Montana

Judge overturns water rights decision for proposed Montana subdivision | Nebraska Examiner

Published

2 years ago

February 19, 2024

Judge overturns water rights decision for proposed Montana subdivision | Nebraska Examiner

A district court judge in Broadwater County, east of Helena, Montana, handed a victory to a group of water rights holders and landowners on the east side of Canyon Ferry Reservoir in a decision the plaintiffs say could have broad impacts on water rights and subdivision development in the state.

District Court Judge Michael McMahon’s 85-page order issued last week is sharply critical of Broadwater County commissioners and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

McMahon hit the county for its preliminary approval of the Horse Creek Hills subdivision, proposed by developer 71 Ranch, despite an environmental assessment that failed to account for multiple water and natural resources impacts, and the Natural Resources Department for what he said was the department’s ignoring Supreme Court precedent surrounding water rights exemptions for subdivisions.

“The economic impetus to develop land is overwhelming and relentless. If there is going to be any check on uncontrolled development of Montana’s limited water resources it will have to come from DNRC which is statutorily charged with fulfilling Montanans’ constitutional right to ‘control, and regulation of water rights,’ … a duty DNRC has manifestly avoided or undermined for over a decade to the detriment of our waters, environment, and senior water rights holders whose protection is the ‘core purpose’ of the Water Rights Act,” McMahon wrote in his decision.

Water advocacy organization Upper Missouri Waterkeeper and a group of residents living close to the proposed subdivision in August 2022 challenged Broadwater County’s approval of a preliminary plat for the House Creek Hills subdivision made a month earlier, as well as the DNRC’s approval of the project to move forward as four separate phases that allowed each phase its own exempt well instead of the full project having one exempt well — a scheme the judge found could lead to a limitless number of non-permitted wells in Montana.

Vicki Sullivan, a resident whose comments to the county were cited multiple times by McMahon to underscore how citizens led the effort to rightfully oppose the determinations surrounding the project, said the win was a victory for people living nearby but also for all Montanans opposed to sprawling new developments taking up water resources.

“Montana citizens now have a clear roadmap for holding their local decision-makers and state agencies accountable, ensure they consider public and community comments, proactively identify negative impacts related to new sprawl development, and deny new subdivisions that do not have adequate water supplies,” she said in a statement.

The proposed subdivision is on the east side of Canyon Ferry where Lower Confederate Creek runs into the reservoir, and involves subdividing 442 acres of land into 39 residential, two commercial and one open space lot – built out in four phases, with each lot served by an exempt well, septic and stormwater system.

The DNRC signed off on water exemptions that allowed each of the four phases of the proposal an appropriation of up to 10 acre-feet per year for a total of more than 13 million gallons across all four phases, according to court filings.

When it came time for the county to consider the proposed subdivision, it went back and forth between commissioners and the county planning board. Several locals, including some of the plaintiffs in the case, objected to both the process and the lack of information about water quantity and quality, or impacts to wildlife or nearby landowners.

McMahon found the county was “bending over backwards” to allow the ranch owners multiple opportunities to correct errors in its application and found that the materials were not organized or clear enough for the public to understand and comment on, in violation of the law.

He found the environmental assessment for the proposal, as well as the review of the impact to water users close to the proposed development, did not include information about impacts required by law, nor did it consider decreasing water abundance on Confederate Creek.

“The environmental assessment includes only the barest information about water resources; omits necessary information about waters’ health and interaction; fails to consider the impact of exempt wells; and arbitrarily limits its analysis to only the property itself and not neighboring landowners and waters,” MacMahon wrote.

McMahon’s opinion says when residents raised these numerous concerns, the county ignored them and did not provide the court records of some of the most serious issues with the proposal that were raised.

“Ignoring numerous specific, documentable, and clearly defined impacts is arbitrary and unlawful when statute requires that the county review them,” McMahon wrote.

He said the county, in violation of the law, failed to review whether there was sufficient water for the proposal.

McMahon also found that the DNRC wrongfully used an internal memo for its legal guidance in determining when it can allow groundwater development without considering impacts for existing water rights holders — instead of a Supreme Court decision surrounding the definition of combined appropriations.

“DNRC blatantly ignores a recent Supreme Court holding, which the letter demonstrates that DNRC understands, to conclude that each of the four phases of one larger project are entitled to exempt wells,” he wrote. “This is contrary to the administrative rule, statute, the rulings of this and the Montana Supreme Court, and perhaps most troubling, DNRC’s own restatement of the law in the letters.”

He said the DNRC’s claim it had only limited information at the time that the four phases would be one project was not plausible and suggested that like the county, “DNRC insists on doing 71 Ranch’s job.”

He said it was “blackletter law” that multi-phase developments are one combined appropriation, and that if the DNRC used its own interpretation, it “allows projects with an infinite number of exempt wells so long as they are developed in small enough sequential phases, a decision DNRC’s interpretation places entirely in the hands of the developer.”

McMahon put a section in bold in his opinion, stating that he wanted to make his ruling “absolutely clear” because the exempt well law “seems a particular challenge” for the department.

“There is no basis in law for DNRC to treat the four phases of 71 Ranch’s subdivision project separately, a conclusion which is absolutely clear from statute, administrative rule, Montana Supreme Court precedent, and even DNRC’s letters in this matter. Any and all phases of this project are one single combined appropriation,” he wrote.

McMahon said that DNRC’s efforts to evade the Supreme Court’s ruling were “limitless” and that the department “flagrantly ignores it in practice.”

“DNRC gives the distinct impression of a misbehaving child who knows how to say the right words to end the chastisement and yet immediate(ly) returns to the proscribed behavior once out of view,” McMahon wrote.

He said he worried that in a decade, district courts will be reviewing similar approved applications for separate projects sited next to each other that are being built by one developer through shell companies.

McMahon also noted that eight years ago, there were an estimated 113,000 exempt appropriations, with up to 78,000 more by 2020. Doing the math, McMahon said, the exemptions could lead to billions of gallons of water being used with no permit required.

“With DNRC going out of its way for decades to conclude that such wells are virtually never combined appropriations, each well is entitled to appropriate 10-acre feet per year, totaling 1.2-to-1.9-million-acre feet, or 417-622 billion gallons of water each and every year,” he wrote. “Each additional year adding 3,000 exempt wells entitles their owners to an additional 9 billion gallons of water each year. At this rate, in less than 50 years exempt wells will be entitled to draw a trillion gallons of water each and every year.”

A spokesperson for the DNRC and Broadwater County Attorney Cory Swanson both said Friday they were reviewing the order to fully understand the implications before speaking further or making any next moves. An attorney representing the ranch did not immediately respond to an email on Friday seeking comment and asking about a possible appeal.

Guy Alsentzer, an attorney for the plaintiffs, called McMahon’s decision a “landmark judgment.”

“This victory is not only a vindication of the rights of citizens to lawful, science-based decision-making and accountable government in the face of unrelenting development pressure, but importantly, this landmark judgment also recognizes the incredible determination and grit of individual citizens who – for nearly two years – tirelessly showed up to hold their elected leaders and bureaucracy accountable to protect their water, their treasured farms and ranches, their wildlife, and their western way of life,” Alsentzer said in a statement.

This article first appeared in the Daily Montanan, a sister site of the Nebraska Examiner in the States Newsroom network.

Source link

Click to comment

Montana

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

Published

8 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

State

Zip Code

Country

Source link

Montana

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

20 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

Source link

Montana

Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.

The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.

MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.

MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74

MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.

Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.

Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.

But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.

As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.

Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Montana Western 65, Carroll 56

After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.

Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.

The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.

Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.

Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.

Source link