Title |
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, defendants : the United States of America and State of Nevada, interveners : State of Utah and State of New Mexico, impleaded defendants : report / Simon H. Rifkind, special master |
Creator |
United States. Supreme Court |
Subject |
Water rights; Water consumption; Rivers |
OCR Text |
Show The record of this action is another chapter in the long history of controversy relating to the Colorado River. Suit was initiated by Arizona on August 13, 1952, by filing a motion for leave to file a bill of complaint against the State of California and seven public agencies of the State.1 On January 19, 1953, the motion, unopposed, was granted. |
Publisher |
[Washington, D.C. : U.S. Supreme Court, 1960] |
Contributors |
Rifkind, Simon H. |
Date |
1960-12-05 |
Type |
Text |
Format |
application/pdf |
Digitization Specifications |
Image files generated by Photoshop CS from PDF files |
Language |
eng |
Rights Management |
Digital Image Copyright 2004, University of Utah. All Rights Reserved. |
Holding Institution |
UNLV Libraries, Special Collection, 4505 Maryland Pkwy., Las Vegas, Nevada 89154 |
Source Physical Dimensions |
ix, 433 p. ; 27 cm |
Call Number |
KFA2847.5.C6 A337 1960 |
ARK |
ark:/87278/s61835d5 |
Setname |
wwdl_azvca |
ID |
1120114 |
Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s61835d5 |
Title |
page 252 |
OCR Text |
Show 252 fulfill the treaty obligation, it is somewhat inconsistent for California to argue in this litigation that Congress intended her 4.4 to be free from this obligation. My conclusion is that both Arizona and California have, with respect to the meaning of Section 4(a), taken various positions from time to time as their immediate interests dictated and that the Offer of Proof fails to show a consistent interpretation of the Act by either. So far as United States government officials are concerned, the dominant note sounded in the proffered papers is the avowed refusal of these officials to take sides in the Arizona-California controversy. The papers show a firm refusal of federal officials to state the effect of the Compact and the Project Act on the rights of Arizona and California. One need not burrow through all the papers to discover that this has been the position of the Interior Department. It is explicitly set forth in Article 10 of the Arizona contract. From this hands-off attitude of the Secretary, California argues her second proposition that the Secretary could not have intended his contracts to apportion the water in Lake Mead. This proposition is in error. The circumstances of the time and the terms of the contracts show that the Secretary did intend to make an apportionment. The situation facing the Secretary was clear. He had to apportion the water because it was physically in Lake Mead and nobody could use it unless he did so. He had a dam capable of storing nearly 30 million acre-feet. He had clear authority under Section 5 to contract for the use of that water; indeed he was directed by the statute to make contracts, both for power and irrigation, to pay for the dam. Moreover, if contracts were not made, the water would be wasted, for no person was, according to the Act, entitled to the use of water without a contract. It would have been impractical for the Secretary to await judicial resolution of the Arizona-California controversy, since the Supreme Court had held |
Format |
application/pdf |
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 |
Resource Identifier |
264-UUM-COvAZ-SMRP_page 252.jpg |
Setname |
wwdl_azvca |
ID |
1120004 |
Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s61835d5/1120004 |