Tester Secures Critical Federal Funding for St. Mary Canal in Government Funding Bill

The FY25 appropriations package, which includes federal funding for the Milk River Project at no cost to local communities, will advance to the full Senate

As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, U.S. Senator Jon Tester yesterday secured federal funding for the Milk River Project in the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies bill. The bill, which will advance to the full Senate as part of the FY25 appropriations package, includes federal funding for repairs to the St. Mary Canal after a major siphon burst earlier this summer. This funding is non-reimbursable, and will come at no cost to local communities. 

“[Bureau of Reclamation] has used emergency spending to get dirt moving and to get this project going because our system in Montana to be able to redo projects like this is limited by weather,” Tester said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. “But the fact is, this committee stepped up in a big way and put some dollars in to allow the Bureau of Reclamation to do this project and to get water flowing to help towns along the Milk and to help 120,000 acres of irrigated land. I can’t thank you enough for the work that the Committee did because quite honestly, water is life, and without water, folks cannot exist.”

Earlier this summer, a major siphon burst on the Milk River Project near Babb, Montana resulted in thousands of gallons of water flooding the surrounding area, causing extensive damage to local businesses, and impacting vital irrigation to farmland in the surrounding area.

Last month, in direct response to pressure from Tester, the Biden Administration announced they would immediately begin rehabilitation work along the Milk River Project. The Bureau of Reclamation agreed to fund the repairs through existing emergency authorities under Public Law 111-11. Tester also successfully pushed President Biden to include the Milk River Project in his Administration’s domestic supplemental package, which would make federal funding available to pay for the reconstruction of the St. Mary Canal.

In addition, Tester took to the Senate floor to successfully pass his bipartisan Fort Belknap Indian Community (FBIC) Water Rights Settlement Act which would provide critical funding for repairs on the Milk River Project. Tester’s FBIC Water Rights Settlement Act will provide $1.3 billion to improve infrastructure and economic development for the Fort Belknap Indian Community and improve the efficiency of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Milk River Project, which furnishes water for the irrigation of about 121,000 acres of Tribal and non-Tribal land. The bill specifically includes $275 million to rehabilitate the St. Mary Canal, and will restore Tribal management to 38,462 acres of state and federal land for the FBIC. 

Tester successfully passed the FBIC Water Compact through the Senate earlier this Congress as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans stripped it from the final package.

Earlier this summer, Tester announced that a more than $88 million contract was awarded to Montana-based NW Construction to complete the St. Mary Diversion Dam Replacement project. The contract is part of the up to $100 million Tester secured for the Milk River Project through his bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which he negotiated and helped pass into law. Tester was the only member of Montana’s Congressional delegation to support the legislation and to support additional improvements to the St. Mary Canal.