OCR Text |
Show MERRIMACK RIVER COMPACT 209 to not more than seven thousand five hundred dollars for the first year and to not more than six thousand dollars in any one year thereafter. ARTICLE VIII Should any part of this compact be held to be contrary to the consti- tution of either signatory state or of the United States, all other parts thereof shall continue to be in full force and effect. ARTICLE IX This compact shall become operative and effective when ratified by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of New Hamp- shire, and approved by the Congress of the United States. Notice of ratification shall be given by the governor of each state to the governor of the other state and to the President of the United States, and the President of the United States is requested to give notice to the gov- ernors of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and. the State of New Hampshire of approval by the Congress of the United States. NOTES Congressional consent to negotiations.-By the Joint Resolution of June 8,1936 (49 Stat. 1490), the Congress gave its consent to the nego- tiation by certain named States-among them, the parties to the Merri- mack River Flood Control Compact-of "agreements or compacts for conserving and regulating the flow, lessening flood damage, removing sources of pollution of the waters thereof, or making other public im- provements on any rivers or streams whose drainage basins lie within any two or more of the said States." The Joint Resolution also pro- vided that no compact or agreement so entered into should be "binding or obligatory upon any State a, party thereto unless and until it has been approved by the legislatures of each of the States whose assent is contemplated by the terms of the compact or agreement and by the Congress." See also section 4 of the Act of June 22,1936 (49 Stat. 1570, 1571), dealing with compacts "for the purpose of providing * * * funds for construction and maintenance, for the payment of damages, and for the purchase of rights-of-way, lands, and easements" in con- nection with certain flood control projects authorized by that Act. State ratifications.-Massachusetts, Act of August 6, 1956 (Acts and Resolves 1956, p. 519; Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. 1958, ch. 91 App., sec. 2-1). New Hampshire, Act of March 14, 1957 (Laws 1957, p. 23; New Hampshire Rev. Stat. Ann. 1955 (Supp. 1965), sec. 487-A: 1) Congressional consent to com/pact.-The Congress gave its "consent and approval" to the Merrimack River Flood Control Compact by the Act of April 23,1957 (71 Stat. 18), from which the text above set out is taken. Section 2 of this Act "expressly reserved" the right to "alter, amend, or repeal" the Act. For legislative history, see H.R. 6092 and S. 1682, 85th Congress; House Report 334 (Committee on Public Works) and Senate Report 208 (Committee on Public Works), 85th Congress; 103 Cong. Bee. 5479, 5579 (1957); P.L. 85-23. Prior negotiations.-An earlier compact between Massachusetts and New Hampshire with respect to the Merrimack River was ratified |