A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Commissioner Mitchell, the Flathead Water Compact, and the facts. At the Flathead Beacon, Molly Priddy has a great story on Gov. Bullock’s 19 January 2014 letter (PDF) to Flathead County’s Commissioners, and Commissioner Mitchell’s reaction to it, which translates to “My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with the facts.”
Mitchell, who was the primary architect behind the commission’s letter to the state, told the Beacon that though he hadn’t yet read the governor’s letter, he was going to stand by his opinions about the compact.
Mitchell objects in principle to recognizing that the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have rights to minimum in-stream flows in rivers outside the CSKT’s reservation. Colloquially known as fish flows, these rights derive from the 1855 Hellgate treaty and have a priority date of “time immemorial,” a legal term of art meaning before law and anyone else. Fish flows are non-consumptive. They’re water that stays in the river providing habitat for fish and aquatic life. Although the water rights for the fish flows belong to the CSKT, everyone benefits.
For an example of how a fish flow is defined and enforced, see the compact’s Appendix 26, Swan Mainstem Instream Flow Right Abstract. I’ll present an analysis of the Swan River’s Minimum Enforceable Flows (Appendix S of the abstract) in the not too distant future.
Raw milk legalization legislation. Rep. Nancy Ballance’s bill to legalize the sale of unpasteurized milk was introduced as House Bill 245, and referred to the House’s human services committee for a hearing on Wednesday, 28 January, in Room 152, at 1500 MST. See my 6 January 2014 post for a description and discussion of this challenge to sound public health policy. Rep. Albert Olszewski MD (R-Kalispell) is the Flathead’s only representative on this committee.
Unless physicians and other members of Montana’s medical community strongly speak out against HB-245, the bill could be whooped through the House by a veto-proof margin just as a similar bill was whooped through the House in the 2013 session. Physicians, et al, should not conclude that because the science of this issue is settled, so are the politics and policy. Public health laws are always under attack from sincere zealots who can prevail if their arguments are not countered. The constituency for HB-245 is fairly small, but it’s organized, loud, comprises true believers, and knows how to make an emotional impact at a legislative hearing. If legislators do not hear opposition from the medical community, they may interpret that silence as acquiescence.