OPINION: Why all hoopla and no outrage?

Why all the hoopla in the media concerning our local drought conditions? Why are we surprised that water allocation could be mismanaged and now in short supply? Why do we act shocked, as though it just couldn’t happen?

The instant that the operation and management of the Flathead Irrigation and Power Project was illegally gobbled up by the BIA a year ago, their actions foretold our current demise: firing all the “experienced help” and then giving the remaining crew a 50 percent pay increase… while hiring unqualified folks to fill the vacancies.

And we’re dismayed by the result? We stand baffled that somehow, someone dropped the ball? How could this be? Rewarding incompetence has become the answer to an American dream of “grandeur” without regard for the ultimate consequence — system failures.

At what point will reporters begin actual investigative reporting instead of interviewing the unqualified and acting as Myna birds, parroting the excuses as though that will magically improve the situation. When will we even begin to pretend to hold the true culprits accountable?

An act of the U.S. Congress says that when the “Project” is paid off, the operation and management of it will be turned over to the owners of the lands so irrigated. Exactly when is THAT going to happen? The BIA does not own any of the land within the Flathead Irrigation and Power Project. The Project is paid off. The BIA has no right to manage it. It can’t be stated any more clearly, can it?

When is the law the law, and not just a matter of convenience? —Michael Gale, Ronan