In his letter, Matt Cottle wrote that he didn't understand how "anyone could object to this minor change in law."īut the bill has drawn fire from many. "Family transfer parcels are really mom and apple pie to rural Montana," Taylor said. Mark Taylor, who represented the Cottle family during legislative hearings in the past two months, described the bill has "truly a rifle shot," meaning it would affect only a few cases. Outside stream depletion zones, the maximum is still 35 gallons per minute, 10 acre feet per year. "This is for people in my line of work, this is for ranchers who want to keep their family and kids on the place."Īn amendment lowered the amount of water that could be drawn from the exempt wells in stream depletion zones, from 35 to 20 gallons per minute or less, not to exceed two acre feet per year. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale, who introduced the bill when it was up for debate in the House. "This is an exempt water bill for family parcels only," said Rep. These neighborhoods, pockmarked with small wells that could each draw up to 35 gallons per minute, or 10 acre feet per year, drained more water than lawmakers had intended and could cause shortages for neighbors with prior water rights. Some developers have used the well exemptions as a loophole to create subdivisions, circumventing the permit processes and senior water rights holders. Now, it will go back to the Senate, where legislators will consider amendments made in the House.īoth the family land transfers and exempt wells are contentious, with critics saying they are ripe for abuse. The bill, which was passed in the Senate once already, was passed in the House on Thursday, April 13, with a 55-45 vote. Senate Bill 248, sponsored by Blasdel, would once more allow exempt wells on family land transfers. The court said the exemptions gave users unfair access to limited amounts of water in many areas.īut, a bill in the Montana Legislature is poised to change that. The Cottles' intentions became collateral damage when the Montana Supreme Court decided last year to crackdown on wells that were exempt from review. Alternatively, family transfers of land is a way to give a loved one something for free - land - to offset the cost of constructing a new home," Matt Cottle wrote. It is not uncommon to have multi-generation families living in the same home. "In today's struggling economy, families are just trying to make ends meet. But, to make the new house practical, they also need water, so they had hoped to drill a well without having to get a state permit. Mark Blasdel, R-Kalispell, Matt Cottle explained that he and his wife want to take advantage of a provision in state law that allows them to transfer a piece of land they own to their son, who has autism, without going through the public review process. Matt and Jen Cottle, ranchers near Bigfork, want to build a house for their son but they have found themselves in the crossfire of a heated legislative debate over Montana's water laws.
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