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EQC COMPLETION OF REPORT 



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In June of 1997, the Environmental Quality Council (EQC) created a Water Policy Subcommittee, 

 assigning the following EQC members to serve on the Subcommittee. 



Rep. Bill Tash, Subc. Co-Chair 



Rep. Karl Ohs 



Rep. George Heavy Runner 



Sen. Bea McCarthy, Subc. Co-Chair 

 Sen. Vivian Brooke 

 Mr. Bill Snoddy 



One Coimcil charge to the Subcommittee was to assist the Coimcil in fulfilling its water-related statutory 

 duties. The Subcommittee subsequently set its goals for the 1997-98 Interim, which included the 

 following: 



• Ensure the Council has the information and products necessary to achieve its water-related 

 statutory goals in a timely manner over the Interim. 



• Propose legislation to the Council, where appropriate, to address water-related policy issues. 



This report was prepared under direction of the Subcommittee, and includes proposed legislation. It will 

 be completed for submission to the Legislature by the December 1st statutory deadline. 



Key steps in the process are listed below and summarized in the following text. The reader may also wish 

 to refer to the information provided in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (DFWP) final report 

 (Appendix A). 



All Subcommittee meetings listed included opportunity for public comment on this topic. The 

 Subcommittee and Council traveled for several of its meetings during the 1997-98 Interim, including a 

 November (1997) meeting in Missoula, a May (1998) meeting in Great Falls, and a June (1998) meeting 

 in Dillon. 



STUDY COMPLETION PROCESS 



Getting Started 



September 19, 1997 



(IHeiena) 



H 



At the September Subcommittee meeting, EQC staff siunmarized the statutory 

 mandates related to the DFWP instream flow leasing study. The Subcommittee 

 reviewed the DFWP's outline for its proposed final report. The Subcommittee 

 concluded the outline likely covered the topics it would be interested in seeing 

 in the department's report. The Subcommittee suggested the report include an 

 explanation of why it has taken so long to acquire the current leases. This 

 suggestion was later passed on to DFWP staff. The group also discussed that 

 there were actually three instream flow programs: the DFWP instream flow 

 leasing study, the "private-party" leasing program (from passage of HB 472 in 

 1995), and the Claiic Fork instream flow pilot program. 



EQC/DFWP 1998 Water Leasing Report 



