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<br /> <br />r- <br /> <br />lltJ.;9i3U <br /> <br />'!'here E'..re several problemD of a g0.'1er.:l.l ns.turc r.hich ~"Our boc.rd have hed under e'':).'' <br />sldcratlon during the year4 <br /> <br />A very detel~lned attempt to establish additional authorities over river basins in <br />varloU3 pert3 of the Un1 too Stll.to3 haa been made during tho yoar. The President himself <br />has announcod in no uncertain terms his position favoring the establishment of such <br />authoritios si~lar to TVA. <br /> <br />The establishment ot an Quthority would \L~oubted1y remove the privilege of tho <br />administration of water for lr=lgation purposes and all othe~ WQt~r ueet5, from local to <br />national authorities. Your board has conG!stently taken a po31tion against such authorities <br />,tat"'':1$e~i!~.u:h.bl1ehl)d on the Hi3sou:-l J the Arkan:lnB, the Red and the Central Valley in <br />California, it would be mar~ly n natter of tiC3 until a like authority would be oDtablished <br />on th., Rio Grand-o, and we e.'1n."1ot help but feel thc.t the establiBhrnent of any 8uch authcrIty <br />would not only remVe eontrol frot} local InterestD, but r.ould rosul t in an iml:lense increase <br />in the cost of adminiatrction; "ou]~ certain~ eliminate such old establlshod Fedoral <br />agonoies as tho Reclamation S~vice, the Geological .~vey, with which we have cooperated <br />in the past without giving up our riGhts of lacel control. <br /> <br />At the reqne:Jt of the Governor of Colorado, our c.ttoney attended ilhat is lmown as <br />the Chic~go conforencQ as a reprosentative for tha State of Colorado. He gave his time <br />and the State paid his expensoo. !r.te conference W~9 called particularly for the purpoae <br />of resisting the e:stablishment of a river a.uthority on tho Misoocri River, and securing <br />the incloolon or n provision in the then pondlng Rivers f.U1d Harbors Bill recogni:dng 0. <br />preference for irrigation uses. <br /> <br />The meeting 9ro.S attended by reprcsentatlve3 from 28 States and unnnimol1sly went on <br />record against the 6stabllshilient of 11 Uis!!ouri River 3uthori tJ~ or El.ny other like author- <br />ities in our ~Bstcrn COltntl1r, a numbe~ of Eastern S~tCB were repr63Qnted whore like <br />federal encror~hmcnt on local admlni5~ration of water 10 threatened. <br /> <br />At this neetinz it dev~loped that pouel' and navlgatlcn intcr3~t~ on tho lo~er reaches <br />of ~ of OUl' riVGT3 ~o seeking to oatnblloh po~er and navicntion rir~ts p~edominant <br />to irrigation rights >>hich if COn!.lt1r..i.~!lted might dcv.G.~tato la.rge orC:l3 of la.nd that 1s nOlf <br />under irrigction or "dlich would later be plo.eed under !rr-igntion. TI'lrough the efforts of <br />thiD conforonco ..0 were ablo to oecure the in3o..-tlon of s. paragraph in the Rivers and <br />Harbor3 8111 in CO~'TOsS grant1.ng f1 proferential right to irrlE'ctionlatr. over power ami <br />naviga tj on. <br /> <br />H. R. ln24 by j,x. RllnJ;:in hc.s beon introduced ill tho HouDe of CO:1gTel3S ~ referred <br />to the COIJIl'Jlttce en Rivcr~ and Hal'bo:..~ on Jnn\UU"7 29th, 1945, \'fhi~, it paDoed, \\"'Culd <br />establish the )xkans~3 Valley Authority for the futUl~ dcvelopement and r~inistrctlon <br />of Drainage ba.oi:\B of thlJ Arkansas, ned, lfulte, and Rio Grande Rivers of Riv8:"S flowing <br />into the Visal:J6ippi River below Carlo, Illinois :CrOCI tho "eat and at Rivers flowine <br />into tho Gulf of l:cxico west of the Mississippi River. <br /> <br />On July 1, 19M..., '11~Ofi!as 1.:cCluro, Rio Grande Cor:tpact Co::n::issioner for New 1-.:oxico <br />tiled a roque:;t fer reviC07 of the Rio Grcr.de COnlpllct on the termination. of the first fivG <br />year's opert:.tlon ot the COMpact. <br /> <br />Tho Comp~ct prcvides t~t the Co~ssioner of either State, may reque~t ~ revioN of <br />non-Jubs~~tive portion3 of the Compact on the termination of ~ five year period. <br /> <br />New Moxlco d~aires to reconztruct the Neil ~~xico schedulcs of dellvory at San r~clal <br />so as to b~ae tho Da~o on a twelve ~onth runoff period in3t~nd of a nine month runoff <br />period as utili~ed in s~ttine up tho present Ne~ 1~xico ~chceulo9 under the Co~act. <br /> <br />At the time tt~e Cowpact lmS agreed upon, r.o data lYae available for Netf Mexico I B <br />runorr during the tlu.a~ winter mcnth3, and Naw i~xico schedules were based upon an aver~ge <br />of tho data fCl~ n:!.n~ n:ont.b in t!10 year for which Cl!ch d!:.ta ,<<,ere avp.ilab]e. <br /> <br />There is vcry &:,3.':0 doubt whether ~uch a rccon.:3truction or schedulE's 1a non..snb- <br />otantiva. As a F.Atter of fact we a=e 1nclin~d to believe th~t the schedules are the <br />f'undAt:!entE.l eubotC=.DciJ of the Cor.:pact. <br /> <br />How~vor, the e~ineorine committao which prepared the Bchedules 800~ to be inelined <br />to t..'1e view that when n sufficient t..."':"OWlt of dctn ovor a sufficient nunber of years ie <br />available, that ::;chodulcs of delive!'y should'be bc.Glad upon a twelve months perled as thpy <br />are in Colorado, rather ~~n a nin9 month period in the caee cf New L~co. <br /> <br />Prior to tho nOG~tiatic~ cf ~10 Cor.paot, in order to satisfy the Texas people, tkw <br />>>sx1cc agroed not to doplete the !low of the river by tho construction of the El Vado Dam, <br />but to eomponJ&to tho river with drainage and return waters a:cumulated in the drainage <br />systeo installed in"the h~ddle Rio Grnnde Valley for any water stored 1n the El Vado Dam~ <br /> <br />