WSP06010 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

{JUtljn Duplicated by I Water Economics Committee Irrigation Distriote Assn. of Calif. 932 Pacific Building B21 Market Street San Francisco 3, Calif. Phone I Elbrook 2-1231 (MI3MOrandurn refRrred to on Page 3 of "Which Way California?") '~'f.' ,~I':Q'IVED t... ., "._.1.... ~_i .~ G i054 MEMIJlANDlI'l .. "'.~ ""f4TH :. ,_~ '........" ..,. &" f!'(),..IiO FROM. A. D. Edmonston Executive orficer Water Project Authority Henry Holainger DATE, November 27, 1953 TO. SUBJECT, Position of Water Project Authority on Appeal in Contract Validation Actions. There is herein summarized some of the relevant background of the contract validation cases and issues involved in t.he litigation concerning t.hoBe c8ses, for the infomation and guidance of the Water Projeot Author! ty in determining its position with respect to appellete proceedings therein, in light of the present status of thos cases, the past posit.ion of' the Authority and the request by the Legisleture for the Authority to appear as respondent in the Ivanhoe case through the Principel Attorney for the Division of Water Resourcss and his staff. Briefly, the Secretary of the Interior, through the BUreau of Reclamation, 1s engaged in a program of distribution of water available for irrigation from the Central Valley Project and other projects in California subject to the Federal reclamation laws, by means of 9(e) water delivery contracts in lieu of repayment contracts. Such contrsots provide thst the United States will furnish water to the contracting districts during a 40 year period at a specified price per acre foot. They make no provisien for delivery of water after the 40 years has expired nor do they exprese any obligation by the United States or right of the districts in connection with a. permanent water supply_ No provision 18 made stating or fixing the proportionate share Bach district shall pay towards project construction cost or for credit thereon of peyments made, or for any right of the distriots to receive water after their share of construction costs has been paid. The contracts have been likened to publiC utility contracts for sale of water. The suggestion that the Bureau of Reclamation is operating pursuant to these con- tracts as a utility (without, however, assuming the obligations inherent in that status or submitting to the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities Commiaeion or other state regulatory body) hss given rise to alarm lest the right of California farmers to acquire a pennanent water supply in conformity with state law, as guaran- teed by both Federsl and State law, and the power of the State to centrol and ad- minister the appropriation and use of its water, 1s in jeopardy. Apprehension has been expressed that judicial approval of a contract by which the United States pur- ports to sell water for a limited tam upon specified conditions might be construed as recognition of title to the water in the Federal government, even though certain federal offioials presently disclaim any intention to lay claim to such title on behalf of the United States. These nutilityll or 9(e) contracts were first proposed some eight years ago to districts desiring to seoure a water supply from the Central Valley Project, and this type of contract has heretofore been considered by the Authority. B1 re501u~ tion adopted on November 30, 194B, the Authority condemned the use of 9(e) con- tracts and approved the general objectives of proposed legislation ae set forth in a report entitled "Acceptable Forn of Ccntract Between the United Stetes and Centrsl Valley Project Water Users and Proposed Amendments to the Reclamation Projeot Act of 1939 and Related Lsgislation." Among the approved objectivee were the following' "(4) To teminate experimental progrsms of questionable validity and of doubtful expediency. In connecticn herewith, it ie not believed thet the Congress ever contemplated the United States embarking upon a program of delivering water on a utility basis. Another prime objective of the progrsm is to prevent any fUl'ther extensions of such experiments. "(5) To preserve the :Integrity of the law of waters of the western reclamation states. In the past, a sensitive balance has been more or less precariouslY maintained between state and national policies