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<br />~ '-" <br /> <br />with a request for 3,600,000 acre-feet a year. Because of the <br /> <br />~ intractable positions of the United States and Mexico, negoti- <br />to <br />00 ations were abandoned. <br />N <br /> <br />Following the control of the river's flows through comple- <br /> <br />tion of Hoover Dam in 1935 and the commencement of storage in <br /> <br />Lake Mead, Mexico began to greatly expand its usage of Colorado <br /> <br />River water. The State Department initiated the renewal of the <br /> <br />negotiations for water treaties with Mexico, covering both the <br /> <br />Colorado River and the Rio Grande, by a letter on December 29, <br /> <br />1939. <br /> <br />The State Department also consulted with the Committee of <br /> <br />14, composed of two representatives from each of the seven <br /> <br />Colorado River Basin states, which had been formed in 1938 to <br /> <br />consider basin-wide problems. <br /> <br />As discussions progressed, the United States presented an <br /> <br />offer of .9 million acre-feet a year of stored Colorado River <br /> <br />water to be released on demand to Mexican users. <br /> <br />Early in 1942, <br /> <br />the United States offer was amended to 1.15 million acre-feet a <br /> <br />year, but with the delivery to be from "any source whatsoever". <br /> <br />Mexico countered these offers with a demand for 2 million acre~ <br /> <br />feet a year and insisted on having one agreement covering both <br /> <br />the Colorado River and the Rio Grande, rather than having sepa- <br /> <br />rate treati~s. Mexico believed she could obtain better terms on <br /> <br />the Colorado by considering the two rivers together in one <br /> <br />treaty. It was also significant that the Chairman of the Senate <br /> <br />Foreign Relations COmmittee in the 1940s was Senator Tom Connolly <br />of Texas, which state would benefit greatly from an agreement <br />with Mexico in the Rio Grande. <br />