OCR Text |
Show including those prejudiced by the state or states which the project might favor. That there was ground for the fear thus entertained that the principle of priority regardless of state lines, might to a great extent be applied had already been indicated by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Wyoming v. Colorado, 259 U. S. 419. To avoid the grave danger mentioned, and untold years of litigation, the states-acting under the Federal Constitution, paragraph 2, Section X, Article I, which provides: " * * * No state shall, without the consent of congress, • • • enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, * * * " -with the consent and approval of the Congress, entered into the Colorado River Compact which is the very core of the Project Act under which the dam referred to in the Arizona proposal is being built, and from which the Secretary of the Interior draws his authority, if any there be, to enter into the contract thus proposed. The Colorado River Compact involves more states than any interstate agreement thus far entered into. It constitutes the greater water charter of the Colorado River System. Had the Congress not thought its terms just as among the states, consent thereto would not have been given in the Project Act. Had the Congress not regarded the Compact as fair to the United States, the Congress would not have subordinated to the Compact its own water interests, its construction and operation of the clam, and its public domain, as has been done by the Project Act. Under the Project Act, which is the sole source of the Secretary's authority, all contracts made by the Sec- |
Source |
Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde 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, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : |