OCR Text |
Show 524 at any stage of development, be transmitted for its consideration.165 Authorization of Projects.-In two different ways and in varying degrees, Congress asserts its control directly or indi- rectly over selection and authorization of water-resource projects. A first prerequisite is that Congress authorize the proposed activity by substantive legislation, including authorization for the appropriation of funds, as distinguished from the appro- priation itself.166 Such an authorization may be of a blanket character, rendering individualized legislative approval un- necessary, as in the case of Reclamation projects.167 Or statutes may provide individualized project authorization, as generally in the case of navigation and flood-control projects of the Army Engineers.168 Modifications of these two extremes appear under other statutes, as we shall see. In this aspect of legisla- tive control, consideration of project proposals or reports rests with different legislative committees depending upon which is the prosecuting agency, even where the plans of the several agencies relate to development within the same river basin.169 leg por exampie; the proposed plans and report of the Army Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation for the Columbia Basin were requested by the Senate Committee on Public Works, and hearings were held thereon in May 1949. Such plans and reports were not reviewed and cleared by the Bureau of the Budget until February 1950, in connection with H. R. 5472, 81st Cong., 1st sess. (1949). See Sen. Doc. No. 473, 81st Cong., 2d sess., pp. 4-6 italic (1950). 188 Rule XXI, Rules of the House of Representatives, H. Doc. No. 766, 80th Cong., 2d sess., pp. 415-428 (1949) ; Rule XVI, Senate Manual, Sen. Doc. No. 11, 81st Cong., 1st sess., p. 20 (1949). 167 See supra, pp 193-194. Cf. Act of August 28, 1937, 50 Stat. 869, 16 U. S. C. 590r-590x. 188 See supra, pp. 100-105, 136-142. 189 For example, in the Senate, matters pertaining to agriculture, forestry, rural electrification, and soil conservation are referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry; matters pertaining to navigation, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau, inland waterways, and fisheries and wildlife are referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Comerce; matters pertaining to interstate compacts generally go to the Judiciary Com- mittee; public health matters go to the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare; matters relating to public lands, forest reserves created from the public domain, irrigation and reclamation, interstate compacts relating to apportionment of water for irrigation purposes, minerals, Geological Survey, |