In The News

A century-long debate over water rights in the state is nearing an end, providing certainty for farmers and ranchers in southwest Montana. The Montana Water Rights Protection Act passed the U.S. Congress this week as part of a major coronavirus relief and year-end appropriations package. It next needs President Donald Trump’s signature, which isn’t yet certain because he objected Tuesday to some of the package. It may have to return to Congress for revisions and another vote. Once the act becomes law, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will ratify it. The tribes will then relinquish thousands of water rights across the state, including

HELENA – Sen. Steve Daines and Sen. Jon Tester signed a bipartisan letter Wednesday to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prioritize COVID-19 Telehealth Program funding in Montana and other rural states. According to an email from Sen. Daines’ office, Montana was one of three states that did not receive financial assistance for the program amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The following is the letter signed by Sen. Daines and Sen. Tester:

A bill championed by U.S. Senator Steve Daines which will promote outdoor veteran recovery programs and expands outdoor recreational opportunities for veterans on public lands was recently signed into law. According to a press release from Daines’ off, the bipartisan “Accelerating Veterans Recovery Outdoors Act” will help create treatment and therapy opportunities for veterans on public lands and outdoor spaces. “The outdoors is critical to our Montana way of life and can help Montana veterans who are recovering from trauma and injuries they experienced in combat,” Daines said. “That’s why I’m glad my bipartisan bill promoting recovery and treatment programs

Hamilton will be the site of a new vaccine production facility. Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Company announced Wednesday that it had purchased about 44 acres of land that was once part of the original Bitter Root Stock Farm from Ilona Bessenyey and her husband, Peter Van Tuyn. The property is located on the eastern edge of Hamilton. The site is intended to become the home of a vaccine production facility and is expected to create a number of professional and support jobs. The site is large enough to accommodate expansion over time. While construction of the facility is dependent on planning

HAMILTON — Saying that humans will have to coexist with variations of COVID-19, a pharmaceutical company based in New Jersey plans to open a new production facility in Hamilton for the development of domestic vaccines, including those aimed at coronavirus. The company, Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. (TNXP), closed on 44 acres of land off Old Corvallis Road in Hamilton, where it plans to break ground on the new facility in late 2021. The deal was brokered by Sterling Commercial Real Estate in Missoula and announced late Tuesday night. The news became public on Wednesday morning. “As we saw with this

A Montana tribe is having a “once in a lifetime moment” after a water compact with the federal government passed Monday night, tucked inside the massive spending and pandemic aid package. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana (CSKT) compact, amounting to $1.9 billion, is the largest tribal water rights settlement in history by total federal cost. The year-end package also advanced other tribal water rights settlements, including for the Pueblos of Nambé, Pojoaque, Tesuque and San Ildefonso; the Navajo Nation; and the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas. CSKT Chair Shelly Fyant said in a press release, “This is one

U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester today celebrated Senate passage of their bipartisan bill, the “Montana Water Rights Protection Act.” The bill will permanently settle the century long CSKT water dispute, support Montana jobs, modernize rural infrastructure and protect the water rights of all Montanans. “After years of hard work, the U.S. Senate just passed our bipartisan bill that permanently resolves the century long CSKT water dispute, and will soon become law. Without our bill, thousands of Montanans would be forced into very expensive litigation and our ag economy would’ve taken over a one billion dollar hit,” Daines said.

Tucked in the mammoth spending bill that Congress passed Monday night is a historic pact that will resolve thousands of water-rights claims by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, provide nearly $2 billion for a major irrigation project and return the 19,000-acre National Bison Range to tribal ownership, more than a century after the federal government illegally carved it from the middle of the Flathead Indian Reservation. The passage of the compact, which moved through Congress as the Montana Water Rights Protection Act, comes five years after the Montana Legislature narrowly approved a similar agreement with the CSKT. It was

PABLO — The chairwoman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) is acknowledging the many people who helped craft the settlement over water rights in the Flathead Basin. She’s expressing enthusiasm about what the agreement means for water users, wildlife and fish habitat and the thousands of jobs that will be created in the years to come. On Tuesday, Congress approved the Montana Water Rights Protection Act, a bipartisan effort to resolve the decades-long dispute over the water rights granted under the 1855 Hellgate Treaty. The $1.9 billion measure is a sweeping piece of legislation that heads off litigation and provides a