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Show -109- because of the differences among the laws of the States concerned. It has certain merits, particularly in the Republican River Basin, for it provides a means whereby the Congress and the President, in acting upon a com- pact, may be apprised clearly of the fact that, while a compact is actually an agreement among States, there are reciprocal responsibilities between those States and the Federal Government. The degree of proposed reciprocity for the Republican River is set forth clearly in section 2, May I refer particularly to one item which I feel has been lacking in many interstate water compacts in the past, and which has led, in several cases, to the failure of those compacts. The item may be put into question form; Should provision be made in compaots for reconsideration of specific pro- visions of articles, so as to permit their revision when desirable, due to changed conditions? I am strongly of the opinion that some such provision should be incorporated in practically every compact. It will permit the compact to be adjusted by mutual agreement when the conditions and objectives which existed, or were thought to exist at the time the compact was drawn, have ceased to control the desires of the interest which are concerned. Without such a provision, a compact which rnay otherwise be good today may become an obstacle to further progress in the mat"fcer of a few decades, due to changing needs of the people or changing uses of the basin. A notable provision of this character appears in article XIII of the Rio Grande compact which provides for periodic review of any provisions of that com- pact that are not substantive in character and which do not affect the basic principles upon which the compact is founded. Article XI (b) and section 2 (a) (2) of the proposed Republican River cam- pact are of this general character, insofar as the relation of the Federal Govern- ment to the States is concerned. It is my opinion that the proposed: Republican River compact represents pro- gress in the technique of settling interstate water controversies by collabor- ative methods, thus avoiding the usual alternative of costly court proceedings which often require many years to culminate, and too often freeze rather than resolve some obstacle to ultimate best development. While the proposed compact may not contain some provisions which history would indicate are desirable, it does contain the most important of them, and is a practical instrument growimg out of painstaking effort toward agreement. In the interest of translating that progress from the paper stage to tamgible development of the basin, the proposed compact should be acted upon favorably. May I add that, due to the lateness of our knowledge, that this hearing was going to be held, it has been impossible for our Board to consider the proposed compact itself, and therefore, I speak only for the Water Resources Section. Senator McCarran. Are there any questions? |