This week’s news brings us another story that’s starting to get very old — especially for Montana’s existing residents.  Namely, the City of East Helena finds itself unable to “meet the demand” for water for the 6,250 new homes plus new businesses that theoretically will be built on former ASARCO lands the city annexed when the company went bankrupt. 

But here’s the rub: The land the city annexed did not come with water rights.  In Montana, no water means no new developments because we can barely provide water to existing residents.  The rapidly changing climate’s longer, hotter, and drier summers combined with lower winter snowpacks and earlier, diminished runoff is simply a reality that municipalities and developers don’t want to acknowledge.  But just because you don’t want to admit reality doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

As reported, Montana’s Lt. Governor Kristen Juras sent a letter to the city telling them the Natural Resources Damage settlement with ASARCO for the lead smelter’s Superfund site pollution requires “natural resource restoration and long-term stewardship.” Part of that restoration process, which was public, determined that certain water rights should go to restore instream flows on Prickly Pear Creek, which flows right past the giant slag piles remaining at the smelter site. 

Ironically, the state and EPA offered the city 40% of the water rights, but the offer was refused.  Now, the state and the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks are moving forward to change those consumptive water rights to instream flows and restore the battered creek.

That the city and developers are demanding the water for future development makes little sense since the mayor was quoted saying East Helena has an “already strained municipal water system.”  Since the theoretical developments would require four times the water the city currently supplies to existing residents and businesses it may also require a new and very expensive water treatment facility for which existing residents will pay. 

If this sounds familiar, one need only look to Bozeman, where residents will soon vote on the Water Adequacy for Residential Development initiative that will require new developments to either provide lower income units or bring new water rights to the city to “meet the demand” of the new developments.

Like Bozeman, East Helena is in a “closed basin” — meaning no new water rights can be issued without harming existing water rights holders and users.  You can’t give away more water than you have — and Montana has less every year, as the record low flows and closures of our major rivers proves.

None of this is a mystery.  In 1878 John Wesley Powell, who had explored the West’s great rivers and made the first descent of the Colorado River, published his “Report on the Lands of the Arid Regions of the United States” in which he estimated only 2% of the land in the arid West could support agriculture or development due to the lack of water.  There’s simply no excuse for Montana’s development-crazed municipalities to ignore the facts of our increasingly limited water supply. 

Finally, one might wonder why the burdens of “meeting the demand” of developers – including data centers – falls on existing residents.  Or why the Superfund impacts from past extractive industries shouldn’t be remediated.  Or why existing residents and their kids in East Helena shouldn’t have a clean stream they can walk to and enjoy a genuine “Montana” experience?

There are very real limits to growth.  In the West, that’s a dwindling water supply – and it’s obviously time for Montanans to realize that fact and live with it.

HELENA — President Donald Trump has announced he’ll appoint the director of the Montana Department of Corrections as the state’s U.S. Marshal.

Brian Gootkin will now need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Gov. Greg Gianforte named Gootkin as Corrections director in 2021. In that role, he’s overseen the Montana State Prison and other state correctional facilities.

Gootkin previously spent 21 years with the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office, including serving as sheriff from 2012 to 2021.
In statements, Montana’s two U.S. senators praised Gootkin’s nomination.

“Brian Gootkin is an exceptional choice by President Trump to serve as Montana’s U.S. Marshal,” said Sen. Steve Daines. “As Director of Montana’s Department of Corrections and Sheriff of Gallatin County, Brian demonstrates a sincere commitment to public safety and the rule of law, and his leadership in our state leaves no doubt that he will continue to serve the people of Montana with excellence. I look forward to his confirmation by the U.S. Senate.”

“Brian Gootkin has served Montana proudly for years, and I’m glad to hear he’s been nominated by President Trump to continue to serve and keep our streets safe as Montana’s U.S. Marshal,” said Sen. Tim Sheehy. “Senate Republicans have overcome historic obstruction to get President Trump’s picks in place, and we are eager to add Brian to list of fantastic nominees that have been confirmed.”

Gianforte released a statement, thanking Gootkin for his work at Corrections.

“Under his direction, we’ve made historic investments to protect and promote a public safety system that supports inmates, corrections officers, and all Montana families,” he said. “From securing overdue improvements to aging infrastructure, expanding capacity at our jails, and increasing collaboration with local partners, Gootkin has been at the helm of our work. I know he will continue to serve our state with dignity in his new role having already exemplified his commitment to Montana communities. I wish him success and a swift confirmation.”

The U.S. Marshals Service is a law enforcement agency that serves the federal judicial system. They are responsible for providing security in federal court, transporting federal prisoners and apprehending fugitives. The president nominates a U.S. Marshal for each federal judicial district to supervise the agency’s activities there. The entire state of Montana is a single district.

Last season at this time Montana State head coach Tricia Binford said the Bobcats would be fast, long, and athletic. Binford also knew her team wasn’t polished, but if they maximized their depth and effort, good things would come.
 
By March, her words came to fruition as the Bobcats recorded a school record 30-4 slate, won the Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament titles, and made the program’s fourth NCAA Championship appearance.
 
Fast forward 365 days, and Binford has the 2025-26 edition of Montana State women’s basketball headed the same direction.
 
“I think every coach would like to progress a little faster than we are, but the effort’s been great,” said Binford, who enters her 21^st season with the Blue and Gold. “Each week we have gotten better. We are moving in the right direction. We’ve started to build some chemistry, and we see areas that are going to be strong. This team is amazingly fast and we’re working on getting that fine balance of being fast without being rushed.”
 
Binford gets her first glimpse of the Bobcats’ in-game as they face their men’s scout team in the annual Blue-Gold Scrimmage, Wednesday at 7 p.m., in Worthington Arena. The scrimmage is free and open to the public.
 
“The big thing we want out of Blue-Gold is to get our transition defense established,” she said. “The last few years our identity has been defense. Last year’s team took this tremendous leap of what we were capable of doing in the backcourt. A lot of that impact was maximizing our depth. I believe we are even faster this year, and we want to be able to do what we love to do on the defensive end.”
 
Offensively, the Bobcats must fill the shoes of Big Sky Conference MVP Esmeralda Morales, who poured in 15.4 points per game and connected on 79 three-pointers, along with all-conference forward Marah Dykstra.
 
According to Binford, scoring will come from different areas.
 
“We need to get at least a percentage of our offense from defense,” Binford said. “That’s where it has to start. But I do feel our scoring will be as balanced as ever. We’ll take the non-conference to see which rotations work best and tweak things as needed. I do feel like it could be different kids scoring each night.”
 
MSU returns seven letterwinners, including Taylee Chirrick the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year, along with six newcomers. The Bobcats play two exhibition games (Oct. 27 & 30) before opening the season against Carroll College, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.