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~ .' .' Colorado River Compact Symposium James S. Lochhead Page 11 authority asserted by the federal government over the use, allocation and development of western waters. These disputes left a lasting impression on Delph Carpenter. Therefore, one of his major purposes in negotiating the Compact was to resist federal claims of authority, and thereby preserve state regulatory authority. In 1926, after the compact had been negotiated, carpenter summarized his views regarding federal authority20in his congressional testimony on the Swing-Johnson Bill. This bill was introduced annually by the California congressional delegation to authorize the construction of a huge reservoir at Boulder Canyon in the Lower Basin, and etentually passed as the Boulder Canyon Project Act of 1928. At this point, however, the Compact had not been ratified by all the states, Arizona being the holdout. The Upper Basin successfully blocked passage of the bill until congress also approved the Compact. Carpenter felt the Compact protected the Upper Basin from the insidious encroachment of federal authority into what he believed were exclusively state affairs. In his testimony, carpenter gave an impassioned outline of the events that lead to his strong feelings. First, Carpenter repeated his views on state sovereignty, stating that federal assertion of authority in the use and development of water violated the equal footing doctrine, under which each new state is admitted to the Union under the same status as the original thirteen colonies. Then, he outlined his complaint against the federal government in two forms: the imposition of executive control, and the assertion of adverse legal theories and claims by the Department of Justice. Pending the negotiation of the Root-Casasus Treaty with Mexico in 1906, the Department of Interior had placed an embargo on the construction of all water projects on public lands in the Rio Grande basin. The embargo lasted some thirty years, preventing development in the Rio Grande Basin in Colorado. Carpenter sensed a federal plot: "The- real purpose was to prevent any construction on the headwaters of the stream while encouraging that construction along the lower river th~0ugh which a monopolistic claim could later be asserted. ,. 20 Statement for the upper Colorado River States regarding Bill for Boulder Canon Dam, before Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation of the House of Representatives, Washington BIC., 1926. 43 U.S.C.A. 617 et. seq. 22 Statement for the upper Colorado River States regarding Bill for Boulder Canon Dam, before Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation of the House of Representatives, Washington