The legislation, signed by Gov. Greg Gianforte on May 1, was conceived by one of the state’s largest landowning families to help ensure a billion-dollar energy storage project proposed on their land near Martinsdale has enough water to operate.

In the end, however, Senate Bill 178 was amended to also provide conservation groups like Montana Trout Unlimited and the Clarks Fork Coalition a way to purchase emergency sources of water during dry summers.

“I think it’s a good bill,” said Clayton Elliott, conservation and government affairs director for Montana Trout Unlimited.

Elliott helped draft the amendments to make the bill more amenable to its many opponents.