Us Congress Senate Bill SB1987 Engrossed / Bill

                    118THCONGRESS 
2
DSESSION S. 1987 
AN ACT 
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 2 
†S 1987 ES
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fort Belknap Indian 2
Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 2024’’. 3
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 4
The purposes of this Act are— 5
(1) to achieve a fair, equitable, and final settle-6
ment of claims to water rights in the State of Mon-7
tana for— 8
(A) the Fort Belknap Indian Community 9
of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana; 10
and 11
(B) the United States, acting as trustee 12
for the Fort Belknap Indian Community and 13
allottees; 14
(2) to authorize, ratify, and confirm the water 15
rights compact entered into by the Fort Belknap In-16
dian Community and the State, to the extent that 17
the Compact is consistent with this Act; 18
(3) to authorize and direct the Secretary— 19
(A) to execute the Compact; and 20
(B) to take any other actions necessary to 21
carry out the Compact in accordance with this 22
Act; 23
(4) to authorize funds necessary for the imple-24
mentation of the Compact and this Act; and 25 3 
†S 1987 ES
(5) to authorize the exchange and transfer of 1
certain Federal and State land. 2
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 3
In this Act: 4
(1) A
LLOTTEE.—The term ‘‘allottee’’ means an 5
individual who holds a beneficial real property inter-6
est in an allotment of Indian land that is— 7
(A) located within the Reservation; and 8
(B) held in trust by the United States. 9
(2) B
LACKFEET TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Blackfeet 10
Tribe’’ means the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet 11
Indian Reservation of Montana. 12
(3) C
ERCLA.—The term ‘‘CERCLA’’ means the 13
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensa-14
tion, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et 15
seq.). 16
(4) C
OMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis-17
sioner’’ means the Commissioner of Reclamation. 18
(5) C
OMPACT.—The term ‘‘Compact’’ means— 19
(A) the Fort Belknap-Montana water 20
rights compact dated April 16, 2001, as con-21
tained in section 85–20–1001 of the Montana 22
Code Annotated (2021); and 23
(B) any appendix (including appendix 24
amendments), part, or amendment to the Com-25 4 
†S 1987 ES
pact that is executed to make the Compact con-1
sistent with this Act. 2
(6) E
NFORCEABILITY DATE .—The term ‘‘en-3
forceability date’’ means the date described in sec-4
tion 11(f). 5
(7) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY .—The 6
term ‘‘Fort Belknap Indian Community’’ means the 7
Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort 8
Belknap Reservation of Montana, a federally recog-9
nized Indian Tribal entity included on the list pub-10
lished by the Secretary pursuant to section 104(a) 11
of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 12
1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131(a)). 13
(8) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY COUN -14
CIL.—The term ‘‘Fort Belknap Indian Community 15
Council’’ means the governing body of the Fort 16
Belknap Indian Community. 17
(9) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN IRRIGATION 18
PROJECT.— 19
(A) I
N GENERAL .—The term ‘‘Fort 20
Belknap Indian Irrigation Project’’ means the 21
Federal Indian irrigation project constructed 22
and operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 23
consisting of the Milk River unit, including— 24
(i) the Three Mile unit; and 25 5 
†S 1987 ES
(ii) the White Bear unit. 1
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Fort 2
Belknap Indian Irrigation Project’’ includes any 3
addition to the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation 4
Project constructed pursuant to this Act, in-5
cluding expansion of the Fort Belknap Indian 6
Irrigation Project, the Pumping Plant, delivery 7
Pipe and Canal, the Fort Belknap Reservoir 8
and Dam, and the Peoples Creek Flood Protec-9
tion Project. 10
(10) I
MPLEMENTATION FUND .—The term ‘‘Im-11
plementation Fund’’ means the Fort Belknap Indian 12
Community Water Settlement Implementation Fund 13
established by section 13(a). 14
(11) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 15
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 16
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 17
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 18
(12) L
AKE ELWELL.—The term ‘‘Lake Elwell’’ 19
means the water impounded on the Marias River in 20
the State by Tiber Dam, a feature of the Lower 21
Marias Unit of the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin 22
Program authorized by section 9 of the Act of De-23
cember 22, 1944 (commonly known as the ‘‘Flood 24
Control Act of 1944’’) (58 Stat. 891, chapter 665). 25 6 
†S 1987 ES
(13) MALTA IRRIGATION DISTRICT .—The term 1
‘‘Malta Irrigation District’’ means the public cor-2
poration— 3
(A) created on December 28, 1923, pursu-4
ant to the laws of the State relating to irriga-5
tion districts; and 6
(B) headquartered in Malta, Montana. 7
(14) M
ILK RIVER.—The term ‘‘Milk River’’ 8
means the mainstem of the Milk River and each 9
tributary of the Milk River between the headwaters 10
of the Milk River and the confluence of the Milk 11
River with the Missouri River, consisting of— 12
(A) Montana Water Court Basins 40F, 13
40G, 40H, 40I, 40J, 40K, 40L, 40M, 40N, and 14
40O; and 15
(B) the portion of the Milk River and each 16
tributary of the Milk River that flows through 17
the Canadian Provinces of Alberta and Sas-18
katchewan. 19
(15) M
ILK RIVER PROJECT.— 20
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Milk River 21
Project’’ means the Bureau of Reclamation 22
project conditionally approved by the Secretary 23
on March 14, 1903, pursuant to the Act of 24
June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388, chapter 1093), 25 7 
†S 1987 ES
commencing at Lake Sherburne Reservoir and 1
providing water to a point approximately 6 2
miles east of Nashua, Montana. 3
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Milk River 4
Project’’ includes— 5
(i) the St. Mary Unit; 6
(ii) the Fresno Dam and Reservoir; 7
and 8
(iii) the Dodson pumping unit. 9
(16) M
ISSOURI RIVER BASIN.—The term ‘‘Mis-10
souri River Basin’’ means the hydrologic basin of 11
the Missouri River, including tributaries. 12
(17) O
PERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE .—The 13
term ‘‘operations and maintenance’’ means the Bu-14
reau of Indian Affairs operations and maintenance 15
activities related to costs described in section 16
171.500 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations (or 17
a successor regulation). 18
(18) O
PERATIONS, MAINTENANCE, AND RE-19
PLACEMENT.—The term ‘‘operations, maintenance, 20
and replacement’’ means— 21
(A) any recurring or ongoing activity asso-22
ciated with the day-to-day operation of a 23
project; 24 8 
†S 1987 ES
(B) any activity relating to scheduled or 1
unscheduled maintenance of a project; and 2
(C) any activity relating to repairing, re-3
placing, or rehabilitating a feature of a project. 4
(19) P
ICK-SLOAN MISSOURI RIVER BASIN PRO -5
GRAM.—The term ‘‘Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin 6
Program’’ means the Pick-Sloan Missouri River 7
Basin Program (authorized by section 9 of the Act 8
of December 22, 1944 (commonly known as the 9
‘‘Flood Control Act of 1944’’) (58 Stat. 891, chapter 10
665)). 11
(20) PMM.—The term ‘‘PMM’’ means the 12
Principal Meridian, Montana. 13
(21) R
ESERVATION.— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Reserva-15
tion’’ means the area of the Fort Belknap Res-16
ervation in the State, as modified by this Act. 17
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Reserva-18
tion’’ includes— 19
(i) all land and interests in land es-20
tablished by— 21
(I) the Agreement with the Gros 22
Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the 23
Fort Belknap Reservation, ratified by 24
the Act of May 1, 1888 (25 Stat. 113, 25 9 
†S 1987 ES
chapter 212), as modified by the 1
Agreement with the Indians of the 2
Fort Belknap Reservation of October 3
9, 1895 (ratified by the Act of June 4
10, 1896) (29 Stat. 350, chapter 5
398); 6
(II) the Act of March 3, 1921 7
(41 Stat. 1355, chapter 135); and 8
(III) Public Law 94–114 (25 9
U.S.C. 5501 et seq.); 10
(ii) the land known as the ‘‘Hancock 11
lands’’ purchased by the Fort Belknap In-12
dian Community pursuant to the Fort 13
Belknap Indian Community Council Reso-14
lution No. 234–89 (October 2, 1989); and 15
(iii) all land transferred to the United 16
States to be held in trust for the benefit of 17
the Fort Belknap Indian Community under 18
section 6. 19
(22) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 20
means the Secretary of the Interior. 21
(23) S
T. MARY UNIT.— 22
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘St. Mary 23
Unit’’ means the St. Mary Storage Unit of the 24 10 
†S 1987 ES
Milk River Project authorized by Congress on 1
March 25, 1905. 2
(B) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘St. Mary 3
Unit’’ includes— 4
(i) Sherburne Dam and Reservoir; 5
(ii) Swift Current Creek Dike; 6
(iii) Lower St. Mary Lake; 7
(iv) St. Mary Canal Diversion Dam; 8
and 9
(v) St. Mary Canal and appur-10
tenances. 11
(24) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 12
State of Montana. 13
(25) T
RIBAL WATER CODE .—The term ‘‘Tribal 14
water code’’ means the Tribal water code enacted by 15
the Fort Belknap Indian Community pursuant to 16
section 5(g). 17
(26) T
RIBAL WATER RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘Trib-18
al water rights’’ means the water rights of the Fort 19
Belknap Indian Community, as described in Article 20
III of the Compact and this Act, including the allo-21
cation of water to the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-22
nity from Lake Elwell under section 7. 23
(27) T
RUST FUND.—The term ‘‘Trust Fund’’ 24
means the Aaniiih Nakoda Settlement Trust Fund 25 11 
†S 1987 ES
established for the Fort Belknap Indian Community 1
under section 12(a). 2
SEC. 4. RATIFICATION OF COMPACT. 3
(a) R
ATIFICATION OFCOMPACT.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—As modified by this Act, the 5
Compact is authorized, ratified, and confirmed. 6
(2) A
MENDMENTS.—Any amendment to the 7
Compact is authorized, ratified, and confirmed to 8
the extent that the amendment is executed to make 9
the Compact consistent with this Act. 10
(b) E
XECUTION.— 11
(1) I
N GENERAL.—To the extent that the Com-12
pact does not conflict with this Act, the Secretary 13
shall execute the Compact, including all appendices 14
to, or parts of, the Compact requiring the signature 15
of the Secretary. 16
(2) M
ODIFICATIONS.—Nothing in this Act pre-17
cludes the Secretary from approving any modifica-18
tion to an appendix to the Compact that is con-19
sistent with this Act, to the extent that the modifica-20
tion does not otherwise require congressional ap-21
proval under section 2116 of the Revised Statutes 22
(25 U.S.C. 177) or any other applicable provision of 23
Federal law. 24
(c) E
NVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE.— 25 12 
†S 1987 ES
(1) IN GENERAL.—In implementing the Com-1
pact and this Act, the Secretary shall comply with 2
all applicable provisions of— 3
(A) the Endangered Species Act of 1973 4
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 5
(B) the National Environmental Policy Act 6
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), including the 7
implementing regulations of that Act; and 8
(C) other applicable Federal environmental 9
laws and regulations. 10
(2) C
OMPLIANCE.— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL.—In implementing the 12
Compact and this Act, the Fort Belknap Indian 13
Community shall prepare any necessary envi-14
ronmental documents, except for any environ-15
mental documents required under section 8, 16
consistent with all applicable provisions of— 17
(i) the Endangered Species Act of 18
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); 19
(ii) the National Environmental Policy 20
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4231 et seq.), in-21
cluding the implementing regulations of 22
that Act; and 23
(iii) all other applicable Federal envi-24
ronmental laws and regulations. 25 13 
†S 1987 ES
(B) AUTHORIZATIONS.—The Secretary 1
shall— 2
(i) independently evaluate the docu-3
mentation submitted under subparagraph 4
(A); and 5
(ii) be responsible for the accuracy, 6
scope, and contents of that documentation. 7
(3) E
FFECT OF EXECUTION .—The execution of 8
the Compact by the Secretary under this section 9
shall not constitute a major Federal action for pur-10
poses of the National Environmental Policy Act of 11
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 12
(4) C
OSTS.—Any costs associated with the per-13
formance of the compliance activities described in 14
paragraph (2) shall be paid from funds deposited in 15
the Trust Fund, subject to the condition that any 16
costs associated with the performance of Federal ap-17
proval or other review of such compliance work or 18
costs associated with inherently Federal functions 19
shall remain the responsibility of the Secretary. 20
SEC. 5. TRIBAL WATER RIGHTS. 21
(a) C
ONFIRMATION OFTRIBALWATERRIGHTS.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Tribal water rights are 23
ratified, confirmed, and declared to be valid. 24 14 
†S 1987 ES
(2) USE.—Any use of the Tribal water rights 1
shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the 2
Compact and this Act. 3
(3) C
ONFLICT.—In the event of a conflict be-4
tween the Compact and this Act, this Act shall con-5
trol. 6
(b) I
NTENT OFCONGRESS.—It is the intent of Con-7
gress to provide to each allottee benefits that are equiva-8
lent to, or exceed, the benefits the allottees possess on the 9
day before the date of enactment of this Act, taking into 10
consideration— 11
(1) the potential risks, cost, and time delay as-12
sociated with litigation that would be resolved by the 13
Compact and this Act; 14
(2) the availability of funding under this Act 15
and from other sources; 16
(3) the availability of water from the Tribal 17
water rights; and 18
(4) the applicability of section 7 of the Act of 19
February 8, 1887 (24 Stat. 390, chapter 119; 25 20
U.S.C. 381), and this Act to protect the interests of 21
allottees. 22
(c) T
RUSTSTATUS OFTRIBALWATERRIGHTS.— 23
The Tribal water rights— 24 15 
†S 1987 ES
(1) shall be held in trust by the United States 1
for the use and benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 2
Community and allottees in accordance with this 3
Act; and 4
(2) shall not be subject to loss through non-use, 5
forfeiture, or abandonment. 6
(d) A
LLOTTEES.— 7
(1) A
PPLICABILITY OF THE ACT OF FEBRUARY 8
8, 1887.—The provisions of section 7 of the Act of 9
February 8, 1887 (24 Stat. 390, chapter 119; 25 10
U.S.C. 381), relating to the use of water for irriga-11
tion purposes, shall apply to the Tribal water rights. 12
(2) E
NTITLEMENT TO WATER .—Any entitle-13
ment to water of an allottee under Federal law shall 14
be satisfied from the Tribal water rights. 15
(3) A
LLOCATIONS.—An allottee shall be entitled 16
to a just and equitable allocation of water for irriga-17
tion purposes. 18
(4) C
LAIMS.— 19
(A) E
XHAUSTION OF REMEDIES .—Before 20
asserting any claim against the United States 21
under section 7 of the Act of February 8, 1887 22
(24 Stat. 390, chapter 119; 25 U.S.C. 381), or 23
any other applicable law, an allottee shall ex-24 16 
†S 1987 ES
haust remedies available under the Tribal water 1
code or other applicable Tribal law. 2
(B) A
CTION FOR RELIEF.—After the ex-3
haustion of all remedies available under the 4
Tribal water code or other applicable Tribal 5
law, an allottee may seek relief under section 7 6
of the Act of February 8, 1887 (24 Stat. 390, 7
chapter 119; 25 U.S.C. 381), or other applica-8
ble law. 9
(5) A
UTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY .—The Sec-10
retary shall have the authority to protect the rights 11
of allottees in accordance with this section. 12
(e) A
UTHORITY OF THE FORTBELKNAPINDIAN 13
C
OMMUNITY.— 14
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Fort Belknap Indian 15
Community shall have the authority to allocate, dis-16
tribute, and lease the Tribal water rights for use on 17
the Reservation in accordance with the Compact, 18
this Act, and applicable Federal law. 19
(2) O
FF-RESERVATION USE .—The Fort 20
Belknap Indian Community may allocate, distribute, 21
and lease the Tribal water rights for off-Reservation 22
use in accordance with the Compact, this Act, and 23
applicable Federal law— 24 17 
†S 1987 ES
(A) subject to the approval of the Sec-1
retary; or 2
(B) pursuant to Tribal water leasing regu-3
lations consistent with the requirements of sub-4
section (f). 5
(3) L
AND LEASES BY ALLOTTEES .—Notwith-6
standing paragraph (1), an allottee may lease any 7
interest in land held by the allottee, together with 8
any water right determined to be appurtenant to the 9
interest in land, in accordance with the Tribal water 10
code. 11
(f) T
RIBALWATERLEASINGREGULATIONS.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—At the discretion of the Fort 13
Belknap Indian Community, any water lease of the 14
Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Tribal water 15
rights for use on or off the Reservation shall not re-16
quire the approval of the Secretary if the lease— 17
(A) is executed under tribal regulations, 18
approved by the Secretary under this sub-19
section; 20
(B) is in accordance with the Compact; 21
and 22
(C) does not exceed a term of 100 years, 23
except that a lease may include an option to 24 18 
†S 1987 ES
renew for 1 additional term of not to exceed 1
100 years. 2
(2) A
UTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OVER 3
TRIBAL WATER LEASING REGULATIONS .— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 5
have the authority to approve or disapprove any 6
Tribal water leasing regulations issued in ac-7
cordance with paragraph (1). 8
(B) C
ONSIDERATIONS FOR APPROVAL .— 9
The Secretary shall approve any Tribal water 10
leasing regulations issued in accordance with 11
paragraph (1) if the Tribal water leasing regu-12
lations— 13
(i) provide for an environmental re-14
view process that includes— 15
(I) the identification and evalua-16
tion of any significant effects of the 17
proposed action on the environment; 18
and 19
(II) a process for ensuring that— 20
(aa) the public is informed 21
of, and has a reasonable oppor-22
tunity to comment on, any sig-23
nificant environmental impacts of 24
the proposed action identified by 25 19 
†S 1987 ES
the Fort Belknap Indian Com-1
munity; and 2
(bb) the Fort Belknap In-3
dian Community provides re-4
sponses to relevant and sub-5
stantive public comments on 6
those impacts prior to its ap-7
proval of a water lease; and 8
(ii) are consistent with this Act and 9
the Compact. 10
(3) R
EVIEW PROCESS.— 11
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 120 12
days after the date on which Tribal water leas-13
ing regulations under paragraph (1) are sub-14
mitted to the Secretary, the Secretary shall re-15
view and approve or disapprove the regulations. 16
(B) W
RITTEN DOCUMENTATION .—If the 17
Secretary disapproves the Tribal water leasing 18
regulations described in subparagraph (A), the 19
Secretary shall include written documentation 20
with the disapproval notification that describes 21
the basis for this disapproval. 22
(C) E
XTENSION.—The deadline described 23
in subparagraph (A) may be extended by the 24 20 
†S 1987 ES
Secretary, after consultation with the Fort 1
Belknap Indian Community. 2
(4) F
EDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW .—Not-3
withstanding paragraphs (2) and (3), if the Fort 4
Belknap Indian Community carries out a project or 5
activity funded by a Federal agency, the Fort 6
Belknap Indian Community— 7
(A) shall have the authority to rely on the 8
environmental review process of the applicable 9
Federal agency; and 10
(B) shall not be required to carry out a 11
tribal environmental review process under this 12
subsection. 13
(5) D
OCUMENTATION.—If the Fort Belknap In-14
dian Community issues a lease pursuant to Tribal 15
water leasing regulations under paragraph (1), the 16
Fort Belknap Indian Community shall provide the 17
Secretary and the State a copy of the lease, includ-18
ing any amendments or renewals to the lease. 19
(6) L
IMITATION OF LIABILITY.— 20
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The United States 21
shall not be liable in any claim relating to the 22
negotiation, execution, or approval of any lease 23
or exchange agreement or storage agreement, 24
including any claims relating to the terms in-25 21 
†S 1987 ES
cluded in such an agreement, made pursuant to 1
Tribal water leasing regulations under para-2
graph (1). 3
(B) O
BLIGATIONS.—The United States 4
shall have no trust obligation or other 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 or exchange agree-9
ment or storage agreement; or 10
(ii) the expenditure of those funds. 11
(g) T
RIBALWATERCODE.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding Article 13
IV.A.2. of the Compact, not later than 4 years after 14
the date on which the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-15
nity approves the Compact in accordance with sec-16
tion 11(f)(1), the Fort Belknap Indian Community 17
shall enact a Tribal water code that provides for— 18
(A) the administration, management, regu-19
lation, and governance of all uses of the Tribal 20
water rights in accordance with the Compact 21
and this Act; and 22
(B) the establishment by the Fort Belknap 23
Indian Community of the conditions, permit re-24
quirements, and other requirements for the allo-25 22 
†S 1987 ES
cation, distribution, or use of the Tribal water 1
rights in accordance with the Compact and this 2
Act. 3
(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—Subject to the approval of 4
the Secretary, the Tribal water code shall provide— 5
(A) that use of water by allottees shall be 6
satisfied with water from the Tribal water 7
rights; 8
(B) a process by which an allottee may re-9
quest that the Fort Belknap Indian Community 10
provide water for irrigation use in accordance 11
with this Act, including the provision of water 12
under any allottee lease under section 4 of the 13
Act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 856, chapter 14
431; 25 U.S.C. 403); 15
(C) a due process system for the consider-16
ation and determination by the Fort Belknap 17
Indian Community of any request of an allottee 18
(or a successor in interest to an allottee) for an 19
allocation of water for irrigation purposes on al-20
lotted land, including a process for— 21
(i) appeal and adjudication of any de-22
nied or disputed distribution of water; and 23
(ii) resolution of any contested admin-24
istrative decision; 25 23 
†S 1987 ES
(D) a requirement that any allottee assert-1
ing a claim relating to the enforcement of rights 2
of the allottee under the Tribal water code, in-3
cluding to the quantity of water allocated to 4
land of the allottee, shall exhaust all remedies 5
available to the allottee under Tribal law before 6
initiating an action against the United States 7
or petitioning the Secretary pursuant to sub-8
section (d)(4)(B); 9
(E) a process by which an owner of fee 10
land within the boundaries of the Reservation 11
may apply for use of a portion of the Tribal 12
water rights; and 13
(F) a process for the establishment of a 14
controlled Groundwater area and for the man-15
agement of that area in cooperation with estab-16
lishment of a contiguous controlled Ground-17
water area off the Reservation established pur-18
suant to Section B.2. of Article IV of the Com-19
pact and State law. 20
(3) A
CTION BY SECRETARY.— 21
(A) I
N GENERAL.—During the period be-22
ginning on the date of enactment of this Act 23
and ending on the date on which a Tribal water 24
code described in paragraphs (1) and (2) is en-25 24 
†S 1987 ES
acted, the Secretary shall administer, with re-1
spect to the rights of allottees, the Tribal water 2
rights in accordance with the Compact and this 3
Act. 4
(B) A
PPROVAL.—The Tribal water code 5
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not be 6
valid unless— 7
(i) the provisions of the Tribal water 8
code required by paragraph (2) are ap-9
proved by the Secretary; and 10
(ii) each amendment to the Tribal 11
water code that affects a right of an allot-12
tee is approved by the Secretary. 13
(C) A
PPROVAL PERIOD.— 14
(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 15
approve or disapprove the Tribal water 16
code or an amendment to the Tribal water 17
code by not later than 180 days after the 18
date on which the Tribal water code or 19
amendment to the Tribal water code is 20
submitted to the Secretary. 21
(ii) E
XTENSIONS.—The deadline de-22
scribed in clause (i) may be extended by 23
the Secretary, after consultation with the 24
Fort Belknap Indian Community. 25 25 
†S 1987 ES
(h) ADMINISTRATION.— 1
(1) N
O ALIENATION.—The Fort Belknap In-2
dian Community shall not permanently alienate any 3
portion of the Tribal water rights. 4
(2) P
URCHASES OR GRANTS OF LAND FROM IN -5
DIANS.—An authorization provided by this Act for 6
the allocation, distribution, leasing, or other ar-7
rangement entered into pursuant to this Act shall be 8
considered to satisfy any requirement for authoriza-9
tion of the action required by Federal law. 10
(3) P
ROHIBITION ON FORFEITURE .—The non- 11
use of all or any portion of the Tribal water rights 12
by any water user shall not result in the forfeiture, 13
abandonment, relinquishment, or other loss of all or 14
any portion of the Tribal water rights. 15
(i) E
FFECT.—Except as otherwise expressly provided 16
in this section, nothing in this Act— 17
(1) authorizes any action by an allottee against 18
any individual or entity, or against the Fort Belknap 19
Indian Community, under Federal, State, Tribal, or 20
local law; or 21
(2) alters or affects the status of any action 22
brought pursuant to section 1491(a) of title 28, 23
United States Code. 24 26 
†S 1987 ES
(j) PICK-SLOANMISSOURIRIVERBASINPROGRAM 1
P
OWERRATES.— 2
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 3
provision of law, the Secretary, in cooperation with 4
the Secretary of Energy, shall make available the 5
Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin Program irrigation 6
project pumping power rates to the Fort Belknap 7
Indian Community, the Fort Belknap Indian Irriga-8
tion Project, and any projects funded under this Act. 9
(2) A
UTHORIZED PURPOSES .—The power rates 10
made available under paragraph (1) shall be author-11
ized for the purposes of wheeling, administration, 12
and payment of irrigation project pumping power 13
rates, including project use power for gravity power. 14
SEC. 6. EXCHANGE AND TRANSFER OF LAND. 15
(a) E
XCHANGE OF ELIGIBLELAND AND STATE 16
L
AND.— 17
(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 18
(A) E
LIGIBLE LAND.—The term ‘‘eligible 19
land’’ means— 20
(i) public lands (as defined in section 21
103 of the Federal Land Policy and Man-22
agement Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)) 23
that are administered by the Secretary, 24 27 
†S 1987 ES
acting through the Director of the Bureau 1
of Land Management; and 2
(ii) land in the National Forest Sys-3
tem (as defined in section 11(a) of the 4
Forest and Rangeland Resources Planning 5
Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)) that is 6
administered by the Secretary of Agri-7
culture, acting through the Chief of the 8
Forest Service. 9
(B) S
ECRETARY CONCERNED .—The term 10
‘‘Secretary concerned’’ means, as applicable— 11
(i) the Secretary, with respect to the 12
eligible land administered by the Bureau of 13
Land Management; and 14
(ii) the Secretary of Agriculture, with 15
respect to eligible land managed by the 16
Forest Service. 17
(2) N
EGOTIATIONS AUTHORIZED .— 18
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary con-19
cerned shall offer to enter into negotiations 20
with the State for the purpose of exchanging el-21
igible land described in paragraph (4) for the 22
State land described in paragraph (3). 23
(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—Any exchange of 24
land made pursuant to this subsection shall be 25 28 
†S 1987 ES
subject to the terms and conditions of this sub-1
section. 2
(C) P
RIORITY.— 3
(i) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out this 4
paragraph, the Secretary and the Sec-5
retary of Agriculture shall, during the 5- 6
year period beginning on the date of enact-7
ment of this Act, give priority to an ex-8
change of eligible land located within the 9
State for State land. 10
(ii) S
ECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE .— 11
The responsibility of the Secretary of Agri-12
culture under clause (i), during the 5-year 13
period described in that clause, shall be 14
limited to negotiating with the State an ac-15
ceptable package of land in the National 16
Forest System (as defined in section 11(a) 17
of the Forest and Rangeland Resources 18
Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 19
1609(a))). 20
(3) S
TATE LAND.—The Secretary is authorized 21
to accept the following parcels of State land located 22
on and off the Reservation: 23
(A) 717.56 acres in T. 26 N., R. 22 E., 24
sec. 16. 25 29 
†S 1987 ES
(B) 707.04 acres in T. 27 N., R. 22 E., 1
sec. 16. 2
(C) 640 acres in T. 27 N., R. 21 E., sec. 3
36. 4
(D) 640 acres in T. 26 N., R. 23 E., sec. 5
16. 6
(E) 640 acres in T. 26 N., R. 23 E., sec. 7
36. 8
(F) 640 acres in T. 26 N., R. 26 E., sec. 9
16. 10
(G) 640 acres in T. 26 N., R. 22 E., sec. 11
36. 12
(H) 640 acres in T. 27 N., R. 23 E., sec. 13
16. 14
(I) 640 acres in T. 27 N., R. 25 E., sec. 15
36. 16
(J) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 22 E., sec. 17
36. 18
(K) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 23 E., sec. 19
16. 20
(L) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 24 E., sec. 21
36. 22
(M) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 25 E., sec. 23
16. 24 30 
†S 1987 ES
(N) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 25 E., sec. 1
36. 2
(O) 640 acres in T. 28 N., R. 26 E., sec. 3
16. 4
(P) 94.96 acres in T. 28 N., R. 26 E., sec. 5
36, under lease by the Fort Belknap Indian 6
Community Council on the date of enactment of 7
this Act, comprised of— 8
(i) 30.68 acres in lot 5; 9
(ii) 26.06 acres in lot 6; 10
(iii) 21.42 acres in lot 7; and 11
(iv) 16.8 acres in lot 8. 12
(Q) 652.32 acres in T. 29 N., R. 22 E., 13
sec. 16, excluding the 73.36 acres under lease 14
by individuals who are not members of the Fort 15
Belknap Indian Community, on the date of en-16
actment of this Act. 17
(R) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 22 E., sec. 18
36. 19
(S) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 23 E., sec. 20
16. 21
(T) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 24 E., sec. 22
16. 23
(U) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 24 E., sec. 24
36. 25 31 
†S 1987 ES
(V) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 25 E., sec. 1
16. 2
(W) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 25 E., sec. 3
36. 4
(X) 640 acres in T. 29 N., R. 26 E., sec. 5
16. 6
(Y) 663.22 acres in T. 30 N., R. 22 E., 7
sec. 16, excluding the 58.72 acres under lease 8
by individuals who are not members of the Fort 9
Belknap Indian Community on the date of en-10
actment of this Act. 11
(Z) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 22 E., sec. 12
36. 13
(AA) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 23 E., sec. 14
16. 15
(BB) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 23 E., sec. 16
36. 17
(CC) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 24 E., sec. 18
16. 19
(DD) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 24 E., sec. 20
36. 21
(EE) 640 acres in T. 30 N., R. 25 E., sec. 22
16. 23
(FF) 275.88 acres in T. 30 N., R. 26 E., 24
sec. 36, under lease by the Fort Belknap Indian 25 32 
†S 1987 ES
Community Council on the date of enactment of 1
this Act. 2
(GG) 640 acres in T. 31 N., R. 22 E., sec. 3
36. 4
(HH) 640 acres in T. 31 N., R. 23 E., sec. 5
16. 6
(II) 640 acres in T. 31 N., R. 23 E., sec. 7
36. 8
(JJ) 34.04 acres in T. 31 N., R. 26 E., 9
sec. 16, lot 4. 10
(KK) 640 acres in T. 25 N., R. 22 E., sec. 11
16. 12
(4) E
LIGIBLE LAND.— 13
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to valid exist-14
ing rights, the reservation of easements or 15
rights-of-way deemed necessary to be retained 16
by the Secretary concerned, and the require-17
ments of this subsection, the Secretary is au-18
thorized and directed to convey to the State any 19
eligible land within the State identified in the 20
negotiations authorized by paragraph (2) and 21
agreed to by the Secretary concerned. 22
(B) E
XCEPTIONS.—The Secretary con-23
cerned shall exclude from any conveyance any 24
parcel of eligible land that is— 25 33 
†S 1987 ES
(i) included within the National Land-1
scape Conservation System established by 2
section 2002(a) of the Omnibus Public 3
Land Management Act of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 4
7202(a)), without regard to whether that 5
land has been identified as available for 6
disposal in a land use plan; 7
(ii) designated as wilderness by Con-8
gress; 9
(iii) within a component of the Na-10
tional Wild and Scenic Rivers System; or 11
(iv) designated in the Forest Land 12
and Resource Management Plan as a Re-13
search Natural Area. 14
(C) A
DMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITY .— 15
The Secretary shall be responsible for meeting 16
all substantive and any procedural requirements 17
necessary to complete the exchange and the 18
conveyance of the eligible land. 19
(5) L
AND INTO TRUST.—On completion of the 20
land exchange authorized by this subsection, the 21
Secretary shall, as soon as practicable after the en-22
forceability date, take the land received by the 23
United States pursuant to this subsection into trust 24 34 
†S 1987 ES
for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-1
nity. 2
(6) T
ERMS AND CONDITIONS .— 3
(A) E
QUAL VALUE.—The values of the eli-4
gible land and State land exchanged under this 5
subsection shall be equal, except that the Sec-6
retary concerned may— 7
(i) exchange land that is of approxi-8
mately equal value if such an exchange 9
complies with the requirements of section 10
206(h) of the Federal Land Policy and 11
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 12
1716(h)) (and any regulations imple-13
menting that section) without regard to 14
the monetary limitation described in para-15
graph (1)(A) of that section; and 16
(ii) make or accept an equalization 17
payment, or waive an equalization pay-18
ment, if such a payment or waiver of a 19
payment complies with the requirements of 20
section 206(b) of that Act (43 U.S.C. 21
1716(b)) (and any regulations imple-22
menting that section). 23
(B) I
MPACTS ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS .— 24
In identifying eligible land to be exchanged with 25 35 
†S 1987 ES
the State, the Secretary concerned and the 1
State may— 2
(i) consider the financial impacts of 3
exchanging specific eligible land on local 4
governments; and 5
(ii) attempt to minimize the financial 6
impact of the exchange on local govern-7
ments. 8
(C) E
XISTING AUTHORIZATIONS .— 9
(i) E
LIGIBLE LAND CONVEYED TO 10
THE STATE.— 11
(I) I
N GENERAL.—Any eligible 12
land conveyed to the State under this 13
subsection shall be subject to any 14
valid existing rights, contracts, leases, 15
permits, and rights-of-way, unless the 16
holder of the right, contract, lease, 17
permit, or right-of-way requests an 18
earlier termination in accordance with 19
existing law. 20
(II) A
SSUMPTION BY STATE .— 21
The State shall assume all benefits 22
and obligations of the Forest Service 23
or the Bureau of Land Management, 24
as applicable, under the existing 25 36 
†S 1987 ES
rights, contracts, leases, permits, and 1
rights-of-way described in subclause 2
(I). 3
(ii) S
TATE LAND CONVEYED TO THE 4
UNITED STATES.— 5
(I) I
N GENERAL.—Any State 6
land conveyed to the United States 7
under this subsection and taken into 8
trust for the benefit of the Fort 9
Belknap Indian Community subject 10
shall be to any valid existing rights, 11
contracts, leases, permits, and rights- 12
of-way, unless the holder of the right, 13
contract, lease, permit, or right-of-way 14
requests an earlier termination in ac-15
cordance with existing law. 16
(II) A
SSUMPTION BY BUREAU OF 17
INDIAN AFFAIRS.—The Bureau of In-18
dian Affairs shall— 19
(aa) assume all benefits and 20
obligations of the State under the 21
existing rights, contracts, leases, 22
permits, and rights-of-way de-23
scribed in subclause (I); and 24 37 
†S 1987 ES
(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 38 
†S 1987 ES
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 39 
†S 1987 ES
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 40 
†S 1987 ES
(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 41 
†S 1987 ES
(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 42 
†S 1987 ES
(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 43 
†S 1987 ES
(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 44 
†S 1987 ES
(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 45 
†S 1987 ES
(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 46 
†S 1987 ES
(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 47 
†S 1987 ES
(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 48 
†S 1987 ES
(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 49 
†S 1987 ES
(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
(l) 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 50 
†S 1987 ES
(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 51 
†S 1987 ES
(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 52 
†S 1987 ES
(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
(3) T
ERMS AND CONDITIONS .— 12
(A) E
XISTING AUTHORIZATIONS .— 13
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Federal land trans-14
ferred under this subsection shall be con-15
veyed and taken into trust subject to valid 16
existing rights, contracts, leases, permits, 17
and rights-of-way, unless the holder of the 18
right, contract, lease, permit, and rights- 19
of-way requests an earlier termination in 20
accordance with existing law. 21
(ii) A
SSUMPTION BY BUREAU OF IN -22
DIAN AFFAIRS.—The Bureau of Indian Af-23
fairs shall— 24 53 
†S 1987 ES
(I) assume all benefits and obli-1
gations of the previous land manage-2
ment agency under the existing rights, 3
contracts, leases, permits, and rights- 4
of-way described in clause (i); and 5
(II) disburse to the Fort Belknap 6
Indian Community any amounts that 7
accrue to the United States from 8
those rights, contracts, leases, per-9
mits, and rights-of-ways after the date 10
of transfer from any sale, bonus, roy-11
alty, or rental relating to that land in 12
the same manner as amounts received 13
from other land held by the Secretary 14
in trust for the Fort Belknap Indian 15
Community. 16
(B) P
ERSONAL PROPERTY .— 17
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Any improvements 18
constituting personal property, as defined 19
by State law, belonging to the holder of a 20
right, contract, lease, permit, or right-of- 21
way on land transferred under this sub-22
section shall— 23
(I) remain the property of the 24
holder; and 25 54 
†S 1987 ES
(II) be removed from the land 1
not later than 90 days after the date 2
on which the right, contract, lease, 3
permit, or right-of-way expires, unless 4
the Fort Belknap Indian Community 5
and the holder agree otherwise. 6
(ii) R
EMAINING PROPERTY.—Any per-7
sonal property described in clause (i) re-8
maining with the holder described in that 9
clause beyond the 90-day period described 10
in subclause (II) of that clause shall— 11
(I) become the property of the 12
Fort Belknap Indian Community; and 13
(II) be subject to removal and 14
disposition at the discretion of the 15
Fort Belknap Indian Community. 16
(iii) L
IABILITY OF PREVIOUS HOLD -17
ER.—The holder of personal property de-18
scribed in clause (i) shall be liable to the 19
Fort Belknap Indian Community for costs 20
incurred by the Fort Belknap Indian Com-21
munity in removing and disposing of the 22
property under clause (ii)(II). 23
(C) E
XISTING ROADS.—If any road within 24
the Federal land transferred under this sub-25 55 
†S 1987 ES
section is necessary for customary access to pri-1
vate land, the Bureau of Indian Affairs shall 2
offer the owner of the private land to apply for 3
a right-of-way along the existing road, at the 4
expense of the landowner. 5
(D) L
IMITATION ON THE TRANSFER OF 6
WATER RIGHTS.—Water rights that transfer 7
with the land described in paragraph (2) shall 8
not become part of the Tribal water rights, un-9
less those rights are recognized and ratified in 10
the Compact. 11
(4) W
ITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL LAND .— 12
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to valid exist-13
ing rights, effective on the date of enactment of 14
this Act, all Federal land within the parcels de-15
scribed in paragraph (2) is withdrawn from all 16
forms of— 17
(i) entry, appropriation, or disposal 18
under the public land laws; 19
(ii) location, entry, and patent under 20
the mining laws; and 21
(iii) disposition under all laws per-22
taining to mineral and geothermal leasing 23
or mineral materials. 24 56 
†S 1987 ES
(B) EXPIRATION.—The withdrawals pursu-1
ant to subparagraph (A) shall terminate on the 2
date that the Secretary takes the land into 3
trust for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 4
Community pursuant to paragraph (1). 5
(C) N
O NEW RESERVATION OF FEDERAL 6
WATER RIGHTS.—Nothing in this paragraph es-7
tablishes a new reservation in favor of the 8
United States or the Fort Belknap Indian Com-9
munity with respect to any water or water right 10
on the land withdrawn by this paragraph. 11
(5) T
ECHNICAL CORRECTIONS .—Notwith-12
standing the descriptions of the parcels of Federal 13
land in paragraph (2), the United States may, with 14
the consent of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, 15
make technical corrections to the legal land descrip-16
tions to more specifically identify the parcels. 17
(6) S
URVEY.— 18
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Unless the United 19
States or the Fort Belknap Indian Community 20
request an additional survey for the transferred 21
land or a technical correction is made under 22
paragraph (5), the description of land under 23
this subsection shall be controlling. 24 57 
†S 1987 ES
(B) ADDITIONAL SURVEY.—If the United 1
States or the Fort Belknap Indian Community 2
requests an additional survey, that survey shall 3
control the total acreage to be transferred into 4
trust under this subsection. 5
(C) A
SSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall 6
provide such financial or other assistance as 7
may be necessary— 8
(i) to conduct additional surveys 9
under this subsection; and 10
(ii) to satisfy administrative require-11
ments necessary to accomplish the land 12
transfers under this subsection. 13
(7) D
ATE OF TRANSFER.—The Secretary shall 14
complete all land transfers under this subsection and 15
shall take the land into trust for the benefit of the 16
Fort Belknap Indian Community as expeditiously as 17
practicable after the enforceability date, but not 18
later than 10 years after the enforceability date. 19
(c) T
RIBALLYOWNEDFEELAND.—Not later than 20
10 years after the enforceability date, the Secretary shall 21
take into trust for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 22
Community all fee land owned by the Fort Belknap Indian 23
Community on or adjacent to the Reservation to become 24
part of the Reservation, provided that— 25 58 
†S 1987 ES
(1) the land is free from any liens, encum-1
brances, or other infirmities; and 2
(2) no evidence exists of any hazardous sub-3
stances on, or other environmental liability with re-4
spect to, the land. 5
(d) D
ODSONLAND.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), as 7
soon as practicable after the enforceability date, but 8
not later than 10 years after the enforceability date, 9
the Dodson Land described in paragraph (3) shall 10
be taken into trust by the United States for the ben-11
efit of the Fort Belknap Indian Community as part 12
of the Reservation. 13
(2) R
ESTRICTIONS.—The land taken into trust 14
under paragraph (1) shall be subject to a perpetual 15
easement, reserved by the United States for use by 16
the Bureau of Reclamation, its contractors, and its 17
assigns for— 18
(A) the right of ingress and egress for 19
Milk River Project purposes; and 20
(B) the right to— 21
(i) seep, flood, and overflow the trans-22
ferred land for Milk River Project pur-23
poses; 24 59 
†S 1987 ES
(ii) conduct routine and non-routine 1
operation, maintenance, and replacement 2
activities on the Milk River Project facili-3
ties, including modification to the 4
headworks at the upstream end of the 5
Dodson South Canal in support of Dodson 6
South Canal enlargement, to include all as-7
sociated access, construction, and material 8
storage necessary to complete those activi-9
ties; and 10
(iii) prohibit the construction of per-11
manent structures on the transferred land, 12
except— 13
(I) as provided in the cooperative 14
agreement under paragraph (4); and 15
(II) to meet the requirements of 16
the Milk River Project. 17
(3) D
ESCRIPTION OF DODSON LAND .— 18
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Dodson Land re-19
ferred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) is the ap-20
proximately 2,500 acres of land owned by the 21
United States that is, as of the date of enact-22
ment of this Act, under the jurisdiction of the 23
Bureau of Reclamation and located at the 24
northeastern corner of the Reservation (which 25 60 
†S 1987 ES
extends to the point in the middle of the main 1
channel of the Milk River), where the Milk 2
River Project facilities, including the Dodson 3
Diversion Dam, headworks to the Dodson 4
South Canal, and Dodson South Canal, are lo-5
cated, and more particularly described as fol-6
lows: 7
(i) Supplemental Plat of T. 30 N., R. 8
26 E., PMM, secs. 1 and 2. 9
(ii) Supplemental Plat of T. 31 N., R. 10
25 E., PMM, sec. 13. 11
(iii) Supplemental Plat of T. 31 N., 12
R. 26 E., PMM, secs. 18, 19, 20, and 29. 13
(iv) Supplemental Plat of T. 31 N., R. 14
26 E., PMM, secs. 26, 27, 35, and 36. 15
(B) C
LARIFICATION.—The supplemental 16
plats described in clauses (i) through (iv) of 17
subparagraph (A) are official plats, as docu-18
mented by retracement boundary surveys of the 19
General Land Office, approved on March 11, 20
1938, and on record at the Bureau of Land 21
Management. 22
(C) T
ECHNICAL CORRECTIONS .—Notwith-23
standing the descriptions of the parcels of Fed-24
eral land in subparagraph (A), the United 25 61 
†S 1987 ES
States may, with the consent of the Fort 1
Belknap Indian Community, make technical 2
corrections to the legal land descriptions to 3
more specifically identify the parcels to be 4
transferred. 5
(4) C
OOPERATIVE AGREEMENT .—Not later 6
than 3 years after the enforceability date, the Bu-7
reau of Reclamation, the Malta Irrigation District, 8
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Fort Belknap 9
Indian Community shall negotiate and enter into a 10
cooperative agreement that identifies the uses to 11
which the Fort Belknap Indian Community may put 12
the land described in paragraph (3), provided that 13
the cooperative agreement may be amended by mu-14
tual agreement of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-15
nity, Bureau of Reclamation, the Malta Irrigation 16
District, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including 17
to modify the perpetual easement to narrow the 18
boundaries of the easement or to terminate the per-19
petual easement and cooperative agreement. 20
(e) L
ANDSTATUS.—All land held in trust by the 21
United States for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 22
Community under this section shall be— 23
(1) beneficially owned by the Fort Belknap In-24
dian Community; and 25 62 
†S 1987 ES
(2) part of the Reservation and administered in 1
accordance with the laws and regulations generally 2
applicable to land held in trust by the United States 3
for the benefit of an Indian Tribe. 4
SEC. 7. STORAGE ALLOCATION FROM LAKE ELWELL. 5
(a) S
TORAGEALLOCATION OF WATER TOFORT 6
B
ELKNAPINDIANCOMMUNITY.—The Secretary shall allo-7
cate to the Fort Belknap Indian Community 20,000 acre- 8
feet per year of water stored in Lake Elwell for use by 9
the Fort Belknap Indian Community for any beneficial 10
purpose on or off the Reservation, under a water right 11
held by the United States and managed by the Bureau 12
of Reclamation for the benefit of the Fort Belknap Indian 13
Community, as measured and diverted at the outlet works 14
of the Tiber Dam or through direct pumping from Lake 15
Elwell. 16
(b) T
REATMENT.— 17
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The allocation to the Fort 18
Belknap Indian Community under subsection (a) 19
shall be considered to be part of the Tribal water 20
rights. 21
(2) P
RIORITY DATE.—The priority date of the 22
allocation to the Fort Belknap Indian Community 23
under subsection (a) shall be the priority date of the 24 63 
†S 1987 ES
Lake Elwell water right held by the Bureau of Rec-1
lamation. 2
(3) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Fort Belknap In-3
dian Community shall administer the water allocated 4
under subsection (a) in accordance with the Com-5
pact and this Act. 6
(c) A
LLOCATIONAGREEMENT.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—As a condition of receiving 8
the allocation under this section, the Fort Belknap 9
Indian Community shall enter into an agreement 10
with the Secretary to establish the terms and condi-11
tions of the allocation, in accordance with the Com-12
pact and this Act. 13
(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—The agreement under para-14
graph (1) shall include provisions establishing that— 15
(A) the agreement shall be without limit as 16
to term; 17
(B) the Fort Belknap Indian Community, 18
and not the United States, shall be entitled to 19
all consideration due to the Fort Belknap In-20
dian Community under any lease, contract, ex-21
change, or agreement entered into by the Fort 22
Belknap Indian Community pursuant to sub-23
section (d); 24 64 
†S 1987 ES
(C) the United States shall have no obliga-1
tion to monitor, administer, or account for— 2
(i) any funds received by the Fort 3
Belknap Indian Community as consider-4
ation under any lease, contract, exchange, 5
or agreement entered into by the Fort 6
Belknap Indian Community pursuant to 7
subsection (d); or 8
(ii) the expenditure of those funds; 9
(D) if the capacity or function of Lake 10
Elwell facilities are significantly reduced, or are 11
anticipated to be significantly reduced, for an 12
extended period of time, the Fort Belknap In-13
dian Community shall have the same storage 14
rights as other storage contractors with respect 15
to the allocation under this section; 16
(E) the costs associated with the construc-17
tion of the storage facilities at Tiber Dam allo-18
cable to the Fort Belknap Indian Community 19
shall be nonreimbursable; 20
(F) no water service capital charge shall be 21
due or payable for any water allocated to the 22
Fort Belknap Indian Community under this 23
section or the allocation agreement, regardless 24
of whether that water is delivered for use by the 25 65 
†S 1987 ES
Fort Belknap Indian Community or under a 1
lease, contract, exchange, or by agreement en-2
tered into by the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-3
nity pursuant to subsection (d); 4
(G) the Fort Belknap Indian Community 5
shall not be required to make payments to the 6
United States for any water allocated to the 7
Fort Belknap Indian Community under this 8
section or the allocation agreement, except for 9
each acre-foot of stored water leased or trans-10
ferred for industrial purposes as described in 11
subparagraph (H); and 12
(H) for each acre-foot of stored water 13
leased or transferred by the Fort Belknap In-14
dian Community for industrial purposes— 15
(i) the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-16
nity shall pay annually to the United 17
States an amount necessary to cover the 18
proportional share of the annual oper-19
ations, maintenance, and replacement costs 20
allocable to the quantity of water leased or 21
transferred by the Fort Belknap Indian 22
Community for industrial purposes; and 23
(ii) the annual payments of the Fort 24
Belknap Indian Community shall be re-25 66 
†S 1987 ES
viewed and adjusted, as appropriate, to re-1
flect the actual operations, maintenance, 2
and replacement costs for Tiber Dam. 3
(d) A
GREEMENT BYFORTBELKNAPINDIANCOMMU-4
NITY.—The Fort Belknap Indian Community may use, 5
lease, contract, exchange, or enter into other agreements 6
for the use of the water allocated to the Fort Belknap 7
Indian Community under subsection (a) if— 8
(1) the use of water that is the subject of such 9
an agreement occurs within the Missouri River 10
Basin; and 11
(2) the agreement does not permanently alien-12
ate any water allocated to the Fort Belknap Indian 13
Community under that subsection. 14
(e) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The allocation under sub-15
section (a) takes effect on the enforceability date. 16
(f) N
OCARRYOVERSTORAGE.—The allocation under 17
subsection (a) shall not be increased by any year-to-year 18
carryover storage. 19
(g) D
EVELOPMENT AND DELIVERYCOSTS.—The 20
United States shall not be required to pay the cost of de-21
veloping or delivering any water allocated under this sec-22
tion. 23 67 
†S 1987 ES
SEC. 8. MILK RIVER PROJECT MITIGATION. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—In complete satisfaction of the 2
Milk River Project mitigation requirements provided for 3
in Article VI.B. of the Compact, the Secretary, acting 4
through the Commissioner— 5
(1) in cooperation with the State and the 6
Blackfeet Tribe, shall carry out appropriate activi-7
ties concerning the restoration of the St. Mary 8
Canal and associated facilities, including activities 9
relating to the— 10
(A) planning and design to restore the St. 11
Mary Canal and appurtenances to convey 850 12
cubic-feet per second; and 13
(B) rehabilitating, constructing, and re-14
pairing of the St. Mary Canal and appur-15
tenances; and 16
(2) in cooperation with the State and the Fort 17
Belknap Indian Community, shall carry out appro-18
priate activities concerning the enlargement of 19
Dodson South Canal and associated facilities, includ-20
ing activities relating to the— 21
(A) planning and design to enlarge Dodson 22
South Canal and headworks at the upstream 23
end of Dodson South Canal to divert and con-24
vey 700 cubic-feet per second; and 25 68 
†S 1987 ES
(B) rehabilitating, constructing, and en-1
larging the Dodson South Canal and headworks 2
at the upstream end of Dodson South Canal to 3
divert and convey 700 cubic-feet per second. 4
(b) F
UNDING.—The total amount of obligations in-5
curred by the Secretary, prior to any adjustments provided 6
for in section 14(b), shall not exceed $300,000,000 to 7
carry out activities described in subsection (c)(1). 8
(c) S
ATISFACTION OFMITIGATIONREQUIREMENT.— 9
Notwithstanding any provision of the Compact, the miti-10
gation required by Article VI.B. of the Compact shall be 11
deemed satisfied if— 12
(1) the Secretary has— 13
(A) restored the St. Mary Canal and asso-14
ciated facilities to convey 850 cubic-feet per sec-15
ond; and 16
(B) enlarged the Dodson South Canal and 17
headworks at the upstream end of Dodson 18
South Canal to divert and convey 700 cubic-feet 19
per second; or 20
(2) the Secretary— 21
(A) has expended all of the available fund-22
ing provided pursuant to section 14(a)(1)(D) to 23
rehabilitate the St. Mary Canal and enlarge the 24
Dodson South Canal; and 25 69 
†S 1987 ES
(B) despite diligent efforts, could not com-1
plete the activities described in subsection (a). 2
(d) N
ONREIMBURSABILITY OF COSTS.—The costs to 3
the Secretary of carrying out this section shall be nonreim-4
bursable. 5
SEC. 9. FORT BELKNAP INDIAN IRRIGATION PROJECT SYS-6
TEM. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap-8
propriations, the Secretary shall rehabilitate, modernize, 9
and expand the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project, 10
as generally described in the document of Natural Re-11
sources Consulting Engineers, Inc., entitled ‘‘Fort 12
Belknap Indian Community Comprehensive Water Devel-13
opment Plan’’ and dated February 2019, which shall in-14
clude— 15
(1) planning, studies, and designing of the ex-16
isting and expanded Milk River unit, including the 17
irrigation system, Pumping Plant, delivery pipe and 18
canal, Fort Belknap Dam and Reservoir, and Peo-19
ples Creek Flood Protection Project; 20
(2) the rehabilitation, modernization, and con-21
struction of the existing Milk River unit; and 22
(3) construction of the expanded Milk River 23
unit, including the irrigation system, Pumping 24
Plant, delivery pipe and canal, Fort Belknap Dam 25 70 
†S 1987 ES
and Reservoir, and Peoples Creek Flood Protection 1
Project. 2
(b) L
EADAGENCY.—The Bureau of Indian Affairs, 3
in coordination with the Bureau of Reclamation, shall 4
serve as the lead agency with respect to any activities car-5
ried out under this section. 6
(c) C
ONSULTATIONWITH THEFORTBELKNAPIN-7
DIANCOMMUNITY.—The Secretary shall consult with the 8
Fort Belknap Indian Community on appropriate changes 9
to the final design and costs of any activity under this 10
section. 11
(d) F
UNDING.—The total amount of obligations in-12
curred by the Secretary in carrying out this section, prior 13
to any adjustment provided for in section 14(b), shall not 14
exceed $415,832,153. 15
(e) N
ONREIMBURSABILITY OF COSTS.—All costs in-16
curred by the Secretary in carrying out this section shall 17
be nonreimbursable. 18
(f) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Secretary and the Fort 19
Belknap Indian Community shall negotiate the cost of any 20
oversight activity carried out by the Bureau of Indian Af-21
fairs or the Bureau of Reclamation under any agreement 22
entered into under subsection (j), subject to the condition 23
that the total cost for the oversight shall not exceed 3 per-24
cent of the total project costs for each project. 25 71 
†S 1987 ES
(g) PROJECTMANAGEMENTCOMMITTEE.—Not later 1
than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 2
Secretary shall facilitate the formation of a project man-3
agement committee composed of representatives of the 4
Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Reclamation, and 5
the Fort Belknap Indian Community— 6
(1) to review and make recommendations relat-7
ing to cost factors, budgets, and implementing the 8
activities for rehabilitating, modernizing, and ex-9
panding the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project; 10
and 11
(2) to improve management of inherently gov-12
ernmental activities through enhanced communica-13
tion. 14
(h) P
ROJECTEFFICIENCIES.—If the total cost of 15
planning, studies, design, rehabilitation, modernization, 16
and construction activities relating to the projects de-17
scribed in subsection (a) results in cost savings and is less 18
than the amounts authorized to be obligated, the Sec-19
retary, at the request of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-20
nity, shall deposit those savings in the Fort Belknap In-21
dian Community Water Resources and Water Rights Ad-22
ministration, Operation, and Maintenance Account estab-23
lished under section 12(b)(2). 24 72 
†S 1987 ES
(i) TREATMENT.—Any activities carried out pursuant 1
to this section that result in improvements, additions, or 2
modifications to the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation 3
Project shall— 4
(1) become a part of the Fort Belknap Indian 5
Irrigation Project; and 6
(2) be recorded in the inventory of the Sec-7
retary relating to the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation 8
Project. 9
(j) A
PPLICABILITY OFISDEAA.—At the request of 10
the Fort Belknap Indian Community, and in accordance 11
with the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assist-12
ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.), the Secretary shall 13
enter into agreements with the Fort Belknap Indian Com-14
munity to carry out all or a portion of this section. 15
(k) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this section— 16
(1) alters any applicable law under which the 17
Bureau of Indian Affairs collects assessments or car-18
ries out the operations and maintenance of the Fort 19
Belknap Indian Irrigation Project; or 20
(2) impacts the availability of amounts under 21
section 14. 22
(l) S
ATISFACTION OFFORTBELKNAPINDIANIRRI-23
GATIONPROJECTSYSTEMREQUIREMENT.—The obliga-24 73 
†S 1987 ES
tions of the Secretary under subsection (a) shall be 1
deemed satisfied if the Secretary— 2
(1) has rehabilitated, modernized, and expanded 3
the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project in ac-4
cordance with subsection (a); or 5
(2)(A) has expended all of the available funding 6
provided pursuant to paragraphs (1)(C) and 7
(2)(A)(iv) of section 14(a); and 8
(B) despite diligent efforts, could not complete 9
the activities described in subsection (a). 10
SEC. 10. SATISFACTION OF CLAIMS. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The benefits provided under this 12
Act shall be in complete replacement of, complete substi-13
tution for, and full satisfaction of any claim of the Fort 14
Belknap Indian Community against the United States 15
that is waived and released by the Fort Belknap Indian 16
Community under section 11(a). 17
(b) A
LLOTTEES.—The benefits realized by the 18
allottees under this Act shall be in complete replacement 19
of, complete substitution for, and full satisfaction of— 20
(1) all claims waived and released by the United 21
States (acting as trustee for the allottees) under sec-22
tion 11(a)(2); and 23
(2) any claims of the allottees against the 24
United States similar to the claims described in sec-25 74 
†S 1987 ES
tion 11(a)(2) that the allottee asserted or could have 1
asserted. 2
SEC. 11. WAIVERS AND RELEASES OF CLAIMS. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 4
(1) W
AIVER AND RELEASE OF CLAIMS BY THE 5
FORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY AND UNITED 6
STATES AS TRUSTEE FOR THE FORT BELKNAP IN -7
DIAN COMMUNITY .—Subject to the reservation of 8
rights and retention of claims under subsection (d), 9
as consideration for recognition of the Tribal water 10
rights and other benefits described in the Compact 11
and this Act, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, 12
acting on behalf of the Fort Belknap Indian Com-13
munity and members of the Fort Belknap Indian 14
Community (but not any member of the Fort 15
Belknap Indian Community as an allottee), and the 16
United States, acting as trustee for the Fort 17
Belknap Indian Community and the members of the 18
Fort Belknap Indian Community (but not any mem-19
ber of the Fort Belknap Indian Community as an al-20
lottee), shall execute a waiver and release of all 21
claims for water rights within the State that the 22
Fort Belknap Indian Community, or the United 23
States acting as trustee for the Fort Belknap Indian 24
Community, asserted or could have asserted in any 25 75 
†S 1987 ES
proceeding, including a State stream adjudication, 1
on or before the enforceability date, except to the ex-2
tent that such rights are recognized in the Compact 3
and this Act. 4
(2) W
AIVER AND RELEASE OF CLAIMS BY THE 5
UNITED STATES AS TRUSTEE FOR ALLOTTEES .— 6
Subject to the reservation of rights and the retention 7
of claims under subsection (d), as consideration for 8
recognition of the Tribal water rights and other ben-9
efits described in the Compact and this Act, the 10
United States, acting as trustee for the allottees, 11
shall execute a waiver and release of all claims for 12
water rights within the Reservation that the United 13
States, acting as trustee for the allottees, asserted or 14
could have asserted in any proceeding, including a 15
State stream adjudication, on or before the enforce-16
ability date, except to the extent that such rights are 17
recognized in the Compact and this Act. 18
(3) W
AIVER AND RELEASE OF CLAIMS BY THE 19
FORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY AGAINST THE 20
UNITED STATES.—Subject to the reservation of 21
rights and retention of claims under subsection (d), 22
the Fort Belknap Indian Community, acting on be-23
half of the Fort Belknap Indian Community and 24
members of the Fort Belknap Indian Community 25 76 
†S 1987 ES
(but not any member of the Fort Belknap Indian 1
Community as an allottee), shall execute a waiver 2
and release of all claims against the United States 3
(including any agency or employee of the United 4
States)— 5
(A) first arising before the enforceability 6
date relating to— 7
(i) water rights within the State that 8
the United States, acting as trustee for the 9
Fort Belknap Indian Community, asserted 10
or could have asserted in any proceeding, 11
including a general stream adjudication in 12
the State, except to the extent that such 13
rights are recognized as Tribal water 14
rights under this Act; 15
(ii) foregone benefits from nontribal 16
use of water, on and off the Reservation 17
(including water from all sources and for 18
all uses); 19
(iii) damage, loss, or injury to water, 20
water rights, land, or natural resources 21
due to loss of water or water rights, in-22
cluding damages, losses, or injuries to 23
hunting, fishing, gathering, or cultural 24
rights due to loss of water or water rights, 25 77 
†S 1987 ES
claims relating to interference with, diver-1
sion of, or taking of water, or claims relat-2
ing to a failure to protect, acquire, replace, 3
or develop water, water rights, or water in-4
frastructure) within the State; 5
(iv) a failure to establish or provide a 6
municipal rural or industrial water delivery 7
system on the Reservation; 8
(v) damage, loss, or injury to water, 9
water rights, land, or natural resources 10
due to construction, operation, and man-11
agement of the Fort Belknap Indian Irri-12
gation Project and other Federal land and 13
facilities (including damages, losses, or in-14
juries to Tribal fisheries, fish habitat, wild-15
life, and wildlife habitat); 16
(vi) a failure to provide for operation 17
and maintenance, or deferred maintenance, 18
for the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation 19
Project or any other irrigation system or 20
irrigation project; 21
(vii) the litigation of claims relating to 22
any water rights of the Fort Belknap In-23
dian Community in the State; 24 78 
†S 1987 ES
(viii) the negotiation, execution, or 1
adoption of the Compact (including appen-2
dices) and this Act; 3
(ix) the taking or acquisition of land 4
or resources of the Fort Belknap Indian 5
Community for the construction or oper-6
ation of the Fort Belknap Indian Irriga-7
tion Project or the Milk River Project; and 8
(x) the allocation of water of the Milk 9
River and the St. Mary River (including 10
tributaries) between the United States and 11
Canada pursuant to the International 12
Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 (36 Stat. 13
2448); and 14
(B) relating to damage, loss, or injury to 15
water, water rights, land, or natural resources 16
due to mining activities in the Little Rockies 17
Mountains prior to the date of trust acquisition, 18
including damages, losses, or injuries to hunt-19
ing, fishing, gathering, or cultural rights. 20
(b) E
FFECTIVENESS.—The waivers and releases 21
under subsection (a) shall take effect on the enforceability 22
date. 23
(c) O
BJECTIONS IN MONTANAWATERCOURT.— 24
Nothing in this Act or the Compact prohibits the Fort 25 79 
†S 1987 ES
Belknap Indian Community, a member of the Fort 1
Belknap Indian Community, an allottee, or the United 2
States in any capacity from objecting to any claim to a 3
water right filed in any general stream adjudication in the 4
Montana Water Court. 5
(d) R
ESERVATION OF RIGHTS ANDRETENTION OF 6
C
LAIMS.—Notwithstanding the waivers and releases under 7
subsection (a), the Fort Belknap Indian Community, act-8
ing on behalf of the Fort Belknap Indian Community and 9
members of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, and the 10
United States, acting as trustee for the Fort Belknap In-11
dian Community and the allottees shall retain— 12
(1) all claims relating to— 13
(A) the enforcement of water rights recog-14
nized under the Compact, any final court decree 15
relating to those water rights, or this Act or to 16
water rights accruing on or after the enforce-17
ability date; 18
(B) the quality of water under— 19
(i) CERCLA, including damages to 20
natural resources; 21
(ii) the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 22
U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 23
(iii) the Federal Water Pollution Con-24
trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); and 25 80 
†S 1987 ES
(iv) any regulations implementing the 1
Acts described in clauses (i) through (iii); 2
(C) damage, loss, or injury to land or nat-3
ural resources that are— 4
(i) not due to loss of water or water 5
rights (including hunting, fishing, gath-6
ering, or cultural rights); and 7
(ii) not described in subsection (a)(3); 8
and 9
(D) an action to prevent any person or 10
party (as defined in sections 29 and 30 of Arti-11
cle II of the Compact) from interfering with the 12
enjoyment of the Tribal water rights; 13
(2) all claims relating to off-Reservation hunt-14
ing rights, fishing rights, gathering rights, or other 15
rights; 16
(3) all claims relating to the right to use and 17
protect water rights acquired after the date of enact-18
ment of this Act; 19
(4) all claims relating to the allocation of 20
waters of the Milk River and the Milk River Project 21
between the Fort Belknap Indian Community and 22
the Blackfeet Tribe, pursuant to section 3705(e)(3) 23
of the Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement Act (Pub-24
lic Law 114–322; 130 Stat. 1818); 25 81 
†S 1987 ES
(5) all claims relating to the enforcement of this 1
Act, including the required transfer of land under 2
section 6; and 3
(6) all rights, remedies, privileges, immunities, 4
and powers not specifically waived and released pur-5
suant to this Act or the Compact. 6
(e) E
FFECT OFCOMPACT ANDACT.—Nothing in the 7
Compact or this Act— 8
(1) affects the authority of the Fort Belknap 9
Indian Community to enforce the laws of the Fort 10
Belknap Indian Community, including with respect 11
to environmental protections; 12
(2) affects the ability of the United States, act-13
ing as sovereign, to carry out any activity authorized 14
by law, including— 15
(A) the Federal Water Pollution Control 16
Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); 17
(B) the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 18
U.S.C. 300f et seq.); 19
(C) CERCLA; and 20
(D) any regulations implementing the Acts 21
described in subparagraphs (A) through (C); 22
(3) affects the ability of the United States to 23
act as trustee for any other Indian Tribe or an allot-24
tee of any other Indian Tribe; 25 82 
†S 1987 ES
(4) confers jurisdiction on any State court— 1
(A) to interpret Federal law relating to 2
health, safety, or the environment; 3
(B) to determine the duties of the United 4
States or any other party under Federal law re-5
lating to health, safety, or the environment; or 6
(C) to conduct judicial review of any Fed-7
eral agency action; 8
(5) waives any claim of a member of the Fort 9
Belknap Indian Community in an individual capacity 10
that does not derive from a right of the Fort 11
Belknap Indian Community; 12
(6) revives any claim adjudicated in the decision 13
in Gros Ventre Tribe v. United States, 469 F.3d 14
801 (9th Cir. 2006); or 15
(7) revives any claim released by an allottee or 16
member of the Fort Belknap Indian Community in 17
the settlement in Cobell v. Salazar, No. 18
1:96CV01285–JR (D.D.C. 2012). 19
(f) E
NFORCEABILITYDATE.—The enforceability date 20
shall be the date on which the Secretary publishes in the 21
Federal Register a statement of findings that— 22
(1) the eligible members of the Fort Belknap 23
Indian Community have voted to approve this Act 24 83 
†S 1987 ES
and the Compact by a majority of votes cast on the 1
day of the vote; 2
(2)(A) the Montana Water Court has approved 3
the Compact in a manner from which no further ap-4
peal may be taken; or 5
(B) if the Montana Water Court is found to 6
lack jurisdiction, the appropriate district court of the 7
United States has approved the Compact as a con-8
sent decree from which no further appeal may be 9
taken; 10
(3) all of the amounts authorized to be appro-11
priated under section 14 have been appropriated and 12
deposited in the designated accounts; 13
(4) the Secretary and the Fort Belknap Indian 14
Community have executed the allocation agreement 15
described in section 7(c)(1); 16
(5) the State has provided the required funding 17
into the Fort Belknap Indian Community Tribal Ir-18
rigation and Other Water Resources Development 19
Account of the Trust Fund pursuant to section 20
14(a)(3); and 21
(6) the waivers and releases under subsection 22
(a) have been executed by the Fort Belknap Indian 23
Community and the Secretary. 24
(g) T
OLLING OFCLAIMS.— 25 84 
†S 1987 ES
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each applicable period of 1
limitation and time-based equitable defense relating 2
to a claim described in this section shall be tolled for 3
the period beginning on the date of enactment of 4
this Act and ending on the enforceability date. 5
(2) E
FFECT OF SUBSECTION .—Nothing in this 6
subsection revives any claim or tolls any period of 7
limitations or time-based equitable defense that ex-8
pired before the date of enactment of this Act. 9
(h) E
XPIRATION.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—This Act shall expire in any 11
case in which— 12
(A) the amounts authorized to be appro-13
priated by this Act have not been made avail-14
able to the Secretary by not later than— 15
(i) January 21, 2034; and 16
(ii) such alternative later date as is 17
agreed to by the Fort Belknap Indian 18
Community and the Secretary; or 19
(B) the Secretary fails to publish a state-20
ment of findings under subsection (f) by not 21
later than— 22
(i) January 21, 2035; and 23
(ii) such alternative later date as is 24
agreed to by the Fort Belknap Indian 25 85 
†S 1987 ES
Community and the Secretary, after pro-1
viding reasonable notice to the State. 2
(2) C
ONSEQUENCES.—If this Act expires under 3
paragraph (1)— 4
(A) the waivers and releases under sub-5
section (a) shall— 6
(i) expire; and 7
(ii) have no further force or effect; 8
(B) the authorization, ratification, con-9
firmation, and execution of the Compact under 10
section 4 shall no longer be effective; 11
(C) any action carried out by the Sec-12
retary, and any contract or agreement entered 13
into, pursuant to this Act shall be void; 14
(D) any unexpended Federal funds appro-15
priated or made available to carry out the ac-16
tivities authorized by this Act, together with 17
any interest earned on those funds, and any 18
water rights or contracts to use water and title 19
to other property acquired or constructed with 20
Federal funds appropriated or made available 21
to carry out the activities authorized by this Act 22
shall be returned to the Federal Government, 23
unless otherwise agreed to by the Fort Belknap 24 86 
†S 1987 ES
Indian Community and the United States and 1
approved by Congress; and 2
(E) except for Federal funds used to ac-3
quire or construct property that is returned to 4
the Federal Government under subparagraph 5
(D), the United States shall be entitled to offset 6
any Federal funds made available to carry out 7
this Act that were expended or withdrawn, or 8
any funds made available to carry out this Act 9
from other Federal authorized sources, together 10
with any interest accrued on those funds, 11
against any claims against the United States— 12
(i) relating to— 13
(I) water rights in the State as-14
serted by— 15
(aa) the Fort Belknap In-16
dian Community; or 17
(bb) any user of the Tribal 18
water rights; or 19
(II) any other matter described 20
in subsection (a)(3); or 21
(ii) in any future settlement of water 22
rights of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-23
nity or an allottee. 24 87 
†S 1987 ES
SEC. 12. AANIIIH NAKODA SETTLEMENT TRUST FUND. 1
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 2
a trust fund for the Fort Belknap Indian Community, to 3
be known as the ‘‘Aaniiih Nakoda Settlement Trust 4
Fund’’, to be managed, invested, and distributed by the 5
Secretary and to remain available until expended, with-6
drawn, or reverted to the general fund of the Treasury, 7
consisting of the amounts deposited in the Trust Fund 8
under subsection (c), together with any investment earn-9
ings, including interest, earned on those amounts, for the 10
purpose of carrying out this Act. 11
(b) A
CCOUNTS.—The Secretary shall establish in the 12
Trust Fund the following accounts: 13
(1) The Fort Belknap Indian Community Trib-14
al Irrigation and Other Water Resources Develop-15
ment Account. 16
(2) The Fort Belknap Indian Community 17
Water Resources and Water Rights Administration, 18
Operation, and Maintenance Account. 19
(3) The Fort Belknap Indian Community Clean 20
and Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, and 21
Lake Elwell Project Account. 22
(c) D
EPOSITS.—The Secretary shall deposit— 23
(1) in the Fort Belknap Indian Community 24
Tribal Irrigation and Other Water Resources Devel-25
opment Account established under subsection (b)(1), 26 88 
†S 1987 ES
the amounts made available pursuant to paragraphs 1
(1)(A) and (2)(A)(i) of section 14(a); 2
(2) in the Fort Belknap Indian Community 3
Water Resources and Water Rights Administration, 4
Operation, and Maintenance Account established 5
under subsection (b)(2), the amounts made available 6
pursuant to section 14(a)(2)(A)(ii); and 7
(3) in the Fort Belknap Indian Community 8
Clean and Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, 9
and Lake Elwell Project Account established under 10
subsection (b)(3), the amounts made available pur-11
suant to paragraphs (1)(B) and (2)(A)(iii) of section 12
14(a). 13
(d) M
ANAGEMENT AND INTEREST.— 14
(1) M
ANAGEMENT.—On receipt and deposit of 15
the funds into the accounts in the Trust Fund pur-16
suant to subsection (c), the Secretary shall manage, 17
invest, and distribute all amounts in the Trust Fund 18
in accordance with the investment authority of the 19
Secretary under— 20
(A) the first section of the Act of June 24, 21
1938 (25 U.S.C. 162a); 22
(B) the American Indian Trust Fund Man-23
agement Reform Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 4001 24
et seq.); and 25 89 
†S 1987 ES
(C) this section. 1
(2) I
NVESTMENT EARNINGS .—In addition to 2
the amounts deposited under subsection (c), any in-3
vestment earnings, including interest, credited to 4
amounts held in the Trust Fund shall be available 5
for use in accordance with subsections (e) and (g). 6
(e) A
VAILABILITY OFAMOUNTS.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Amounts appropriated to, 8
and deposited in, the Trust Fund, including any in-9
vestment earnings, including interest, earned on 10
those amounts shall be made available— 11
(A) to the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-12
nity by the Secretary beginning on the enforce-13
ability date; and 14
(B) subject to the uses and restrictions in 15
this section. 16
(2) E
XCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding paragraph 17
(1)— 18
(A) amounts deposited in the Fort Belknap 19
Indian Community Tribal Irrigation and Other 20
Water Resources Development Account estab-21
lished under subsection (b)(1) shall be available 22
to the Fort Belknap Indian Community on the 23
date on which the amounts are deposited for 24 90 
†S 1987 ES
uses described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 1
subsection (g)(1); 2
(B) amounts deposited in the Fort 3
Belknap Indian Community Water Resources 4
and Water Rights Administration, Operation, 5
and Maintenance Account established under 6
subsection (b)(2) shall be made available to the 7
Fort Belknap Indian Community on the date on 8
which the amounts are deposited and the Fort 9
Belknap Indian Community has satisfied the re-10
quirements of section 11(f)(1), for the uses de-11
scribed in subsection (g)(2)(A); and 12
(C) amounts deposited in the Fort Belknap 13
Indian Community Clean and Safe Domestic 14
Water and Sewer Systems, and Lake Elwell 15
Project Account established under subsection 16
(b)(3) shall be available to the Fort Belknap In-17
dian Community on the date on which the 18
amounts are deposited for the uses described in 19
subsection (g)(3)(A). 20
(f) W
ITHDRAWALS.— 21
(1) A
MERICAN INDIAN TRUST FUND MANAGE -22
MENT REFORM ACT OF 1994 .— 23
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Fort Belknap In-24
dian Community may withdraw any portion of 25 91 
†S 1987 ES
the funds in the Trust Fund on approval by the 1
Secretary of a Tribal management plan sub-2
mitted by the Fort Belknap Indian Community 3
in accordance with the American Indian Trust 4
Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 5
U.S.C. 4001 et seq.). 6
(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—In addition to the 7
requirements under the American Indian Trust 8
Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 9
U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), the Tribal management 10
plan under this paragraph shall require that the 11
Fort Belknap Indian Community spend all 12
amounts withdrawn from the Trust Fund, and 13
any investment earnings accrued through the 14
investments under the Tribal management plan, 15
in accordance with this Act. 16
(C) E
NFORCEMENT.—The Secretary may 17
carry out such judicial and administrative ac-18
tions as the Secretary determines to be nec-19
essary— 20
(i) to enforce the Tribal management 21
plan; and 22
(ii) to ensure that amounts withdrawn 23
from the Trust Fund by the Fort Belknap 24 92 
†S 1987 ES
Indian Community under this paragraph 1
are used in accordance with this Act. 2
(2) W
ITHDRAWALS UNDER EXPENDITURE 3
PLAN.— 4
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Fort Belknap In-5
dian Community may submit to the Secretary a 6
request to withdraw funds from the Trust Fund 7
pursuant to an approved expenditure plan. 8
(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible to 9
withdraw funds under an expenditure plan 10
under this paragraph, the Fort Belknap Indian 11
Community shall submit to the Secretary for 12
approval an expenditure plan for any portion of 13
the Trust Fund that the Fort Belknap Indian 14
Community elects to withdraw pursuant to this 15
paragraph, subject to the condition that the 16
funds shall be used for the purposes described 17
in this Act. 18
(C) I
NCLUSIONS.—An expenditure plan 19
under this paragraph shall include a description 20
of the manner and purpose for which the 21
amounts proposed to be withdrawn from the 22
Trust Fund will be used by the Fort Belknap 23
Indian Community in accordance with sub-24
sections (e) and (g). 25 93 
†S 1987 ES
(D) APPROVAL.—On receipt of an expendi-1
ture plan under this paragraph, the Secretary 2
shall approve the expenditure plan if the Sec-3
retary determines that the expenditure plan— 4
(i) is reasonable; and 5
(ii) is consistent with, and will be used 6
for, the purposes of this Act. 7
(E) E
NFORCEMENT.—The Secretary may 8
carry out such judicial and administrative ac-9
tions as the Secretary determines to be nec-10
essary to enforce an expenditure plan under 11
this paragraph to ensure that amounts dis-12
bursed under this paragraph are used in ac-13
cordance with this Act. 14
(g) U
SES.—Amounts from the Trust Fund shall be 15
used by the Fort Belknap Indian Community for the fol-16
lowing purposes: 17
(1) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY TRIBAL 18
IRRIGATION AND OTHER WATER RESOURCES DEVEL -19
OPMENT ACCOUNT .—Amounts in the Fort Belknap 20
Indian Community Tribal Irrigation and Other 21
Water Resources Development Account established 22
under subsection (b)(1) shall be used to pay the cost 23
of activities relating to— 24 94 
†S 1987 ES
(A) planning, studies, and design of the 1
Southern Tributary Irrigation Project and the 2
Peoples Creek Irrigation Project, including the 3
Upper Peoples Creek Dam and Reservoir, as 4
generally described in the document of Natural 5
Resources Consulting Engineers, Inc., entitled 6
‘‘Fort Belknap Indian Community Comprehen-7
sive Water Development Plan’’ and dated Feb-8
ruary 2019; 9
(B) environmental compliance; 10
(C) construction of the Southern Tributary 11
Irrigation Project and the Peoples Creek Irriga-12
tion Project, including the Upper Peoples Creek 13
Dam and Reservoir; 14
(D) wetlands restoration and development; 15
(E) stock watering infrastructure; and 16
(F) on farm development support and re-17
acquisition of fee lands within the Fort Belknap 18
Indian Irrigation Project and Fort Belknap In-19
dian Community irrigation projects within the 20
Reservation. 21
(2) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY WATER 22
RESOURCES AND WATER RIGHTS ADMINISTRATION , 23
OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE ACCOUNT .— 24
Amounts in the Fort Belknap Indian Community 25 95 
†S 1987 ES
Water Resources and Water Rights Administration, 1
Operation, and Maintenance Account established 2
under subsection (b)(2), the principal and invest-3
ment earnings, including interest, may only be used 4
by the Fort Belknap Indian Community to pay the 5
costs of activities described in subparagraphs (A) 6
through (C) as follows: 7
(A) $9,000,000 shall be used for the estab-8
lishment, operation, and capital expenditures in 9
connection with the administration of the Tribal 10
water resources and water rights development, 11
including the development or enactment of a 12
Tribal water code. 13
(B) Only investment earnings, including 14
interest, on $29,299,059 shall be used and be 15
available to pay the costs of activities for ad-16
ministration, operations, and regulation of the 17
Tribal water resources and water rights depart-18
ment, in accordance with the Compact and this 19
Act. 20
(C) Only investment earnings, including in-21
terest, on $28,331,693 shall be used and be 22
available to pay the costs of activities relating 23
to a portion of the annual assessment costs for 24
the Fort Belknap Indian Community and Tribal 25 96 
†S 1987 ES
members, including allottees, under the Fort 1
Belknap Indian Irrigation Project and Fort 2
Belknap Indian Community irrigation projects 3
within the Reservation. 4
(3) F
ORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY CLEAN 5
AND SAFE DOMESTIC WATER AND SEWER SYSTEMS , 6
AND LAKE ELWELL PROJECT ACCOUNT .—Amounts 7
in the Fort Belknap Indian Community Clean and 8
Safe Domestic Water and Sewer Systems, and Lake 9
Elwell Project Account established under subsection 10
(b)(3), the principal and investment earnings, in-11
cluding interest, may only be used by the Fort 12
Belknap Indian Community to pay the costs of ac-13
tivities relating to— 14
(A) planning, studies, design, and environ-15
mental compliance of domestic water supply, 16
and sewer collection and treatment systems, as 17
generally described in the document of Natural 18
Resources Consulting Engineers, Inc., entitled 19
‘‘Fort Belknap Indian Community Comprehen-20
sive Water Development Plan’’ and dated Feb-21
ruary 2019, including the Lake Elwell Project 22
water delivery to the southern part of the Res-23
ervation; 24 97 
†S 1987 ES
(B) construction of domestic water supply, 1
sewer collection, and treatment systems; 2
(C) construction, in accordance with appli-3
cable law, of infrastructure for delivery of Lake 4
Elwell water diverted from the Missouri River 5
to the southern part of the Reservation; and 6
(D) planning, studies, design, environ-7
mental compliance, and construction of a Tribal 8
wellness center for a work force health and 9
wellbeing project. 10
(h) L
IABILITY.—The Secretary shall not be liable for 11
any expenditure or investment of amounts withdrawn from 12
the Trust Fund by the Fort Belknap Indian Community 13
pursuant to subsection (f). 14
(i) P
ROJECTEFFICIENCIES.—If the total cost of the 15
activities described in subsection (g) results in cost savings 16
and is less than the amounts authorized to be obligated 17
under any of paragraphs (1) through (3) of that sub-18
section required to carry out those activities, the Sec-19
retary, at the request of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-20
nity, shall deposit those savings in the Trust Fund to be 21
used in accordance with that subsection. 22
(j) A
NNUALREPORT.—The Fort Belknap Indian 23
Community shall submit to the Secretary an annual ex-24
penditure report describing accomplishments and amounts 25 98 
†S 1987 ES
spent from use of withdrawals under a Tribal management 1
plan or an expenditure plan described in this section. 2
(k) N
OPERCAPITAPAYMENTS.—No principal or in-3
terest amount in any account established by this section 4
shall be distributed to any member of the Fort Belknap 5
Indian Community on a per capita basis. 6
(l) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this Act entitles the Fort 7
Belknap Indian Community to judicial review of a deter-8
mination of the Secretary regarding whether to approve 9
a Tribal management plan under subsection (f)(1) or an 10
expenditure plan under subsection (f)(2), except as pro-11
vided under subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, 12
of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the 13
‘‘Administrative Procedure Act’’). 14
SEC. 13. FORT BELKNAP INDIAN COMMUNITY WATER SET-15
TLEMENT IMPLEMENTATION FUND. 16
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 17
Treasury of the United States a non-trust, interest-bear-18
ing account to be known as the ‘‘Fort Belknap Indian 19
Community Water Settlement Implementation Fund’’, to 20
be managed and distributed by the Secretary, for use by 21
the Secretary for carrying out this Act. 22
(b) A
CCOUNTS.—The Secretary shall establish in the 23
Implementation Fund the following accounts: 24 99 
†S 1987 ES
(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 (h) 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.— 24 100 
†S 1987 ES
(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, 25 101 
†S 1987 ES
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), $331,885,220, 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. 25 102 
†S 1987 ES
(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-25 103 
†S 1987 ES
plementation Fund established under sec-1
tion 13(b)(1), $228,707,684. 2
(B) A
VAILABILITY.—Amounts deposited in 3
the accounts under subparagraph (A) shall be 4
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 25 104 
†S 1987 ES
(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
SEC. 15. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. 23
(a) W
AIVER OFSOVEREIGNIMMUNITY BY THE 24
U
NITEDSTATES.—Except as provided in subsections (a) 25 105 
†S 1987 ES
through (c) of section 208 of the Department of Justice 1
Appropriation Act, 1953 (43 U.S.C. 666), nothing in this 2
Act waives the sovereign immunity of the United States. 3
(b) O
THERTRIBESNOTADVERSELYAFFECTED.— 4
Nothing in this Act quantifies or diminishes any land or 5
water right, or any claim or entitlement to land or water, 6
of an Indian Tribe, band, or community other than the 7
Fort Belknap Indian Community. 8
(c) E
LIMINATION OFDEBTS ORLIENSAGAINSTAL-9
LOTMENTS OF THE FORTBELKNAPINDIANCOMMUNITY 10
M
EMBERSWITHIN THEFORTBELKNAPINDIANIRRIGA-11
TIONPROJECT.—On the date of enactment of this Act, 12
the Secretary shall cancel and eliminate all debts or liens 13
against the allotments of land held by the Fort Belknap 14
Indian Community and the members of the Fort Belknap 15
Indian Community due to construction assessments and 16
annual operation and maintenance charges relating to the 17
Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project. 18
(d) E
FFECT ONCURRENTLAW.—Nothing in this Act 19
affects any provision of law (including regulations) in ef-20
fect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act 21
with respect to pre-enforcement review of any Federal en-22
vironmental enforcement action. 23
(e) E
FFECT ONRECLAMATIONLAWS.—The activities 24
carried out by the Commissioner under this Act shall not 25 106 
†S 1987 ES
establish a precedent or impact the authority provided 1
under any other provision of the reclamation laws, includ-2
ing— 3
(1) the Reclamation Rural Water Supply Act of 4
2006 (43 U.S.C. 2401 et seq.); and 5
(2) the Omnibus Public Land Management Act 6
of 2009 (Public Law 111–11; 123 Stat. 991). 7
(f) A
DDITIONALFUNDING.—Nothing in this Act pro-8
hibits the Fort Belknap Indian Community from seek-9
ing— 10
(1) additional funds for Tribal programs or 11
purposes; or 12
(2) funding from the United States or the State 13
based on the status of the Fort Belknap Indian 14
Community as an Indian Tribe. 15
(g) R
IGHTSUNDERSTATELAW.—Except as pro-16
vided in section 1 of Article III of the Compact (relating 17
to the closing of certain water basins in the State to new 18
appropriations in accordance with the laws of the State), 19
nothing in this Act or the Compact precludes the acquisi-20
tion or exercise of a right arising under State law (as de-21
fined in section 6 of Article II of the Compact) to the use 22
of water by the Fort Belknap Indian Community, or a 23
member or allottee of the Fort Belknap Indian Commu-24
nity, outside the Reservation by— 25 107 
†S 1987 ES
(1) purchase of the right; or 1
(2) submitting to the State an application in 2
accordance with State law. 3
(h) W
ATERSTORAGE ANDIMPORTATION.—Nothing 4
in this Act or the Compact prevents the Fort Belknap In-5
dian Community from participating in any project to im-6
port water to, or to add storage in, the Milk River Basin. 7
SEC. 16. ANTIDEFICIENCY. 8
The United States shall not be liable for any failure 9
to carry out any obligation or activity authorized by this 10
Act, including any obligation or activity under the Com-11
pact, if— 12
(1) adequate appropriations are not provided by 13
Congress expressly to carry out the purposes of this 14
Act; or 15
(2) there are not enough funds available in the 16
Reclamation Water Settlements Fund established by 17
section 10501(a) of the Omnibus Public Land Man-18
agement Act of 2009 (43 U.S.C. 407(a)) to carry 19
out the purposes of this Act. 20
Passed the Senate June 20, 2024. 
Attest: 
Secretary.  118
TH
CONGRESS 
2
D
S
ESSION
 
S. 1987 
AN ACT 
To provide for the settlement of the water rights 
claims of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, 
and for other purposes.