(B) the American Indian Trust Fund Man-12
agement Reform Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 4001 13
et seq.); and 14
(C) this section. 15
(2) I
NVESTMENT EARNINGS .—In addition to 16
the amounts deposited under subsection (c), any in-17
vestment earnings, including interest, credited to 18
amounts held in the Trust Fund shall be available 19
for use in accordance with subsections (e) and (g). 20
(e) A
VAILABILITY OFAMOUNTS.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Amounts appropriated to, 22
and deposited in, the Trust Fund, including any in-23
vestment earnings, including interest, earned on 24
those amounts shall be made available— 25
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(A) to the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-1
nity by the Secretary beginning on the enforce-2
ability date; and 3
(B) subject to the uses and restrictions in 4
this section. 5
(2) E
XCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding paragraph 6
(1)— 7
(A) amounts deposited in the Fort Belknap 8
Indian Community Tribal Irrigation and Other 9
Water Resources Development Account estab-10
lished under subsection (b)(1) shall be available 11
to the Fort Belknap Indian Community on the 12
date on which the amounts are deposited for 13
uses described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 14
subsection (g)(1); 15
(B) amounts deposited in the Fort 16
Belknap Indian Community Water Resources 17
and Water Rights Administration, Operation, 18
and Maintenance Account established under 19
subsection (b)(2) shall be made available to the 20
Fort Belknap Indian Community on the date on 21
which the amounts are deposited and the Fort 22
Belknap Indian Community has satisfied the re-23
quirements of section 11(f)(1), for the uses de-24
scribed in subsection (g)(2)(A); and 25
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(C) amounts deposited in the Fort Belknap 1
Indian Community Clean and Safe Domestic 2
Water and Sewer Systems, and Lake Elwell 3
Project Account established under subsection 4
(b)(3) shall be available to the Fort Belknap In-5
dian Community on the date on which the 6
amounts are deposited for the uses described in 7
subsection (g)(3)(A). 8
(f) W
ITHDRAWALS.— 9
(1) A
MERICAN INDIAN TRUST FUND MANAGE -10
MENT REFORM ACT OF 1994 .— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Fort Belknap In-12
dian Community may withdraw any portion of 13
the funds in the Trust Fund on approval by the 14
Secretary of a Tribal management plan sub-15
mitted by the Fort Belknap Indian Community 16
in accordance with the American Indian Trust 17
Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 18
U.S.C. 4001 et seq.). 19
(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—In addition to the 20
requirements under the American Indian Trust 21
Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 22
U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), the Tribal management 23
plan under this paragraph shall require that the 24
Fort Belknap Indian Community spend all 25
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amounts withdrawn from the Trust Fund, and 1
any investment earnings accrued through the 2
investments under the Tribal management plan, 3
in accordance with this Act. 4
(C) E
NFORCEMENT.—The Secretary may 5
carry out such judicial and administrative ac-6
tions as the Secretary determines to be nec-7
essary— 8
(i) to enforce the Tribal management 9
plan; and 10
(ii) to ensure that amounts withdrawn 11
from the Trust Fund by the Fort Belknap 12
Indian Community under this paragraph 13
are used in accordance with this Act. 14
(2) W
ITHDRAWALS UNDER EXPENDITURE 15
PLAN.— 16
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Fort Belknap In-17
dian Community may submit to the Secretary a 18
request to withdraw funds from the Trust Fund 19
pursuant to an approved expenditure plan. 20
(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible to 21
withdraw funds under an expenditure plan 22
under this paragraph, the Fort Belknap Indian 23
Community shall submit to the Secretary for 24
approval an expenditure plan for any portion of 25
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the Trust Fund that the Fort Belknap Indian 1
Community elects to withdraw pursuant to this 2
paragraph, subject to the condition that the 3
funds shall be used for the purposes described 4
in this Act. 5
(C) I
NCLUSIONS.—An expenditure plan 6
under this paragraph shall include a description 7
of the manner and purpose for which the 8
amounts proposed to be withdrawn from the 9
Trust Fund will be used by the Fort Belknap 10
Indian Community in accordance with sub-11
sections (e) and (g). 12
(D) A
PPROVAL.—On receipt of an expendi-13
ture plan under this paragraph, the Secretary 14
shall approve the expenditure plan if the Sec-15
retary determines that the expenditure plan— 16
(i) is reasonable; and 17
(ii) is consistent with, and will be used 18
for, the purposes of this Act. 19
(E) E
NFORCEMENT.—The Secretary may 20
carry out such judicial and administrative ac-21
tions as the Secretary determines to be nec-22
essary to enforce an expenditure plan under 23
this paragraph to ensure that amounts dis-24
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bursed under this paragraph are used in ac-1
cordance with this Act. 2
(g) U
SES.—Amounts from the Trust Fund shall be 3
used by the Fort Belknap Indian Community for the fol-4
lowing purposes: 5
(1) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY TRIBAL 6
IRRIGATION AND OTHER WATER RESOURCES DEVEL -7
OPMENT ACCOUNT .—Amounts in the Fort Belknap 8
Indian Community Tribal Irrigation and Other 9
Water Resources Development Account established 10
under subsection (b)(1) shall be used to pay the cost 11
of activities relating to— 12
(A) planning, studies, and design of the 13
Southern Tributary Irrigation Project and the 14
Peoples Creek Irrigation Project, including the 15
Upper Peoples Creek Dam and Reservoir, as 16
described in the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-17
nity Comprehensive Water Development Plan 18
dated 2019; 19
(B) environmental compliance; 20
(C) construction of the Southern Tributary 21
Irrigation Project and the Peoples Creek Irriga-22
tion Project, including the Upper Peoples Creek 23
Dam and Reservoir; 24
(D) wetlands restoration and development; 25
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(E) stock watering infrastructure; and 1
(F) on farm development support and re-2
acquisition of fee lands within the Fort Belknap 3
Indian Irrigation Project. 4
(2) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY WATER 5
RESOURCES AND WATER RIGHTS ADMINISTRATION , 6
OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE ACCOUNT .— 7
Amounts in the Fort Belknap Indian Community 8
Water Resources and Water Rights Administration, 9
Operation, and Maintenance Account established 10
under subsection (b)(2), the principal and invest-11
ment earnings, including interest, may only be used 12
by the Fort Belknap Indian Community to pay the 13
costs of activities described in subparagraphs (A) 14
through (C) as follows: 15
(A) $9,000,000 shall be used for the estab-16
lishment, operation, and capital expenditures in 17
connection with the administration of the Tribal 18
water resources and water rights development, 19
including the development or enactment of a 20
Tribal water code. 21
(B) Only investment earnings, including 22
interest, on $29,299,059 shall be used and be 23
available to pay the costs of activities for ad-24
ministration, operations, and regulation of the 25
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Tribal water resources and water rights depart-1
ment, in accordance with the Compact and this 2
Act. 3
(C) Only investment earnings, including in-4
terest, on $28,331,693 shall be used and be 5
available to pay the costs of activities relating 6
to a portion of the annual assessment costs for 7
the Fort Belknap Indian Community and Tribal 8
members, including allottees, under the Fort 9
Belknap Indian Irrigation Project. 10
(3) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY CLEAN 11
AND SAFE DOMESTIC WATER AND SEWER SYSTEMS , 12
AND LAKE ELWELL PROJECT ACCOUNT .—Amounts 13
in the Fort Belknap Indian Community Clean and 14
Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, and Lake 15
Elwell Project Account established under subsection 16
(b)(3), the principal and investment earnings, in-17
cluding interest, may only be used by the Fort 18
Belknap Indian Community to pay the costs of ac-19
tivities relating to— 20
(A) planning, studies, and design of do-21
mestic water supply, sewer collection and treat-22
ment systems, and Lake Elwell Project, as de-23
scribed in the Fort Belknap Indian Community 24
Comprehensive Water Development Plan dated 25
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2019, including water delivery to the southern 1
part of the Reservation; 2
(B) construction of domestic water supply, 3
sewer collection, and treatment systems; 4
(C) construction, in accordance with appli-5
cable law, of infrastructure for delivery of Lake 6
Elwell water diverted from the Missouri River 7
to the southern part of the Reservation; and 8
(D) planning, studies, design, and con-9
struction of a Tribal wellness center for a work 10
force health and wellbeing project. 11
(h) L
IABILITY.—The Secretary shall not be liable for 12
any expenditure or investment of amounts withdrawn from 13
the Trust Fund by the Fort Belknap Indian Community 14
pursuant to subsection (f). 15
(i) P
ROJECTEFFICIENCIES.—If the total cost of the 16
activities described in subsection (g) results in cost savings 17
and is less than the amounts authorized to be obligated 18
under any of paragraphs (1) through (3) of that sub-19
section required to carry out those activities, the Sec-20
retary, at the request of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-21
nity, shall deposit those savings in the Trust Fund to be 22
used in accordance with that subsection. 23
(j) A
NNUALREPORT.—The Fort Belknap Indian 24
Community shall submit to the Secretary an annual ex-25
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penditure report describing accomplishments and amounts 1
spent from use of withdrawals under a Tribal management 2
plan or an expenditure plan described in this section. 3
(k) N
OPERCAPITAPAYMENTS.—No principal or in-4
terest amount in any account established by this section 5
shall be distributed to any member of the Fort Belknap 6
Indian Community on a per capita basis. 7
(l) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this Act entitles the Fort 8
Belknap Indian Community to judicial review of a deter-9
mination of the Secretary regarding whether to approve 10
a Tribal management plan under paragraph (1) or an ex-11
penditure plan under paragraph (2), except as provided 12
under subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 13
5, United States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Adminis-14
trative Procedure Act’’). 15
SEC. 13. FORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY WATER SET-16
TLEMENT IMPLEMENTATION FUND. 17
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 18
Treasury of the United States a non-trust, interest-bear-19
ing account to be known as the ‘‘Fort Belknap Indian 20
Community Water Settlement Implementation Fund’’, to 21
be managed and distributed by the Secretary, for use by 22
the Secretary for carrying out this Act. 23
(b) A
CCOUNTS.—The Secretary shall establish in the 24
Implementation Fund the following accounts: 25
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(1) The Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project 1
System Account. 2
(2) The Milk River Project Mitigation Account. 3
(c) D
EPOSITS.—The Secretary shall deposit— 4
(1) in the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation 5
Project System Account established under subsection 6
(b)(1), the amount made available pursuant to para-7
graphs (1)(C) and (2)(A)(iv) of section 14(a); and 8
(2) in the Milk River Project Mitigation Ac-9
count established under subsection (b)(2), the 10
amount made available pursuant to section 11
14(a)(1)(D). 12
(d) U
SES.— 13
(1) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN IRRIGATION 14
PROJECT SYSTEM ACCOUNT .—The Fort Belknap In-15
dian Irrigation Project Rehabilitation Account estab-16
lished under subsection (b)(1) shall be used to carry 17
out section 9, except as provided in subsection (g) 18
of that section. 19
(2) M
ILK RIVER PROJECT MITIGATION AC -20
COUNT.—The Milk River Project Mitigation Account 21
established under subsection (b)(2) may only be used 22
to carry out section 8. 23
(e) M
ANAGEMENT.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts in the Implementa-1
tion Fund shall not be available to the Secretary for 2
expenditure until the enforceability date. 3
(2) E
XCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 4
(1), amounts deposited in the Fort Belknap Indian 5
Irrigation Project System Account established under 6
subsection (b)(1) shall be available to the Secretary 7
on the date on which the amounts are deposited for 8
uses described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 9
9(a). 10
(f) I
NTEREST.—In addition to the deposits under 11
subsection (c), any interest credited to amounts unex-12
pended in the Implementation Fund are authorized to be 13
appropriated to be used in accordance with the uses de-14
scribed in subsection (d). 15
SEC. 14. FUNDING. 16
(a) F
UNDING.— 17
(1) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 18
Subject to subsection (b), there are authorized to be 19
appropriated to the Secretary— 20
(A) for deposit in the Fort Belknap Indian 21
Community Tribal Irrigation and Other Water 22
Resources Development Account of the Trust 23
Fund established under section 12(b)(1), 24
$89,643,100, to be retained until expended, 25
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withdrawn, or reverted to the general fund of 1
the Treasury; 2
(B) for deposit in the Fort Belknap Indian 3
Community Clean and Safe Domestic Water 4
and Sewer Systems, and Lake Elwell Project 5
Account of the Trust Fund established under 6
section 12(b)(3), $157,371,593, to be retained 7
until expended, withdrawn, or reverted to the 8
general fund of the Treasury; 9
(C) for deposit in the Fort Belknap Indian 10
Irrigation Project System Account of the Imple-11
mentation Fund established under section 12
13(b)(1), such sums as are necessary, but not 13
more than $187,124,469, for the Secretary to 14
carry out section 9, to be retained until ex-15
pended, withdrawn, or reverted to the general 16
fund of the Treasury; and 17
(D) for deposit in the Milk River Project 18
Mitigation Account of the Implementation Fund 19
established under section 13(b)(2), such sums 20
as are necessary, but not more than 21
$300,000,000, for the Secretary to carry out 22
obligations of the Secretary under section 8, to 23
be retained until expended, withdrawn, or re-24
verted to the general fund of the Treasury. 25
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(2) MANDATORY APPROPRIATIONS .— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Out of any funds in the 2
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the Sec-3
retary of the Treasury shall deposit— 4
(i) in the Fort Belknap Indian Com-5
munity Tribal Irrigation and Other Water 6
Resources Development Account of the 7
Trust Fund established under section 8
12(b)(1), $29,881,034, to be retained until 9
expended, withdrawn, or reverted to the 10
general fund of the Treasury; 11
(ii) in the Fort Belknap Indian Com-12
munity Water Resources and Water Rights 13
Administration, Operation, and Mainte-14
nance Account of the Trust Fund estab-15
lished under section 12(b)(2), 16
$66,630,752; 17
(iii) in the Fort Belknap Indian Com-18
munity Clean and Safe Domestic Water 19
and Sewer Systems, and Lake Elwell 20
Project Account of the Trust Fund estab-21
lished under section 12(b)(3), 22
$110,628,407; and 23
(iv) in the Fort Belknap Indian Irri-24
gation Project System Account of the Im-25
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plementation Fund established under sec-1
tion 13(b)(1), $228,717,684. 2
(B) A
VAILABILITY.—Amounts deposited in 3
the Trust Fund under subparagraph (A) shall 4
be available without further appropriation. 5
(3) S
TATE COST SHARE.—The State shall con-6
tribute $5,000,000, plus any earned interest, pay-7
able to the Secretary for deposit in the Fort Belknap 8
Indian Community Tribal Irrigation and Other 9
Water Resources Development Account of the Trust 10
Fund established under section 12(b)(1) on approval 11
of a final decree by the Montana Water Court for 12
the purpose of activities relating to the Upper Peo-13
ples Creek Dam and Reservoir under subparagraphs 14
(A) through (C) of section 12(g)(1). 15
(b) F
LUCTUATION INCOSTS.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The amounts authorized to 17
be appropriated under paragraphs (1) and (2) of 18
subsection (a) and this subsection shall be— 19
(A) increased or decreased, as appropriate, 20
by such amounts as may be justified by reason 21
of ordinary fluctuations in costs occurring after 22
the date of enactment of this Act as indicated 23
by the Bureau of Reclamation Construction 24
Cost Index—Composite Trend; and 25
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(B) adjusted to address construction cost 1
changes necessary to account for unforeseen 2
market volatility that may not otherwise be cap-3
tured by engineering cost indices as determined 4
by the Secretary, including repricing applicable 5
to the types of construction and current indus-6
try standards involved. 7
(2) R
EPETITION.—The adjustment process 8
under paragraph (1) shall be repeated for each sub-9
sequent amount appropriated until the amount au-10
thorized to be appropriated under subsection (a), as 11
adjusted, has been appropriated. 12
(3) P
ERIOD OF INDEXING.— 13
(A) T
RUST FUND.—With respect to the 14
Trust Fund, the period of indexing adjustment 15
under paragraph (1) for any increment of fund-16
ing shall end on the date on which the funds 17
are deposited into the Trust Fund. 18
(B) I
MPLEMENTATION FUND .—With re-19
spect to the Implementation Fund, the period 20
of adjustment under paragraph (1) for any in-21
crement of funding shall be annually. 22
(c) B
LACKFEETTRIBEWASTEWATERFACILITIES.— 23
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 24
$250,000,000 to plan, design, construct, operate, main-25
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tain, and replace community water distribution and waste-1
water treatment facilities for the Blackfeet Tribe. 2
SEC. 15. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 3
(a) W
AIVER OFSOVEREIGNIMMUNITY BY THE 4
U
NITEDSTATES.—Except as provided in subsections (a) 5
through (c) of section 208 of the Department of Justice 6
Appropriation Act, 1953 (43 U.S.C. 666), nothing in this 7
Act waives the sovereign immunity of the United States. 8
(b) O
THERTRIBESNOTADVERSELYAFFECTED.— 9
Nothing in this Act quantifies or diminishes any land or 10
water right, or any claim or entitlement to land or water, 11
of an Indian Tribe, band, or community other than the 12
Fort Belknap Indian Community. 13
(c) E
LIMINATION OFDEBTS ORLIENSAGAINSTAL-14
LOTMENTS OF THE FORTBELKNAPINDIANCOMMUNITY 15
M
EMBERSWITHIN THEFORTBELKNAPINDIANIRRIGA-16
TIONPROJECT.—On the date of enactment of this Act, 17
the Secretary shall cancel and eliminate all debts or liens 18
against the allotments of land held by the Fort Belknap 19
Indian Community and the members of the Fort Belknap 20
Indian Community due to construction assessments and 21
annual operation and maintenance charges relating to the 22
Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project. 23
(d) E
FFECT ONCURRENTLAW.—Nothing in this Act 24
affects any provision of law (including regulations) in ef-25
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fect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act 1
with respect to pre-enforcement review of any Federal en-2
vironmental enforcement action. 3
(e) E
FFECT ONRECLAMATIONLAWS.—The activities 4
carried out by the Commissioner under this Act shall not 5
establish a precedent or impact the authority provided 6
under any other provision of the reclamation laws, includ-7
ing— 8
(1) the Reclamation Rural Water Supply Act of 9
2006 (43 U.S.C. 2401 et seq.); and 10
(2) the Omnibus Public Land Management Act 11
of 2009 (Public Law 111–11; 123 Stat. 991). 12
(f) A
DDITIONALFUNDING.—Nothing in this Act pro-13
hibits the Fort Belknap Indian Community from seek-14
ing— 15
(1) additional funds for Tribal programs or 16
purposes; or 17
(2) funding from the United States or the State 18
based on the status of the Fort Belknap Indian 19
Community as an Indian Tribe. 20
(g) R
IGHTSUNDERSTATELAW.—Except as pro-21
vided in section 1 of Article III of the Compact (relating 22
to the closing of certain water basins in the State to new 23
appropriations in accordance with the laws of the State), 24
nothing in this Act or the Compact precludes the acquisi-25
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tion or exercise of a right arising under State law (as de-1
fined in section 6 of Article II of the Compact) to the use 2
of water by the Fort Belknap Indian Community, or a 3
member or allottee of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-4
nity, outside the Reservation by— 5
(1) purchase of the right; or 6
(2) submitting to the State an application in 7
accordance with State law. 8
(h) W
ATERSTORAGE ANDIMPORTATION.—Nothing 9
in this Act or the Compact prevents the Fort Belknap In-10
dian Community from participating in any project to im-11
port water to, or to add storage in, the Milk River Basin. 12
SEC. 16. ANTIDEFICIENCY. 13
The United States shall not be liable for any failure 14
to carry out any obligation or activity authorized by this 15
Act, including any obligation or activity under the Com-16
pact, if— 17
(1) adequate appropriations are not provided by 18
Congress expressly to carry out the purposes of this 19
Act; or 20
(2) there are not enough funds available in the 21
Reclamation Water Settlements Fund established by 22
section 10501(a) of the Omnibus Public Land Man-23
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agement Act of 2009 (43 U.S.C. 407(a)) to carry 1
out the purposes of this Act. 2
Æ 
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