BLACKFEET WATER COMPACT MEANS MORE WATER THEFTS FROM BLACKFEET LANDOWNERS

Imagine your white neighbor drilling water wells draining your underground water aquifer and you complain to the tribal water board, and they tell you it is legal! It is legal under state law called the "rule of capture" which the white man used to steal a billion dollars worth of Blackfeet oil while the tribal council helped the oil companies by accepting bribes to approve oil deals that made the Indians pay all costs of production, so in the end the Indians got nothing and the white man got everything. Senate investigators found the tribal council guilty of "sanction of corporate privileges by bribery" in council dealings with the Great Northern Railway and Conrad-Valier Investment Company both of whom own large amounts of oil rights and water rights on the reservation. All of the 325,250 acres of allotted lands stolen by forgeries of Blackfeet allotted land titles are "extinguished" in the water compact. Did you ever hear of the lesson if you are the only one in the meeting who does not know what the meeting is about-you are the victim! We, the Blackfeet landowners, are the only ones left out of the negotiations and do not know what the tribal council has signed in secret with the state and federal officials. No tribal council or BIA official is telling the Blackfeet allotted landowners anything except they need us to vote for the water compact settlement. Global drought is creating a money bonanza for water speculators who are the same as oil speculators who take advantage of land owners ignorance about the value of water rights and pay kickbacks to tribal officials for approving water leasing deals. State government officials have been found guilty of accepting millions of dollars for approving the sale of water rights. These state government officials are facing charges of extortion, bribery, money-laundering, and misconduct of a public official. Who do you suppose would prosecute the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council for corruption? That is a question nobody has answered except to pass the buck from federal to state to tribal government, which is supposed to police itself under the water compact settlement. Blackfeet allotted water rights are especially valuable because of the "priority date" of time immemorial, or the beginning of time preceding the United States priority date of 1776. The Blackfeet water rights would take priority during drought! But, white water rights owners can drain the Blackfeet landowners property under the "rule of capture" a state law that allows a neighbor to drain your underground water aquifer unless you drill your own water well to protect your water right. I fear that the allotted landowners are being set up for another robbery of allotted water rights because we do not have the money to drill our own property and protect our underground water aquifers from white neighbors. The tribe could drain our water and nothing could be done about it under the water compact settlement. We must remember chairman Barnes was selling hammers, screws and nuts at his hardware store prior to his promotion to chief of the tribe. An instance of what has happened in Nevada will be a warning to the Blackfeet people on trusting government officials when millions of dollars are used to bribe public officials. A Nevada landowner paid just $2,750 for a water permit that originally came from his farm as a water right and he was able to sell that water right to the Nevada Water Authority for $8.4 million. All of the white men's water rights will be worth millions of dollars upon the approval of the water compact but the allotted water rights of the Blackfeet trust landowners have been usurped by the tribal council leaving them worthless on global water markets. There is a clause in the water compact preventing the Blackfeet landowners from marketing their water rights outside of Montana and if and when the Blackfeet landowner did get China to purchase bottled water from the Blackfeet allotted landowners, the water compact gives white men in Valier, Cutbank, and Conrad first right of refusal to meet the bid of the Chinese government to purchase Blackfeet bottled water. But, there is no first right of refusal for the Blackfeet Tribe to meet the bids on white water rights marketing. It is a trap to take away the advantages of the treaty-Indian and reduce us to bums like we are today. The tribal council and white landowners will speculate on the future use of Blackfeet water and make no attempt to develop the water owned by individual Blackfeet landowners. There will be plenty of opportunity for $470,000,000 in tribal council graft by top level tribal water regulators while serving as elected tribal council members. How many of us have even filed for water rights on our own lands? How many of us can drill our own water wells to protect our underground aquifers from white men? We are the owners of the reservation by the allotment act of 1887, so how can we now be placed on the end of the line for our own water and how did the white men get on our reservation? He has no Blackfeet blood in his veins but he has many tribal council members in his pockets. Do not trust the tribal council, they have been a curse on the people. Please vote no on the water compact, it is a crooked deal practiced upon an ignorant people by a corrupt tribal council ready to steal our water and cash. Bob Juneau Sr.