HR 726: Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2025

HR 726 in plain English: This bill amends a 2010 federal law that settled water rights between the Crow Tribe of Montana and the state of Montana. It updates how funds are managed for irrigation and municipal water projects on the Crow Reservation and extends the tribe's exclusive right to build hydropower facilities on the Yellowtail Afterbay Dam by five years, to 2030.

Stated purpose

This bill updates the 2010 Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act to make administrative and structural improvements to how water project funds are managed and used on the Crow Reservation in Montana, and to extend the tribe's exclusive right to develop hydropower at Yellowtail Afterbay Dam by five years.

Key points

• Creates a new 'Crow CIP Implementation Account' to fund continued rehabilitation of the Crow Irrigation Project
• Creates a new MR&I Projects Account requiring funds to be used for water production, treatment, or delivery infrastructure
• Extends the Crow Tribe's exclusive right to construct hydropower facilities on Yellowtail Afterbay Dam to 2030

Arguments supporters make

• The changes give the Crow Tribe more direct control over their own water infrastructure and funds, respecting tribal self-determination and sovereignty.
• Creating separate, clearly defined accounts for irrigation and water system projects makes spending more transparent and easier to track and audit.
• Extending the hydropower deadline by five years gives the tribe a realistic window to develop clean energy on their land, which could bring economic benefits to reservation communities.

Arguments opponents make

• Explicitly removing the federal government's obligation to maintain or replace water infrastructure could leave the tribe solely responsible for costly repairs with no federal backstop, potentially straining tribal resources.
• Shifting from a single system framework to multiple individual projects may fragment planning and make it harder to deliver reliable, coordinated water service across the reservation.
• Extending a deadline rather than completing the original goals could signal that the 2010 settlement has not been implemented effectively, raising questions about whether the underlying commitments will ever be fully met.

Tradeoffs

Greater tribal control over funds and infrastructure comes with the trade-off that the federal government explicitly sheds ongoing financial responsibility for operating and maintaining those systems, shifting long-term costs to the tribe. Extending the hydropower window gives the tribe more time to act on an economic opportunity but also delays any certainty about whether that development will occur.

Current status in Congress: In committee.

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