Zinke reintroduces efforts to regulate summer water levels on Flathead Lake

Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke has again introduced legislation that would require the Interior Department to maintain water levels in Flathead Lake during the warmer months.  

The Fill the Lake Act would keep the water level between 2,892 and 2,893 between June 15 and Sept. 15. He first filed the legislation during the previous session of congress.  

“The problem is there are too many agencies with conflicting regulations, which makes proper regulation of the lake impossible,” said Zinke in email correspondence with the Daily Inter Lake. “The Department of the Interior, the tribes, state agencies and non-government agencies all have a hand on the wheel, but no one is steering the ship.” 

The levels set forth by the Fill the Lake Act are already codified through a 1965 Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but Zinke said additional legislation was necessary to prevent what he called “another failure of management that leads to another catastrophically low pool.” 

The catastrophe in question occurred in 2023, when water levels in Flathead Lake dropped about two feet below full pool. Several local government representatives and lakeshore residents pinned the blame on Energy Keepers, Inc., saying the company was allowing too much water to flow out of the lake through the SKQ Dam. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dismissed these allegations in 2024. 

Energy Keepers CEO Brian Lipscomb said the incident was fueled by misunderstandings about the dam’s primary purpose. While outflows from the SKQ Dam do impact Flathead Lake’s water levels, dam managers must also factor federal energy quotas, endangered species habitat and downstream conditions into their decisions. 

“It becomes a real complicated picture to say we will save water just for boat storage,” said Lipscomb. 

That picture is already becoming more complex as climate change alters historical weather patterns. Across the state, average temperatures are expected to increase and winter snowpack is expected to decrease, causing more uncertainty about summer water conditions. 

"If you look at the past three years, it really starts to illustrate the volatility of what we’re dealing with,” said Lipscomb. 

While 2023 saw historically low water levels, the lake naturally overfilled in 2022, something that hadn’t happened in over 50 years. And even though there was less snowpack in 2024 than in 2023, cool temperatures ensured snow at high elevations did not melt until later in the summer, so Flathead Lake was able to maintain a full pool that year. 

Lipscomb worries that climate change will continue to introduce uncertainties into the system, especially as warming temperatures are changing when energy is most needed. Historically, energy needs for the region have spiked in winter when residents turn up their heaters, but hotter summer temperatures and more widespread use of air-conditioning is threatening the status quo. 

The bottom line, said Lipscomb, is that dam managers need tools that allow them to adapt to future changes in a complex system. For his team, that means focusing on building better models to predict summer runoff conditions rather than relying on historical norms. 

Lipscomb said he would welcome an opportunity to work with Zinke to determine how best to manage Flathead Lake. As of Feb. 3, Zinke’s office had not contacted Energy Keepers about the Fill the Lake Act. 

The act has not yet been referred to a committee for consideration. Zinke said his staff was working closely with the Trump administration to “address the issue administratively,” should the measure once again fail to gain traction. 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at hsmalley@dailyinterlake.com.