OCR Text |
Show 249 this provision, and that neither of the states, through its officials, has exhibited a uniform consistency in positions taken regarding its meaning. Arizona's changes of position are fully documented in the several litigations affecting the River. Similarly, the exigencies of the moment seem to affect the interpretation of the Project Act advanced by California. For example, in opposing ratification of the Mexican Water Treaty, Mr. James H. Howard (then as now counsel for Metropolitan Water District) advanced these contentions: Mr. Howard. Section 5 of the Boulder Canyon Project Act announced that the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to contract for the storage and delivery of water from the Boulder project, and it provided that those contracts should be for permanent serivce. It was also provided that no right in the stored waters of Boulder should be acquired by a method other than contract with the Secretary of the Interior. The value of that clause to the State of California may not be immediately apparent, but I want to develop that it is important.95 * * * Mr. Howard. No. The statement is, in fact, that California will never claim more than 4,400,000 acre-feet plus one-half of the waters apportioned by the compact. The Chairman. You are right. There is nothing in this act, as I see it, in that clause, that guarantees to give California that; it merely requires California to acquit anybody of any claim in connection with that; is not that true? Mr. Howard. Yes; the act does not give California any water. The Chairman. How much water of that 4,400,000 acre-feet------ 95 Senate Hearings on Mexican Water Treaty, Committee on Foreign Relations, vol. 8, 79th Cong., 1st Sess. (1945), pp. 865-66. |
Source |
Original Report: State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California |