432 



was drafted by a special committee established by the Governors of 

 Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. It presently 

 awaits action by the State legislatures and by the District of Columbia, 

 which the compact includes as a member. 



In brief, each compact would establish a joint agency of the signa- 

 tory States and the Federal Government patterned after the Delaware 

 River Basin Commission. Each would be empowered to perform essen- 

 tially three broad functions. 



The first would be to serve as a special organizational mechanism 

 through which the basin States and the Federal Government would 

 consult on mutual problems and interests regarding the water and 

 related land resources of the basin. 



The second function would be to coordinate the activities of these 

 governments and of nongovernmental entities directed toward the 

 use and management of the basin's water and related land resources. 

 This coordination would be achieved principally through a compre- 

 hensive water resources plan — which would be an expression of basin- 

 wide goals, standards, objectives, programs, and projects — to be 

 adopted, and revised as appropriate, by the compact agency; and 

 through the water resources program, which the compact agency would 

 be required to adopt annually as a statement of how the comprehen- 

 sive water resources plan would be implemented by the signatories, the 

 commission, and others. 



The third broad function proposed for the agency is to construct 

 and operate necessary projects and facilities, or to undertake other 

 desirable activities, when no other governmental agency or nongov- 

 ernmental entity does so, or when the signatory parties decide that the 

 compact agency is the most appropriate entity to do so. 



Although suibstantially similar, the Potomac compact differs in that 

 it would also extend the agency's authority to the preservation and 

 promotion of, in the words of the compact, "* * * the esthetic and 

 other values inherent in the historic, scenic, and environmental ameni- 

 ties * * *" of the Potomac River Basin. The Susquehanna compact, 

 in other words, is more strictly confined to the management of water 

 resources. 



If the new Potomac compact is enacted, the new basin agency would 

 absorb the present interstate commission on the Potomac River Basin. 



OBJECTIONS TO PROPOSED COMPACTS 



A number of Federal agencies have voiced objections to certain 

 features in the Susquehanna compact. As stated in WRC agenda 

 memorandum No. 2, prepared for the Water Resources Council, these 

 agencies are objecting to : 



(1) Voting and other provisions that could be used to adversely 

 affect the duties and responsibilities of Federal agencies under the 

 Federal statutes defining their respective missions. 



(2) The provision that the Federal member on the compact agency 

 is to be "* * * the direct representative of the President * * *." The 

 Federal agencies object to this because the States reportedly have 

 indicated this wording would mean that no Federal agency would be 

 authorized to guide the decisions of the Federal member and, further. 



