OCR Text |
Show 488 Beginning in 1909, Congress required that reports on ex- aminations and surveys for navigation works contain data con- cerning terminal and transfer facilities, the development and utilization of water power, and "such other subjects as may be properly connected with such project." It provided, how- ever, that consideration of these questions shall be given only to their bearing upon the improvement of navigation, to the possibility and desirability of their being coordinated in a logical and proper manner with improvements for navigation to lessen the cost of such improvements and to compensate the Government for navigation expenditures, and as added by 1912 statute, to their relation to the development and regulation of commerce. Since 1917, all flood-control examinations and surveys must include a comprehensive study of the watershed, and ascertain the extent and character of the area to be affected by the pro- posed improvement, the probable effect upon navigation, the possible development and utilization of water power, and "such other uses as may be properly related to or coordinated with the project." Also in 1917, legislation was passed creating a Waterways Commission and directing it to prepare "a comprehensive plan or plans for the development of waterways and the water re- sources of the United States for the purposes of navigation and for every useful purpose." Largely because of American par- ticipation in World War I, however, the Commissioners were never appointed, and the legislation was repealed in 1920 by the Federal Power Act. From World War I to the "Depression."-Under this lat- ter Act, the Federal Power Commission has broad authority to make investigations and collect data concerning the "utili- zation of the water resources in any region to be developed." Moreover, a condition of a license for nonfederal power de- velopment requires that the project adopted be such as will be best adapted to a "comprehensive plan for improving or de- veloping" the waterway for navigation, power development, and other beneficial uses. |