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<br />
<br />Wesley Steiner
<br />Arizona
<br />
<br />The Committee of Fourteen was established before the 1944 Treaty , then disbanded. Soon after
<br />1961, when the salinity problem with Mexico began, the State Department wrote to the
<br />governors of the Basin states to ask that it be reactivated to advise the mwc. I, was appointed
<br />one of Arizona's representatives in 1969, when I became State Water Engineer and Ejcecutive
<br />Director of the Arizona Water Commission, but I came from the. California Department of Water
<br />Resources and had previously represented that state on the Committee. I guess I was elected
<br />Chairman because it was drainage from an Arizona project that precipitated the problem.
<br />
<br />
<br />Initially, in the 19605, the Committee of Fourteen stonewalled the Federal government on
<br />concessions to Mexico. The Treaty was clear. We finally recommended offering "equivalent
<br />salt balance," a concept I think was suggested by Steve Reynolds.
<br />
<br />
<br />It was Nixon and Kissinger who came in and upset our position. We believed that anything the
<br />U.S. offered Mexico beyond equivalent salt balance had to be a Federal responsibility. The
<br />Committee stayed united, though. We had just come through the CAP Act and ArizQna v.
<br />California period, and the last thing we wanted was another scrap over who would bear water
<br />costs.
<br />
<br />Brownell had enormous respect for the Committee of Fourteen, and we had an excellent
<br />relationship with him. My contacts with him were mostly in formal meetings. I once met
<br />privately with him and Sam Eaton for dinner, late in the process. He wanted to check his
<br />recommendations with me before presenting them to the Committee. I don't recall touring the
<br />Yuma area with him, though-I really don't think the Committee was along on that one.
<br />
<br />We did know that Kissinger was involved in the process of finding a solution to the salinity ,
<br />problem. That fact came out when Brownell reported to the Committee that equivalent salt
<br />balance was being scrapped-I think it was early in his tenure.
<br />
<br />I'm very uneasy about the desalter. It had to be there, given Nixon's promises, but I was very
<br />uneasy at the time-and still am-about its being a permanent solution. The brine loss
<br />replacement issue has still not been resolved. I also had grave concerns about what Ag. [USDA]
<br />was pushing-agricultural efficiencies that perhaps could not be reached and sustained. The idea
<br />of using upstream storage water for dilution-no, no, a thousand times, no. That would have
<br />put us right back where we were before the Colorado River Basin Project Act-and Wyoming
<br />never supported that!
<br />
<br />
<br />Buying out Wellton-Mohawk was never viable. I don't recall other states suggesting it, because
<br />of the precedent it would set. The Upper Basin states in particular did not want the precedent,
<br />and Arizona could not afford an intrastate fight-the CAP appropriations still lay ahead. It was
<br />probably unfortunate that the Wellton-Mohawk project was ever built, but the Yuma people had
<br />their friends in Congress, especially Senator Hayden. Of course, Arizona is much more urban
<br />
<br />B-9
<br />
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