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<br />f]i' <br /> <br />legislation to prohibit or limit the study of interbasin water transfers by <br /> <br /> <br />federal agencies. Among these efforts, Johnson cites the Colorado River <br /> <br /> <br />Basin Project Act of 1968 which contained a provision declaring a JO-year <br /> <br /> <br />moratorium on the study of major interbasin transfers of water into the <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado River basin from certain ,sources outside the basin. The <br /> <br /> <br />moratorium, however, only applied to studies by the Secretary of the <br /> <br /> <br />Interior .38 <br /> <br />Johnson and others have also cited the Water Resources Planning Act of <br /> <br /> <br />196539 and legislation sponsored by Senator Henry Jackson amending the <br /> <br /> <br />Water Project Recreation Act of 196540 as "protection" laws. The former <br /> <br /> <br />provided that the U.S. Water Resources Council and any river basin <br /> <br /> <br />commission established under the Act could not" . study, plan, or <br /> <br /> <br />recommend the transfer of waters between areas under the jurisdiction of <br /> <br /> <br />more than one river basin commision."41 The latter forbids the Department <br /> <br />of the Interior from preparing any feasibility report on any water project <br />{inter basin or intrabasin} without prior authorization from Congress.42 <br /> <br />Johnson also noted that Congress apparently had conflicting desires with the <br /> <br /> <br />matter of out-of-basin diversions about the same time it passed the above- <br /> <br /> <br />noted protection provisions. He states: <br /> <br />"There was, however, some expression in Congress of an affirmative attitude <br /> <br /> <br />toward major interbasin transfers during this period. In 1976, for example, <br /> <br /> <br />at the same time it was prohibiting studies of interbasin transfers by the <br /> <br /> <br />Water Resources Council, it specifically directed the Corps of Engineers to <br /> <br /> <br />study the long-range water needs of the northeastern United States and to <br /> <br />-30- <br />