North Fork bill blocked in Senate

The North Fork Watershed Protection Act failed to gain passage through the Senate on April 3 after it was held up by an objection from Republican senators.

Montana Sen. John Walsh attempted to have the one-page bill voted on through an unanimous consent action on the Senate floor.

But Senate rules say that if a single senator objects to the request, the request is rejected. In this case, Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania objected to Walsh’s request on behalf of himself and two other Republicans — Tom Cruz of Texas and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.

Walsh, a Democrat, spoke in favor of the bill, which bans any future oil, gas and other energy leases in the North Fork of the Flathead River, noting the bill was Montana-grown and had bi-partisan support. The bill passed the House earlier this year.

“Everyone recognizes how important it is to keep the North Fork pristine,” Walsh said.

But there’s apparently no Republican appetite to support a bill by a freshman Democrat and that seemed self-evident, even if it was passed by a fellow Republican — Montana Congressman Steve Daines — in the House.

The matter angered Montana Democrat Sen. Jon Tester.

“Politics is trumping good policy,” he said on the Senate floor. He said people “who I would challenge to find the North Fork on the map, are holding this up.”

Tester said, “the fight is not over,” and vowed to continue to press to have the bill passed.

“It’s time to work together and do the right thing,” he said, noting the same type of political maneuvering is causing gridlock in Washington D.C.

“It’s time to move the country forward,” he said.