OCR Text |
Show 96 Cooperation With Other Agencies.-In a 1944 declaration of policy, Congress stated that: 13° In connection with the exercise of jurisdiction over the rivers of the Nation through the construction of works of improvement, for navigation or flood control, as herein authorized, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to recognize the interests and rights of the States in determining the development of the water- sheds within their borders and likewise their interests and rights in water utilization and control, as herein authorized to preserve and protect tc the fullest possible extent established and potential uses, for all purposes, of the waters of the Nation's rivers; to facilitate the con- sideration of projects on a basis of comprehensive and coordinated development; and to limit the authoriza- tion and construction of navigation works to those in which a substantial benefit to navigation will be realized therefrom and which can be operated consistently with appropriate and economic use of the waters of such rivers by other users. To implement that policy, the Act requires that investiga- tions forming the basis of plans for navigation improvements be so conducted as to give the "affected" states the information developed, with an opportunity for consultation, and, to the extent deemed practicable by the Chief of Engineers, opportu- nity to cooperate in the investigations. The Chief of Engi- neers is to maintain relations with the governor of the "af- fected" state or such official or agency as the governor may designate. "Affected" states include (1) those in which im- provements are proposed to be located, (2) those in whole or in part within the drainage basin involved and situated "in a state" lying wholly or in part "west of the ninety-eighth merid- ian," and (3) such of those east of that meridian as in the judg- ment of the Chief of Engineers will be substantially affected. 180 Act of December 22,1944, § 1, 58 Stat. 887, 888. This is the 1944 Flood Control Act. The same statement was repeated in the 1945 River and Harbor Act. Act of March 2, 1945, 59 Stat. 10. It has since been made applicable in each River and Harbor and Flood Control Act. |