Opinion ID: 888091
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Trilogy.

Text: ¶ 33 If the sovereignty analysis were to be resolved in the Tribes' favor, then there would be no need to consider whether Montana law authorizes change of use proceedings on the Reservation. However, on the other hand, if DNRC does not have authority according to state law to process the Axes' change of use application, then it would make no practical difference whether DNRC has sovereign authority, by virtue of the federal law discussed above, to do so. For this reason, we consider it necessary to evaluate whether DNRC is authorized by Montana law to process the Axes' application. ¶ 34 This Court has considered similar issues in three previous cases, Ciotti, Clinch, and Stults. In Ciotti, we held that applicants for new water use permits and for changes of use of water permits on the Reservation could not prove, by the terms of the Montana Water Use Act, Title 85, Chapter 2, MCA, that the proposed uses would not unreasonably interfere with the Tribes' rights until those rights became quantified. Thus, DNRC did not have authority under state law to grant or change water use permits on the Reservation until that quantification was completed. Ciotti, 278 Mont. at 61, 923 P.2d at 1080. The Legislature responded to our decision in Ciotti with Senate Bill 97 in which it amended several provisions of the Water Use Act and expressed its intent to negate Ciotti's holding: The legislature intends that the Montana Supreme Court's decision in [ Ciotti ] be negated by the passage and approval of this bill. . . . It is the intent of the legislature that the statutory determinations for issuing new water use permits and authorizing changes do not require the adjudication of all water rights in the source of supply. The legislature recognizes the unique character and nature of water resources of the state. Because water is a resource that is subject to use and reuse, such as through return flows, and because at most times all water rights on a source will not be exercised to their full extent simultaneously, it is recognized that an adjudication is not a water availability study. Consequently, the legislature has provided an administrative forum for the factual investigation into whether water is available for new uses and changes both before and after the completion of an adjudication in the source of supply. To allow for orderly permitting in the absence of a complete adjudication in the source of supply, permits issued under this chapter are provisional. A provisional permit is subject to reduction, modification, or revocation by the department as provided in 85-2-313 upon completion of the general adjudication. 1997 Laws of Mont., ch. 497, 2790-91. ¶ 35 In Clinch, we again considered whether DNRC could issue new water use permits, this time under the amended provisions of § 85-2-311, MCA, enacted in response to our holding in Ciotti. Specifically, our holding turned on whether water was legally available on the Reservation, and we again concluded that DNRC could not make such a determination because it was unknowable how the issuance of permits for new uses would affect the Tribe's rights until those rights were quantified. Clinch, ¶ 28. ¶ 36 Stults was the result of a dispute about the meaning of our decision in Clinch. DNRC argued there that Ciotti and Clinch applied only to surface water and not groundwater. Stults, ¶ 25. This Court disagreed, stating, DNRC cannot process or issue beneficial water use permits on the Flathead Reservation until such time as the prior pre-eminent reserved water rights of the Tribes have been quantified. Stults, ¶ 37. ¶ 37 At issue in Ciotti were applications for new use permits as well as one application for a change in the use of an existing permit, Ciotti, 278 Mont. at 52, 923 P.2d at 1075, and our holding applied to both types of applications. Ciotti, 278 Mont. at 54 n. 1, 923 P.2d at 1076 n. 1. Clinch and Stults concerned only new use permits. However, the Legislature's efforts to negate Ciotti by amending the water use statutes and some of the language employed in the three cases have left it unclear whether this Court deems that a change in use of an existing permit necessarily commits the same offense under the current water use statutes to the Tribes' unquantified reserved rights as does the issuance of new use permits. We hold that it does not. ¶ 38 On its face, an application for a new use of water on the Reservation means that, if approved, more water will be taken from the available supply. By contrast, a change in use, by definition, means that no more water will be diverted than is currently. We acknowledge the point made in Ciotti, Clinch, and Stults that state appropriative rights are different in quality and character than the Tribes' reserved rights, Ciotti, 278 Mont. at 55-58, 923 P.2d at 1076-78, Clinch, ¶ 12, Stults, ¶ 28, and that the Tribes' rights may include non-consumptive rights, instream flow rights, or diversion rights, or all of the above. See Greely, 219 Mont. at 91-94, 712 P.2d at 763-65. However, we see no compelling reason to deprive a holder of a state water rightwho is already using a given amount of waterof the opportunity to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the proposed change will not adversely affect the use of other water rights, including the Tribes' reserved rights. It very well could be that a change in use would adversely affect the use of the Tribes' rights or that an applicant for a change of use cannot prove a lack of adverse effect on the use of the Tribes' unquantified rights. However, we are not prepared to hold that it is impossible, as a matter of law, for an applicant to meet that burden. ¶ 39 The Legislature has made it clear that DNRC should be able to process change of use applications. Section 85-2-402(1), MCA, reads in part as follows: In a change proceeding under this section, there is no presumption that an applicant for a change in appropriation right cannot establish lack of adverse effect prior to the adjudication of other rights in the source of supply pursuant to this chapter. In the record of the District Court proceedings below there was testimony to the effect that it was possible for parties to demonstrate no adverse effect on the Tribes' reserved rights. We express no opinion on such feasibility. This Court does, however, conclude that § 85-2-402, MCA, appropriately provides for no presumption to work against a water use permit holder who seeks to change the approved use. ¶ 40 Therefore, we hold that by determining that no presumption operates against a permit holder who seeks a change of use, the Legislature has acted within its constitutional prerogative. In Clinch, we stated that to issue [new] water use permits on the Flathead Reservation prior to the quantification of the Tribes pervasive reserved right requires use of water which may belong to the Tribe and would, therefore, violate Article IX, Section 3(1) of the Montana Constitution which protects existing water rights whether adjudicated or unadjudicated. . . . Clinch, ¶ 27. By its nature, a permit's change of use does not necessarily require use of water which may belong to the Tribe; thus, without a further record, we cannot conclude that it offends Article IX, Section 3(1) of the Montana Constitution. However, nothing in our holding should be construed to prejudice the Tribes' claims to reserved water rights. Indeed, we emphasize that the Tribes need not participate in the DNRC process and that the Tribes are not bound by the DNRC's decisions. In addition, we do not mean to imply that a state water use permit holder can, in fact, prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a change in use will not adversely affect the use of the Tribes' rights. We merely conclude that a permit holder is afforded the opportunity to do so by virtue of § 85-2-402, MCA. ¶ 41 Because of our holding above, we need not address whether changing the use of a state appropriative water right is a fundamental constitutional right. In addition, we discern no merit in the Tribes' argument that all state appropriative rights on the Reservation are merely claims and not rights. See Art. IX, Sec. 3(1), Mont. Const.; § 85-2-101(4), MCA.