OCR Text |
Show account all relevant purposes in water and land developments." Here again the Commission fails to take account of the division of the Colorado River Basin into two basins-an Upper and a Lower. In all other respects the Colorado River Storage project report and the reports on participating projects, supplemented with plans of the Soil Conservation Service and the Forestry Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and others would seem to comply with this policy recommendation. The Commission avers that: "To insure the preparation of sound basin programs, Congress should direct the responsible Federal agencies to cooperate with each other and with the appropriate State agencies in the necessary surveys and plans. . . Congress should set up a separate river basin commission for each of the major basins. These Commissions, set up on a representative basis, should be authorized to coordinate the surveys, construction activities, and operations of the Federal agencies in the several basins, under the guidance of independent chairmen appointed by the President and with the participation of State agencies in the planning process." To a great (and perhaps to a wholly sufficient) extent, the Federal Government agencies are doing this very thing to-date, through a committee system. The proposal for the creation of river basin commissions would, therefore, tend, to some extent, only to formalize that which is already being done. To the extent that it would proceed beyond that point, the proposal is open to the objection that it would add another layer to bureaucracy (the term is not used in an invidious sense) and that it does not afford sufficient basis for adequate participation by States and sub-divisions thereof. The Upper Colorado River Commission has already had an important part in the formulation of plans for the development of the water resources of the Upper Colorado River Basin. It expects to continue to play a major role in connection with the authorization and construction, the operation and maintenance of the Colorado River Storage project and participating projects. Its role far transcends the purely advisory role that would be handed to the States by the President's Commission. As we have already said, the creation of a River Basin Commission in the Upper Colorado River Basin would be superfluous. While concerned only to the extent that politeness appears to require with the part to be played by the States and sub-divisions thereof in connection with the planning of water resources development, the President's Commission has displayed much greater concern with the extent to which the States and their sub-divisions shall assist in meeting the costs of such developments. For instance, -18- |