BOULDER CANYON PROJECT
Public Law No. 642-70th Congress H.R. 5773
1928 43 U.S.C. 617-617t
AN
ACT To provide for the construction of works for the protection and
develpopment of the Colorado River
Basin, for the approval of the Colorado River compact, and for other purposes
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That
for the purpose of controlling the floods, improving navigation and regulating
the flow of the Colorado River, providing for storage and for the delivery of
the stored waters thereof for reclamation of public lands and other beneficial
uses exclusively within the United States, and for the generation of electrical
energy as a means of making the project herein authorized a self-supporting and
financially solvent undertaking, the Secretary of the Interior, subject to the
terms of the Colorado River compact hereinafter mentioned in this chapter, is
hereby authorized to construct, operate, and maintain a dam and incidental
works in the main stream of the Colorado River at Black Canyon or Boulder
Canyon adequate to create a storage reservoir of a capacity of not less than twenty
million acre-feet of water and a main canal and appurtenant structures located
entirely within the United States connecting the Laguna Dam, or other suitable
diversion dam, which the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to
construct if deemed necessary or advisable by him upon engineering or economic
considerations, with the Imperial and Coachella Valleys in California, the
expenditures for said main canal and appurtenant structures to be reimbursable,
as provided in the reclamation law, and shall not be paid out of revenues
derived from the sale or disposal of water power or electric energy at the dam
authorized to be constructed at said Black Canyon or Boulder Canyon, or for
water for potable purposes outside of the Imperial and Coachella Valleys: Provided,
however, That no charge shall be made for water or for the use, storage, or
delivery of water for irrigation or water for potable purposes in the Imperial
or Coachella Valleys; also to construct and equip, operate, and maintain at or
near said dam, or cause to be constructed, a complete plant and incidental
structures suitable for the fullest economic development of electrical energy
from the water discharged from said reservoir; and to acquire by proceedings in
eminent domain, or otherwise, all lands, rights of way, and other property
necessary for said purposes.
Sec.
2.
(a)
There is hereby established a special fund, to be known as the "Colorado
River Dam fund" (hereinafter referred to as the "fund"), and to
be available, as hereafter provided, only for carrying out the provisions of
the Act. All revenues received in carrying out the provisions of this Act shall
be paid into and expenditures shall be made out of the fund, under the
direction of the Secretary of the Interior.
(b)
The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to advance to the fund, from time
to time and within the appropriations therefor, such amounts as the Secretary
of the Interior deems necessary for carrying out the provisions of this Act,
except that the aggregate amount of such advances shall not exceed the sum of
$165,000,000. Of this amount the sum of $25,000,000 shall be allocated to flood
control and shall be repaid to the United States out of 62½ per centum of
revenues, if any, in excess of the amount necessary to meet periodical payments
during the period of amortization, as provided in section 4 of this Act. If
said sum of $25,000,000 is not repaid in full during the period of
amortization, then 62½ per centum of all net revenues shall be applied to
payment of the remainder. Interest at
the rate of 4 per centum per annum accruing during the year upon the amounts so
advanced and remaining unpaid shall be paid annually out of the fund, except as
herein otherwise provided.
(c)
Moneys in the fund advanced under subdivision (b) shall be available only for
expenditures for construction and the payment of interest, during construction,
upon the amounts so advanced. No
expenditures out of the fund shall be made for operation and maintenance except
from appropriations therefor.
(d)
The Secretary of the Treasury shall charge the fund as of June 30 in each year
with such amount as may be necessary for the payment of interest on advances
made undersubdivision (b) at the rate of 4 per centum per annum accrued during
the year upon the amounts so advanced and remaining unpaid, except that if the
fund is insufficient to meet the payment of interest the Secretary of the
Treasury may, in his discretion, defer any part of such payment, and the amount
so deferred shall bear interest at the rate of 4 per centum per annum until
paid.
(e)
The Secretary of the Interior shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury,
at the close of each fiscal year, the amount of money in the fund in excess of
the amount necessary for construction, operation, and maintenance, and payment
of interest. Upon receipt of each such
certificate the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to charge
the fund with the amount so certified as repayment of the advances made under
subdivision (b), which amount shall be covered into the Treasury to the credit
of miscellaneous receipts.
Sec.
3.
There
is hereby authorized to be appropriated from time to time, out of any money in
the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums of money as may be necessary
to carry out the purposes of this Act, not exceeding in the aggregate
$165,000,000. required for the uprating program and the visitor facilities
program.
Sec.
4.
(a)
This subchapter shall not take effect and no authority shall be exercised
hereunder and no work shall be begun and no moneys expended on or in connection
with the works or structures provided for in this Act, and no water rights
shall be claimed or initiated hereunder, and no steps shall be taken by the
United States or by others to initiate or perfect any claims to the use of
water pertinent to such works or structures unless and until (1) the States of
Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming shall have
ratified the Colorado River compact, mentioned in section 13 hereof, and the
President by public proclamation shall have so declared, or (2) if said States
fail to ratify the said compact within six months from the date of the passage
of this Act then, until six of said States, including the State of California,
shall ratify said compact and shall consent to waive the provisions of the
first paragraph of Article XI of said compact, which makes the same binding and
obligatory only when approved by each of the seven States signatory thereto,
and shall have approved said compact without conditions, save that of such
six-State approval, and the President by public proclamation shall have so
declared, and, further, until the State of California, by act of its
legislature, shall agree irrevocably and unconditionally with the United States
and for the benefit of the States of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico,
Utah, and Wyoming, as an express covenant and in consideration of the passage
of this Act, that the aggregate annual consumptive use (diversions less returns
to the river) of water of and from the Colorado River for use in the State of
California, including all uses under contracts made under the provisions of
this Act and all water necessary for the supply of any rights which may now
exist, shall not exceed four million four hundred thousand acre-feet of the
waters apportioned to the lower basin States by paragraph (a) of Article III of
the Colorado River compact, plus not more than one-half of any excess or
surplus waters unapportioned by said compact, such uses always to be subject to
the terms of said compact.
The
States of Arizona, California, and Nevada are authorized to enter into an
agreement which shall provide (1) that of the 7,500,000 acre-feet annually
apportioned to the lower basin by paragraph (a) of Article III of the Colorado
River compact, there shall be apportioned to the State of Nevada 300,000
acre-feet and to the State of Arizona 2,800,000 acre-feet for exclusive
beneficial consumptive use in perpetuity, and (2) that the State of Arizona may
annually use one-half of the excess or surplus waters unapportioned by the
Colorado River compact, and (3) that the State of Arizona shall have the
exclusive beneficial consumptive use of the Gila River and its tributaries
within the boundaries of said State, and (4) that the waters of the Gila River
and its tributaries, except return flow after the same enters the Colorado
River, shall never be subject to any diminution whatever by any allowance of
water which may be made by treaty or otherwise to the United States of Mexico
but if, as provided in paragraph (c) of Article III of the Colorado River
compact, it shall become necessary to supply water to the United States of
Mexico from waters over and above the quantities which are surplus as defined
by said compact, then the State of California shall and will mutually agree
with the State of Arizona to supply, out of the main stream of the Colorado
River, one-half of any deficiency which must be supplied to Mexico by the lower
basin, and (5) that the State of California shall and will further mutually
agree with the States of Arizona and Nevada that none of said three States
shall withhold water and none shall require the delivery of water, which cannot
reasonably be applied to domestic and agricultural uses, and (6) that all of
the provisions of said tri-State agreement shall be subject in all particulars
to the provisions of the Colorado River compact, and (7) said agreement to take
effect upon the ratification of the Colorado River compact by Arizona,
California, and Nevada.
(b)
Before any money is appropriated for the construction of said dam or power
plant, or any construction work done or contracted for, the Secretary of the
Interior shall make provision for revenues by contract, in accordance with the
provisions of this Act, adequate in his judgment to insure payment of all
expenses of operation and maintenance of said works incurred by the United
States and the repayment, within fifty years from the date of the completion of
said works, of all amounts advanced to the fund under subdivision (b) of
section 2 of this title for such works, together with interest thereon made
reimbursable under this Act.
Before
any money is appropriated for the construction of said main canal and
appurtenant structures to connect the Laguna Dam with the Imperial and
Coachella Valleys in California, or any construction work is done upon said
canal or contracted for, the Secretary of the Interior shall make provision for
revenues, by contract or otherwise, adequate in his judgement to insure payment
of all expenses of construction, operation, and maintenance of said main canal
and appurtenant structures in the manner provided in the reclamation law.
If
during the period of amortization the Secretary of the Interior shall receive
revenues in excess of the amount necessary to meet the periodical payments to
the United States as provided in the contract, or contracts, executed under
this Act, then, immediately after the settlement of such periodical payments,
he shall pay to the State of Arizona 18¾ per centum of such excess revenues and
to the State of Nevada 18¾ per centum of such excess revenues.
Sec.
5.
That
the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, under such general
regulations as he may prescribe, to contract for the storage of water in said
reservoir and for the delivery thereof at such points on the river and on said
canal as may be agreed upon, for irrigation and domestic uses, and generation
of electrical energy and delivery at the switchboard to States, municipal
corporations, political subdivisions, and private corporations of electrical
energy generated at said dam, upon charges that will provide revenue which, in
addition to other revenue accruing under the reclamation law and under this
Act, will in his judgement cover all expenses of operation and maintenance
incurred by the United States on account of works constructed under this Act
and the payments to the United States under subdivision (b) of section 4. Contracts respecting water for irrigation
and domestic uses shall be for permanent service and shall conform to paragraph
(a) of section 4 of this Act. No person
shall have or be entitled to have the use for any purpose of the water stored
as aforesaid except by contract made as herein stated.
After
the repayments to the United States of all money advanced with interest,
charges shall be on such basis and the revenues derived therefrom shall be kept
in a separate fund to be expended within the Colorado River Basin as may
hereafter be prescribed by the Congress.
General
and uniform regulations shall be prescribed by the said Secretary for the
awarding of contracts for the sale and delivery of electrical energy, and for
renewals under subdivision (b) of this section, and in making such contracts
the following shall govern:
(a)
No contract for electrical energy or for generation of electrical energy shall
be of longer duration than fifty years from the date at which such energy is
ready for delivery.
Contracts
made pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section shall be made with a view to
obtaining reasonable returns and shall contain provisions whereby at the end of
fifteen years from the date of their execution and every ten years thereafter,
there shall be readjustment of the contract, upon the demand of either party
thereto, either upward or downward as to price, as the Secretary of the
Interior may find to be justified by competitive conditions at distributing
points or competitive centers, and with provisions under which disputes or
disagreements as to interpretation or performance of such contract shall be
determined either by arbitration or court proceedings, the Secretary of the
Interior being authorized to act for the United States in such readjustments or
proceedings.
(b)
The holder of any contract for electrical energy not in default thereunder
shall be entitled to a renewal thereof upon such terms and conditions as may be
authorized or required under the then existing laws and regulations, unless the
property of such holder dependent for its usefulness on a continuation of the
contract be purchased or acquired and such holder be compensated for damages to
its property, used and useful in the transmission and distribution of such
electrical energy and not taken, resulting from the termination of the supply.
(c)
Contracts for the use of water and necessary privileges for the generation and
distribution of hydroelectric energy or for the sale and delivery of electrical
energy shall be made with responsible applicants therefor who will pay the
price fixed by the said Secretary with a view to meeting the revenue
requirements herein provided for. In
case of conflicting applications, if any, such conflicts shall be resolved by
the said Secretary, after hearing, with due regard to the public interest, and
in conformity with the policy expressed in the Federal Water Power Act as to
conflicting applications for permits and licenses, except that preference to
applicants for the use of water and appurtenant works and privileges necessary
for the generation and distribution of hydroelectric energy, or for delivery at
the switchboard of a hydroelectric plant, shall be given, first, to a State for
the generation or purchase of electric energy for use in the State, and the
States of Arizona, California, and Nevada shall be given equal opportunity as
such applicants.
The
rights covered by such preference shall be contracted for by such State within
six months after notice by the Secretary of the Interior and to be paid for on
the same terms and conditions as may be provided in other similar contracts
made by said Secretary: Provided, however, That no application of a
State or a political subdivision for an allocation of water for power purposes
or of electrical energy shall be denied or another application in conflict
therewith be granted on the ground that the bond issue of such State or
political subdivision, necessary to enable the applicant to utilize such water
and appurtenant works and privileges necessary for the generation and
distribution of hydroelectric energy or the electrical energy applied for, has
not been authorized or marketed, until after a reasonable time, to be
determined by the said Secretary, has been given to such applicant to have such
bond issue authorized and marketed.
(d)
Any agency receiving a contract for electrical energy equivalent to one hundred
thousand firm horsepower, or more, may, when deemed feasible by the said
Secretary, from engineering and economic considerations and under general
regulations prescribed by him, be required to permit any other agency having
contracts hereunder for less than the equivalent of twenty-five thousand firm
horsepower, upon application to the Secretary of the Interior made within sixty
days from the execution of the contract of the agency the use of whose
transmission line is applied for, to participate in the benefits and use of any
main transmission line constructed or to be constructed by the former for
carrying such energy (not exceeding, however, one-fourth the capacity of such
line), upon payment by such other agencies of a reasonable share of the cost of
construction, operation, and maintenance thereof.
The
use is hereby authorized of such public and reserved lands of the United States
as may be necessary or convenient for the construction, operation, and
maintenance of main transmission lines to transmit said electrical energy.
Sec.
6.
That
the dam and reservoir provided for by section 1 hereof shall be used: First,
for river regulation, improvement of navigation, and flood control; second, for
irrigation and domestic uses and satisfaction of present perfected rights in
pursuance of Article VIII of said Colorado River compact; and third, for power. The title to said dam, reservoir, plant, and
incidental works shall forever remain in the United States, and the United
States shall, until otherwise provided by Congress, control, manage, and
operate the same, except as herein otherwise provided: Provided, however,
That the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, enter into contracts
of lease of a unit or units of any Government-built plant, with right to
generate electrical energy, or, alternatively, to enter into contracts of lease
for the use of water for the generation of electrical energy as herein
provided, in either of which events the provisions of section 5 of this Act
relating to revenue, term, renewals, determination of conflicting applications,
and joint use of transmission lines under contracts for the sale of electrical
energy, shall apply.
The
Secretary of the Interior shall prescribe and enforce rules and regulations
conforming with the requirements of the Federal Water Power Act, so far as
applicable, respecting maintenance of works in condition of repair adequate for
their efficient operation, maintenance of a system of accounting, control of
rates and service in the absence of State regulation or interstate agreement,
valuation for rate-making purposes, transfers of contracts, contracts extending
beyond the lease period, expropriation of excessive profits, recapture and/or
emergency use by the United States of property of lessees, and penalties for
enforcing regulations made under this Act of penalizing failure to comply with
such regulations or with the provisions of this Act. He shall also conform with other provisions of the Federal Water
Power Act and of the rules and regulations of the Federal Power Commission,
which have been devised or which may be hereafter devised, for the protection
of the investor and consumer.
The
Federal Power Commission is hereby directed not to issue or approve any permits
or licenses under said Federal Water Power Act upon or affecting the Colorado
River or any of its tributaries, except the Gila River, in the States of
Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and California until this
Act shall become effective as provided in section 4 herein.
Sec.
7.
That
the Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion, when repayments to the
United States of all money advanced, with interest, reimbursable hereunder,
shall have been made, transfer the title to said canal and appurtenant
structures, except the Laguna Dam and the main canal and appurtenant structures
down to and including Syphon Drop, to the districts or other agencies of the
United States having a beneficial interest therein in proportion to their respective
capital investments under such form of organization as may be acceptable to
him. The said districts or other
agencies shall have the privilege at any time of utilizing by contract or
otherwise such power possibilities as may exist upon said canal, in proportion
to their respective contributions or obligations toward the capital cost of
said canal and appurtenant structures from and including the diversion works to
the point where each respective power plant may be located. The net proceeds from any power development
on said canal shall be paid into the fund and credited to said districts or
other agencies on their said contracts, in proportion to their rights to
develop power, until the districts or other agencies using said canal shall
have paid thereby and under any contract or otherwise an amount of money
equivalent to the operation and maintenance expense and cost of construction
thereof.
Sec.
8.
(a)
The United States, its permittees, licensees, and contractees, and all users
and appropriators of water stored, diverted, carried, and/or distributed by the
reservoir, canals, and other works herein authorized, shall observe and be
subject to and controlled by said Colorado River compact in the construction,
management, and operation of said reservoir, canals, and other works and the
storage, diversion, delivery, and use of water for the generation of power,
irrigation, and other purposes, anything in this Act to the contrary
notwithstanding, and all permits, licenses, and contracts shall so provide.
(b)
Also the United States, in constructing, managing, and operating the dam,
reservoir, canals and other works herein authorized, including the
appropriation, delivery, and use of water for the generation of power,
irrigation, or other uses, and all users of water thus delivered and all users
and appropriators of waters stored by said reservoir and/or carried by said
canal, including all permittees and licensees of the United States or any of
its agencies, shall observe and be subject to and controlled, anything to the
contrary herein notwithstanding, by the terms of such compact, if any, between
the States of Arizona, California, and Nevada, or any two thereof, for the
equitable division of the benefits, including power, arising from the use of
water accruing to said States, subsidiary to and consistent with said Colorado
River compact, which may be negotiated and approved by said States and to which
Congress shall give its consent and approval on or before January 1, 1929; and
the terms of any such compact concluded between said States and approved and
consented to by Congress after said date: Provided, That in the latter
case such compact shall be subject to all contracts, if any, made by the
Secretary of the Interior under section 5 hereof prior to the date of such approval and consent by Congress.
Sec.
9.
All
lands of the United States found by the Secretary of the Interior to be
practicable of irrigation and reclamation by irrigation works authorized herein
shall be withdrawn from public entry. Thereafter, at the direction of the
Secretary of the Interior, such lands shall be opened for entry, in tracts
varying in size but not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, as may be
determined by the Secretary of the Interior, in accordance with the provisions
of the reclamation law, and any such entryman shall pay an equitable share in
accordance with the benefits received, as determined by the said Secretary, of
the construction cost of said canal and appurtenant structures; said payments
to be made in such installments and at such times as may be specified by the
Secretary of the Interior, in accordance with the provisions of the said
reclamation law, and shall constitute revenue from said project and be covered
into the fund herein provided for: Provided, That all persons who served
in the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard during World War
II, the War with Germany, the War with Spain, or in the suppression of the
insurrection in the Philippines, and who have been honorably separated or discharged
therefrom or placed in the Regular Army or Naval Reserve, shall have the
exclusive preference right for a period of three months to enter said lands,
subject, however, to the provisions of subsection (c) of section 4 of the Act
of December 5, 1924 (43 Stat. 672, 702: U.S.C., sec. 433); and also, so far as
practicable, preference shall be given to said persons in all construction work
authorized by this subchapter: Provided further, That the above
exclusive preference rights shall apply to veteran settlers on lands watered
from the Gila canal in Arizona the same as to veteran settlers on lands watered
from the All-American canal in California: Provided further, That in the
event such an entry shall be relinquished at any time prior to actual residence
upon the land by the entryman for not less than one year, lands so relinquished
shall not be subject to entry for a period of sixty days after the filing and
notation of the relinquishment in the local land office, and after the
expiration of said sixty-day period such lands shall be open to entry, subject
to the preference in this section provided.[1]
Sec.
10.
That
nothing in this Act shall be construed as modifying in any manner the existing
contract, dated October 23, 1918, between the United States and the Imperial
Irrigation District, providing for a connection with Laguna Dam; but the
Secretary of the Interior is authorized to enter into contract or contracts
with the said district or other districts, persons, or agencies for the
construction, in accordance with this Act, of said canal and appurtenant
structures, and also for the operation and maintenance thereof, with the
consent of the other users.
Sec.
11.
That
the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to make such studies,
surveys, incestigations, and do such engineering as may be necessary to
determine the lands in the State of Arizona that should be embraced within the
boundaries of a reclamation project, heretofor commonly known as the
Parker-Gila Valley reclamation project, and to recommend the most practicable
and feasible method of irrigating lands within said project, or units thereof,
and the cost of the same; and the appropriation of such sums of money as may be
necessary for the aforesaid purposes from time to time is hereby authorized.
The Secretary shall report to Congress as soon as practicable, and not later
than December 10, 1931, his findings, conclusions, and recommendations
regarding such project.
Sec.
12.
Political
subdivision or political
subdivisions as used in this subchapter shall be understood to include any
State, irrigation or other district, municipality, or other governmental
organization.
Reclamation
law as used in this subchapter
shall be understood to mean that certain Act of the Congress of the United
States approved June 17, 1902, entitled “An Act appropriating the receipts from
the sale and disposal of public land in certain States and Territories to the
construction of irrigation works for the reclamation of arid lands.” and the
Acts amendatory thereof and supplemental thereto.
Maintenance as used herein shall be deemed to include in
each instance provision for keeping the works in good operating condition.
The
Federal Water Power Act, as
used in this Act, shall be understood to mean that certain Act of Congress of
the United States approved June 10, 1920, entitled “An Act to create a Federal
Power Commission; to provide jfor the improvement of navigation; the
development of water power; the use of the public lands in relation thereto;
and to repeal section 18 of the River and Harbor Appropriation Act, approved
August 8, 1917, and for other purposes,” and the Acts amendatory thereof and
supplemental thereto.
Domestic whenever employed in this subchapter, shall
include water uses defined as "domestic" in said Colorado River
compact.
Sec.
13.
(a)
Colorado River compact signed at Santa Fe, New Mexico, November 24, 1922,
pursuant to Act of Congress approved
August 19, 1921, entitled "An Act to permit a compact or agreement between
the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and
Wyoming respecting the disposition and apportionment of the waters of the
Colorado River, and for other purposes," is hereby approved by the
Congress of the United States, and the provisions of the first paragraph of
article 11 of the said Colorado River compact, making said compact binding and
obligatory when it shall have been approved by the legislature of each of the signatory
States, are hereby waived, and this approval shall become effective when the
State of California and at least five of the other States mentioned, shall have
approved or may hereafter approve said compact as aforesaid and shall consent
to such waiver, as herein provided.
(b)
The rights of the United States in or to waters of the Colorado River and its
tributaries howsoever claimed or acquired, as well as the rights of those
claiming under the United States, shall be subject to and controlled by said
Colorado River compact.
(c)
Also all patents, grants, contracts, concessions, leases, permits, licenses,
rights of way, or other privileges from the United States or under its
authority, necessary or convenient for the use of waters of the Colorado River
or its tributaries, or for the generation or transmission of electrical energy
generated by means of the waters of said river or its tributaries, whether
under this Act, the Federal Water Power Act, or otherwise, shall be upon the
express condition and with the express covenant that the rights of the
recipients or holders thereof to waters of the river or its tributaries, for
the use of which the same are necessary, convenient, or incidental, and the use
of the same shall likewise be subject to and controlled by said Colorado River
compact.
(d)
The conditions and covenants referred to herein shall be deemed to run with the
land and the right, interest, or privilege therein and water right, and shall
attach as a matter of law, whether set out or referred to in the instrument
evidencing any such patent, grant, contract, concession, lease, permit,
license, right of way, or other privilege from the United States or under its
authority, or not, and shall be deemed to be for the benefit of and be
available to the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico,
Utah, and Wyoming, and the users of water therein or thereunder, by way of
suit, defense, or otherwise, in any litigation respecting the waters of the
Colorado River or its tributaries.
Sec.
14.
This
Act shall be deemed a supplement to the reclamation law, which said reclamation
law shall govern the construction, operation, and management of the works
herein authorized, except as otherwise herein provided.
Sec.
15.
The
Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to make investigation and
public reports of the feasibility of projects for irrigation, generation of
electric power, and other purposes in the States of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado,
New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming for the purpose of making such information
available to said States and to the Congress, and of formulating a
comprehensive scheme of control and the improvement and utilization of the
water of the Colorado river and its tributaries. The sum of $250,000 is hereby authorized to be appropriated from
said Colorado River Dam fund, created by section 2 of this Act, for such
purposes.
Sec.
16.
In
furtherance of any comprehensive plan formulated hereafter for the control,
improvement, and utilization of the resources of the Colorado River system and
to the end that the project authorized by this Act may constitute and be
administered as a unit in such control, improvement, and utilization, any
commission or commissioner duly authorized under the laws of any ratifying
State in that behalf shall have the right to act in an advisory capacity to and
in cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior in the exercise of any
authority under the provisions of sections 4, 5, and 14 of this Act, and shall
have at all times access to records of all Federal agencies empowered to act
under said sections, and shall be entitled to have copies of said records on
request.
Sec.
17.
Claims
of the United States arising out of any contract authorized by this Act shall
have priority over all others, secured or unsecured.
Sec.
18.
Nothing
herein shall be construed as interfering with such rights as the States now
have either to the waters within their borders or to adopt such policies and
enact such laws as they may deem necessary with respect to the appropriation,
control, and use of waters within their borders, except as modified by the
Colorado River compact or other interstate agreement.
Sec.
19.
That
the consent of Congress is given to the States of Arizona, California, Colorado,
Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming to negotiate and enter into compacts or
agreements, supplemental to and in conformity with the Colorado River compact
and consistent with this Act for a comprehensive plan for the development of
the Colorado River and providing for the storage, diversion, and use of the
waters of said river. Any such compact
or agreement may provide for the construction of dams, headworks, and other
diversion works or structures for flood control, reclamation, improvement of navigation,
division of water, or other purposes and/or the construction of power houses or
other structures for the purpose of the development of water power and the
financing of the same; and for such purposes may authorize the creation of
interstate commissions and/or the creation of corporations, authorities or
other instrumentalities.
(a)
Such consent is given upon condition that a representative of the United
States, to be appointed by the President, shall participate in the negotiations
and shall make report to Congress of the proceedings and of any compact or
agreement entered into.
(b)
No such compact or agreement shall be binding or obligatory upon any of such
States unless and until it has been approved by the legislature of each of such
States and by the Congress of the United States.
Sec.
20.
Nothing
is this Act shall be construed as a denial or recognition of any rights, if
any, in Mexico to the use of the waters of the Colorado River system.
Sec.
21.
That
the short title of this subchapter shall be "Boulder Canyon Project
Act."
Approved,
December 21, 1928.[2] “The Secretary of the Interior is hereby
authorized and empowered, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe,
to establish rental rates for the lease of reserved lands of the United States
situate within the exterior boundaries of Boulder City, Nevada, and, without
prior advertising, to enter into leases therefor at not less than rates so
established and for periods not exceeding fifty-three years from the date of
such leased: Provided, That all revenues which may accrue to the United
States under the provisions of such leases shall be deposited in the Treasury
and credited to the Colorado River Dam fund established by section 617a of this
title ( June 18, 1940, ch.395, sec.1, 54 Stat. 437).”
[Source: Hoover Dam Documents 1978, Appendix I, pgs. I-13-I-20]