Arkansas-White-Red Basins Inter-Agency Committee Purpose, Organization and Plan for Public Hearings

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40 . -0 4 . 2. The list of others attending the meeting has been included as Appendix A. 3. The Chairman called the meeting to order, and thanked the Honorable Sid McMath,, Governor of Arkansas, who was the host. Governor &Math welcomed the assemblage to Little Rock and the State of Arkansas. The Chairman then game a resume of the objectives of the committee. 4. Reports on the following were made: a. The joint public hearings held at El Dorado,, Arkansas; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Poplar Bluff, Missouri; amend Shreveport, Louisiana, were reported on by Lt. Col. James B. Lampert, CE.. Comments on the hearings were made by Mr. D. D. Terry,, State of Arkansas; Mr. John M. Dewey, State of Missouri; Mr. Clarence Burch, State of Oklahoma; Col. E. V. Spence, State of Texas; and Mr. John Bliss, State of New Mexico. In discussions with the State representatives on the hearings, the following procedures and policies were outlined: (1) That local interests should be informed of the special provisions of the Flood Control Act of 1950 in regard to projects which are now "con- structed and in operation, under construction, authorized for construction, and projects that may be hereafter authorized substantially in ac- cordance with reports currently before or that may hereafter come before the Congress" . . . "shall not be altered, changed, restricted, de- layed, retarded, or otherwise impeded or inter- fered with" by reason of said Act. The require- ments of this Act make the presentation of material on such projects at the joint public hearings unnecessary. (2) That the Regional Hearings should cover the local. problems and local projects,, and that the C omprehm, live Hearings should cover the Inter -State problems, problems concerning an entire region of a State or problems concde?n:L g an entire State. (3) That discussion by State and Federal members of projects which come within purview of the special provisions of the Flood Control Act of 1950 would be more appropriate at an Inter-Agency Committee meeting,, or at a Technical Conference,, than at one of the joint public hearings. b. A progress report of the Hydrologic Subcommittee was given by Lt. Col. James B. Lampert,, CE, the chairman. of that subcommittee. His report is attached as Appendix B. The Inter-Agency Committee than interpreted the resolution under which the Hydrologic Committee was formed as being sufficiently flexible to permit some latitute in the choice of the exact locations of the above determinations. I