Crow cancel compact

JULY 11, 2000

The new leadership of the Crow Tribe has decided to renegotiate the Bighorn River water compact Montana, an action which has left the state wondering what to do next.

Susan Cottingham, manager of the Montana Reserved Water Right Compact Commission, said no one from the tribe contacted the state. The state may have to go back to the negotiating table all over again, leaving some of its proposed settlements with the tribes in question.

One of those settlements involved a coal tax which the Supreme Court ruled the state did not owe the tribe. Under the compact, which was finalized in June, the state was to pay the tribe a total of $15 million over 10 years.

Negotiation for the compact began in 1988, initiated by then chair Clara Nomee. The new council declared all contracts and agreements made by the controversial leader as "voidable" on July 8.

Get the Story:
State in dark over canceled Crow water pact (The Billings Gazette 7/11)

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