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Show 372 INTERSTATE COMPACTS the Federal negotiator to inform the heads of these Federal depart- ments and agencies of the pending negotiations, prior to their com- mencement. Federal agencies should cooperate with the Federal negotiator in promptly making available to him any views that they may have. During the negotiations the Federal representative should keep the President advised of all important issues affecting Federal interests or administration that arise and should notify him as to the probable interest in these issues of the several Federal agencies. "Such steps to protect Federal interests, of course, should not inter- fere in any way with the orderly process of negotiations by the States nor limit in any respect the right of the States to submit to the Con- gress any proposals which the States agree upon. "If a preliminary reporting procedure is followed and if good liai- son is maintained during the negotiations, questionable and conflicting provisions in the proposed compacts can be called to the attention of the compact negotiating commission so that it may have an opportu- nity to reconsider doubtful provisions before submitting the proposed compact to the State Legislatures. Questions will be less likely to arise as to whether Federal interests are adversely affected. Conse- quently, the possibility of criticism or disapproval of the compact would be minimized. "F. J. Lawton" Earlier negotiations.-Earlier negotiations culminated in the sign- ing of a Yellowstone River Compact by representatives of the States on December 18, 1944. This compact was ratified by Montana in its Act of February 22, 1945 (Laws 1945, p. 145) and North Dakota in its Act of March 17,1945 (Laws 1945, p. 460). Many of the articles of the 1944 compact were identical, or substantially identical, with material contained in the 1950 compact. These articles, with the cor- responding article numbers in the 1950 compact shown in parentheses, were: 1(1); II, A, B, D, E, H (II, A, B, D, E, G); IV (IV); VII, C (VII, C); IX (IX); XI (XI) ; XIII (XII); XIV (XIII); XVI (XIV); XVII (XV); XVIII (b), (c) (XVI (b), (c)); XIX (XVII). The more important differences between the two docu- ments were these: (1) The preamble of the 1944 Compact did not contain the expres- sion "acknowledging that in future projects or programs for the regu- lation, control and use of water in the Yellowstone River Basin the great importance of water for irrigation in the signatory States shall be recognized." (2) In Article II of the 1944 Compact the definition of "Yellow- stone River Basin" did not contain the words "but excludes those lands lying within Yellowstone National Park." Similarly, the definition of "Interstate Tributaries" in the 1944 Compact did not include the expression "(except Little Bighorn River)." The definition of "bene- ficial use" in the 1944 Compact enlarged on the definition in the 1950 Compact by adding to it "and includes water lost by evaporation, percolation, and other natural causes from streams, canals, ditches, irrigated areas, and reservoirs." The 1944 Compact did not contain definitions of "domestic use" and "stock water use" as does the 1950 Compact. It did, however, contain definitions of "point of diversion", |
