OCR Text |
Show 119 material on banks from which it is liable to be washed into a navigable water "whereby navigation shall or may be impeded or obstructed." And the Secretary is empowered to permit the deposit of any material in navigable waters whenever in the judgment of the Chief of Engineers "anchorage and navigation will not be injured thereby."250 A modified version of this statute was enacted in 1910 for restricted application to Lake Michigan opposite or in front of Cook County, Illinois.251 Protection of navigation was again made the limited objec- tive of a 1905 statute which empowered the Secretary to pre- scribe regulations governing the transportation and dumping into navigable waters of dredgings, earth, garbage, or other refuse materials "whenever in his judgment such regula- tions are required in the interest of navigation." 252 This pro- vision is specifically inapplicable to waters used for cultivation of oysters, "except navigable channels which have been or may hereafter be improved by the United States." A slightly broader objective was contemplated by a 1924 statute relating to the discharge of oil from vessels into all "por- tions of the sea within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and all inland waters navigable in fact in which the tide ebbs and flows." ^ In addition to prohibiting such discharge except in emergency cases, this statute authorizes the Secretary to prescribe regulations permitting discharge of oil in circum- stances deemed by him not to "be deleterious to health or sea- food, or a menace to navigation, or dangerous to persons or property engaged in commerce on such waters, and for the load- ing, handling, and unloading of oil." California Debris Commission.-In connection with laws relating to refuse matter, reference should be made here to the California Debris Commission. Created in 1893, this Commis- sion has certain jurisdiction over hydraulic mining in the ter- ritory drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin river sys- 250 But see infra, p. 341. m Act of June 23,1910, 36 Stat. 593, 33 U. S. C. 421. 258 Act of March 3,1905, § 4, 33 Stat. 1117,1147, 33 U. S. C. 419. 258 Act of June 7, 1924, § 2(c), 43 Stat. 604, 605, 33 U. S. C. 431. |