Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2025
Key claim: The bill amends the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 to restructure Bureau of Reclamation funding accounts for the Crow Irrigation Project and MR&I water projects and to extend the tribe’s exclusive hydropower construction rights on Yellowtail Afterbay Dam to 2030.
Abstract
(HR726 · 119th Congress) Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2025 This bill revises the water rights settlement agreement entered into by the Crow Tribe of Montana and Montana. The Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 ratified, authorized, and confirmed the water rights compact between the tribe and Montana. Among other provisions, this settlement act authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to plan, design and construct the following two major projects on the Crow Reservation: (1) the rehabilitation and improvement of the Crow Irrigation Project (CIP); and (2) the planning, design, and construction of the MR&I System (the municipal, rural, and industrial water system of the Crow Reservation). Among other provisions, the bill revises the settlement act to replace references to the MR&I System with MR&I Projects ; establish a nontrust, interest-bearing account (to be known as the Crow CIP Implementation Account) to allow Reclamation to continue to work on the rehabilitation of the CIP; create a new MR&I Projects Account, through which the tribe must use funds for activities related to water production, treatment, or delivery infrastructure; and extend by five years (to 2030) the period during which the tribe has the exclusive right to construct hydropower facilities on the Yellowtail Afterbay Dam in Montana. Latest action (2026-07-15): Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by Voice Vote.
Why this matters
The 2010 Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement is a major federal commitment to rehabilitate tribal irrigation infrastructure and secure water and hydropower revenues for the Crow Reservation in Montana. These incremental amendments—account restructuring and a five-year hydropower construction extension—affect the pace and financing of rehabilitation work that underpins farmer water deliveries and tribal economic development, without changing consumer-facing food prices directly.