HELENA (AP) — A bill that would allow new wells to be drilled in areas where all the surface water is spoken for passed the Senate Wednesday.

“As this bill goes forward, I believe the people of Montana are going to be injured because it’s going to be hyperbole vs. science. It’s going to be innuendo vs. science. It’s going to be theory vs. fact,” Sen. Dan McGee, R-Laurel, said during debate.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Walt McNutt, R-Sidney, acknowledges a connection between groundwater and surface water, and requires people drilling new wells in closed basins to compensate for the groundwater they use.

In 2006, the Supreme Court effectively stopped all development in five closed basins — the Upper Missouri, Teton, Upper Clark Fork, Jefferson-Madison and the Bitterroot — after a lawsuit was filed by Trout Unlimited.

McNutt’s bill would allow new wells in those areas after studies are done to show the effects of that development on people who already have water rights in the area. It also would require those sinking the wells to mitigate the effect on the senior water users.

Terri McLaughlin, the water rights bureau chief for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said new users could mitigate their use by purchasing water from someone with a senior water right and then leaving that water in the stream.

McNutt’s bill was amended in a Senate committee to ensure that people who have permit applications pending in closed basins are first to have their permits considered if the bill passes.

The Senate passed the measure 34-16 on Wednesday. It now goes back to the House for approval on the Senate amendments.