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Show 532 INTERSTATE ADJUDICATIONS Canyon on the Colorado River a dam half of which is to be in Arizona, and a reservoir to store all the water of the river flowing above it in Arizona, for the purpose of diverting part of these waters from Arizona for consumptive use elsewhere, and of preventing the bene- ficial consumptive use in Arizona of the unappropriated water of the river now flowing in that State; that these things are being done under color of authority of the Boulder Canyon Project Act; that this Act purports to authorize the construction of the dam and reservoir, the diversion of the water from Arizona, and its perpetual use elsewhere; that the Act directs and requires Wilbur to permit no use or future appropriation of the unappropriated water of the main stream of the Colorado River, now flowing in Arizona and to be stored by the said dam and reservoir, except subject to the conditions and reservations contained in the Colorado River Compact; and that the Act thus attempts to enforce as against Arizona, and to its irreparable injury, the compact which it has refused to ratify. The bill prays that the compact and the Act "and each and every part thereof, be decreed to be unconstitutional, void and of no effect; that the defendants and each of them be permanently enjoined and restrained from enforcing or carrying out said compact or said act, or any of the provisions thereof, and from carrying out the three pretended contracts hereinabove re- ferred to, or any of them, or any of their provisions, [meaning certain contracts executed by Wilbur on behalf of the United States for the use of the stored water and developed power after the project shall have been completed] and from doing any other act or thing pursuant to or under color of said Boulder Canyon Project Act." Process was made returnable on January 12,1931; and on that day all of the defendants moved that the bill be dismissed. The grounds assigned in the motions are (1) that the bill does not join the United States, an indispensable party; (2) that the bill does not present any case or controversy of which the Court can take judicial cognizance; (3) that the proposed action of the defendants will not invade any vested right of the plaintiff or of any of its citizens; (4) that the bill does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against any of the defendants. The case was heard on these motions. The wrongs against which redress is sought are, first, the threatened invasion of the quasi-soyereignty of Arizona by Wilbur in building the dam and reservoir without first securing the approval of the State Engineer as prescribed by its laws; and, second, the threatened inva- sion of Arizona's quasi-sovereign right to prohibit or to permit appro- priation, under its own laws, of the unappropriated water of the Colorado River flowing within the State. The latter invasion, it is alleged, will consist in the exercise, under the Act and the compact, of a claimed superior right to store, divert, and use such water. First.-The claim that quasi-sovereign rights of Arizona will be invaded by the mere construction of the dam and reservoir rests upon the fact that both structures will be located partly within the State. At Black Canyon, the site of the dam, the middle channel of the river is the boundary between Nevada and Arizona. The latter's statutes prohibit the construction of any dam whatsoever until written approval of plans and specifications shall have been obtained from |
