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4gG1258 ARKANSAS RIVER COMPACT and until it sees fit to. pass. general legislation adopting permanently the para- mountcy provisions of .recent. Flood. Control and River' and Harbor Acts. In' any event, the compacting States are,relying'on the permanency of the protection afforded by existing legiSlation. SECTION 8. INTERESTS OF 'l'HE UNITED S'.rATES '( a) General At the start of the compact negotiations"statements covering tile matters that might be affected thereby were_ ..solicited from all Federal deparments and agencies having a potential interest in the proposed compact. Full coverage of the Federal interests WR.S thus obtained in statements :from the Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary ot the Interior, ,Chief of Engineers, and Federal Power Commission. In the coutse of the compact negotiations, all matters of Federal interest were satisfactorJIjt deult with through correspondence and individual conferences with represen,tatives of the various Federal agencies as well as through direct partiCipation by such representatives in the. proceedings of the compact commission. Except, for the subject of paramountcy which has been discussed in section 1 and two other major points which are treated in subsections (b) and (c) below, it appears unnecessary to burden tbis report with the relatiVely minor items of Federal interest which were considel~ed in the formulation of the proposed com- pact. It can be stated, however, that. all of these minor items, as well as the major ones, were handled to the mutual satisfaction of the compact negotiators and, the atrected Federal agencies. This statement is attested to by expressions of" approval from each intereste.d F~deral departments 01' agency to which the proposed compact was submittpd in rlraft form for review and Comment prior to its adoption and signature. It is realized, of conrse, that these expressions do .not take the place of the official reports on proposed legislation that those same depal'tm~nts and agencies will be called upon to j)1ake to the appropriate commit- tees of the Congress. They do indicate, however-and it was deemed essential to the ,ultimate success of the compact negotiations to have such an indication- that the propose.d compact adequately and acceptably covers the interests. of the United States. 'rhe attainment of that objective was due in great measure to the sincere desire and effective cooperation on the part of 'all interested Federal agencies toward resolving the long-standing interstate controversy. (bJ John Mm.tin Reservoir Project The most immediate concern of the United States in the proposed compact lies in the functional responsibilities of the Corps of Engineers with respect to the John Martin project as summarized in section 6 of this report. These responsibil- Hies have been fully recognized throughout the proposed compact. However, inaR- much as the compoct document is basically an agreement between the two signa- tory States without includlng the United States as a third party, it was suggeste.d by the Chief of Engineers and accepted by the negotiating commissioners that the Federal legiSlation ratifying the compact should contain appropriate language. covering the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the United States and the responsi- bilities of the Chief of J,Dngineers with respect to the compact.. Accordingly, the following provisions have been inco~pora.ted in article' IX-A of the proposed com- puct for enactment in ratifying legiSlation by, the Cougress: "This Compact shall become effective when ratified by the Legislature of each State and when consented to by the Congress of the. United States by legiSlation providing substantially, among other things, as follows: Nothing contained in this Act or in the Compact herein consented to shall he construed as impairing. or affecting the sovereignty of the United States or- any of its rights or jurisdiction in and over the area or waters which are the SUbject of such Compact: Provided, That the Chief of Engineers is hereby authorized to operate the conservation features of the John Martin Reservoir Project in a manner conforming to such. Compact with such exceptions as he and the Administration created pursuant to the Compact may jointly .ap~ prove." (0) Development.,of Arkansas !?-iver Basin Of important long-range interest to the United States, particularly the BureaQ of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers in planning the over-aU development of the Arkansas River basin, are the proposed compact provisiol!s of article IV-D, viz : ..-.'. ,:.".. i,L ..',