FLOOD CONTROL

MONDAY, MAY 29, 1944

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,

Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met at 10:30 a. m., pursuant to call, in the Capitol, Senator John H. Overton presiding.

Present: Senators Overton (chairman of the subcommittee), Mead, Brewster, Burton, and Cordon.

Present also: Senator Caraway.

Senator OVERTON. (chairman of the subcommittee). The subcommittee will come to order. There has been submitted to this subcommittee for consideration and hearing H. R. 4485, authorizing the construction of certain public works on rivers and harbors for flood control, and for other purposes. The bill will be made a part of the record at this point.

(The bill, H. R. 4485, is as follows:)

[H. R. 4485, 78th Cong., 2d sess.]

AN ACT Authorizing the construction of certain public works on rivers and harbors for flood control, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the words "flood control" as used in section 1 of the Act of June 22, 1936, shall be construed to include channel and major drainage improvements, and that hereafter Federal investigations and improvements of rivers and other waterways for flood control and allied purposes shall be under the jurisdiction of and shall be prosecuted by the War Department under the direction of the Secretary of War and supervision of the Chief of Engineers, and Federal investigations of watersheds and measures for run-off and water-flow retardation and soil-erosion prevention on watersheds shall be under the jurisdiction of and shall be prosecuted by the Department of Agriculutr under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, except as otherwise provided by Act of Congress.

SEC. 2. That section 3 of the Act approved June 22, 1936 (Public, Numbered 738, Seventy-fourth Congress), as amended by section 2 of the Act approved June 28, 1938 (Public, Numbered 761, Seventy-fifth Congress), shall apply to all works authorized in this Act, except that for any channel improvement or channel rectification project provisions (a), (b), and (c) of section 3 of said Act of June 22, 1936, shall apply thereto, and except as otherwise provided by law: Provided, That the authorization for any flood-control project herein adopted requiring local cooperation shall expire five years from the date on which local interests are notified in writing by the War Department of the requirements of local cooperation, unless said interests shall within said time furnish assurances satisfactory to the Secretary of War that the required cooperation will be furnished.

SEC. 3. The Chief of Engineers, under the supervision of the Secretary of War, is authorized to construct, maintain, and operate park and recreational facilities in reservoir areas under the control of the War Department, and to permit the construction, maintenance, and operation of such facilities. The Secretary

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of War is authorized to grant leases of lands, structures, or facilities in reservoir areas for such periods and upon such terms as he may deem reasonable: Provided, That licenses to Federal, State, or local governmental agencies for the use of areas suitable for public park and recreational purposes may be granted without monetary consideration when the Secretary of War determines such action to be in the public interest. All moneys received for leases or privileges shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts. SEC. 4. That the Secretary of War is authorized to sell to States, municipalities, private concerns, or individuals, at such prices and on such terms as he may deem reasonable, for domestic and industrial uses surplus water that may be available at any reservoir under the control of the War Department. All moneys received from such sales shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous receipts.

SEC. 5. Hereafter, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War to prescribe regulations for the use of storage available for flood control or navigation at all reservoirs constructed wholly or in part with Federal funds provided on the basis of such purposes, and the operation of any such project shall be in accordance with such regulations.

SEC. 6. Hereafter, whenever in the opinion of the Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers any dam and reservoir project operated under the direction of the Secretary of War can be consistently used for reclamation of arid lands, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Interior to prescribe regulations under existing reclamation law for the use of the storage available for such purpose, and the operation of any such project shall be in accordance with such regulations. Such rates, as the Secretary of the Interior may deem reasonable, shall be charged for the use of said storage; the moneys received to be deposited into the Treasury to the credit of miscellaneous receipts: Provided, That this section shall not apply to any dam or reservoir heretofore constructed which supplements any existing locally operated irrigation districts.

SEC. 7. That the following works of improvement for the benefit of navigation and the control of destructive floodwaters and other purposes are hereby adopted and authorized in the interest of the national security and with a view toward providing an adequate reservoir of useful and worthy public works for the post-war construction program, to be prosecuted under the direction of the Secretary of War and supervision of the Chief of Engineers in accordance with the plans in the respective reports hereinafter designated and subject to the conditions set forth therein: Provided, That the necessary plans, specifications, and preliminary work may be prosecuted during the war, with funds from appropriations heretofore or hereafter made for flood control, so as to be ready for rapid inauguration of a post-war program of construction: Provided further, That when the existing critical situation with respect to materials, equipment, and manpower no longer exists, and in any event not later than immediately following the cessation of hostilities in the present war, the projects herein shall be initiated as expeditiously and prosecuted as vigorously as may be consistent with budgetary requirements: And provided further, That penstocks and other similar facilities adapted to possible future use in the development of hydroelectric power shall be installed in any dam herein authorized when approved by the Secretary of War on the recommendation of the Chief of Engineers and the Federal Power Commission.

CONNECTICUT RIVER BASIN

In addition to previous authorizations, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $30,000,000 for the prosecution of the comprehensive plan approved in the Act of June 28, 1938, as modified by the Act approved August 18, 1941, for the Connecticut River Basin: Provided, That neither this authorization nor previous authorizations shall be construed to authorize the construction of a high dam at Williamsville site.

THAMES RIVER BASIN

In addition to previous authorizations, there is hereby authorized the completion of the plan approved in the Act of August 18, 1941, for the Thames River Basin at an estimated cost of $7,200,000.

HOUSATONIC RIVER BASIN

The project for the Thomaston Reservoir on the Naugatuck River, for flood control in the Housatonic River Basin, Connecticut, is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 338, Seventy-seventh Congress, first session, at an estimated cost of $5,151,000.

SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BASIN

The project authorized by the Act of June 22, 1936, to provide for local protection works on the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is hereby modified substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 702, Seventy-seventh Congress, second session, at an estimated cost of $2,227,000.

The project for flood protection at Tyrone, Pennsylvania, on the Little Juniata River, Pennsylvania, is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 702, Seventy-seventh Congress, second session, at an estimated cost of $1,392,000. The plan for flood control in southern New York and eastern Pennsylvania authorized by the Act of June 22, 1936, as modified by the Act of August 18, 1941, is hereby further modified to include the South Plymouth and Genegantslet Reservoirs on tributaries of the Chenango River substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 702, Seventy-seventh Congress, second session, at an estimated additional cost of $4,755,000.

The plan for the Raystown Reservoir on the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River, Pennsylvania, for flood control and other purposes, substantially in accordance with the recommendation of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 702, Seventy-seventh Congress, second session, is approved, and there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $2,000,000 for the initiation and partial accomplishment thereof.

MOBILE RIVER BASIN-ALABAMA-COOSA RIVER BASIN

In addition to previous authorizations, there is hereby authorized the completion of the Allatoona Reservoir on the Etowah River, Georgia, approved in the Act of August 18, 1941, at an estimated cost of $14,400,000.

LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER

The project for flood control and improvement of the Lower Mississippi River adopted by the Act of May 15, 1928, as amended by subsequent Acts of Congress, is hereby modified in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 509, Seventy-eighth Congress, second session, and, as modified, is hereby adopted and there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, in addition to the sums previously authorized, $200,000,000 for the accomplishment of the purposes set forth in said document.

The project for flood control on, the Boeuf and Tensas Rivers and Bayou Macon, Arkansas and Louisiana, is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in Senate Document Numbered 151, Seventy-eighth Congress, second session, at an estimated cost of $5,013,000.

The project for flood control on the Big Sunflower, Little Sunflower, Hushpuckena, and Quiver Rivers and their tributaries, and on Hull Brake-Mill Creek Canal, Bogue, Phalia, Ditchlow Bayou, Deer Creek, and Steele Bayou, Mississippi, is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 516, Seventy-eighth Congress, second session, at an estimated cost of $3,752,000.

The project for flood protection in the backwater area of the Yazoo River authorized in the Flood Control Act of August 18, 1941, is hereby amended to authorize the Chief of Engineers, in his discretion, to include improvements for the protection of the Satartia area at an estimated additional cost of $1,061,000 or, in his discretion, to include improvements for the protection of the Satartia area plus its extension at an estimated additional cost of $1,952,000.

RED-QUACHITA RIVER BASIN

In addition to previous authorizations, there is hereby authorized the completion of the plan approved in the Act of August 18, 1941, for the Little Missouri River in Arkansas, at an estimated cost of $3,800,000.

ARKANSAS RIVER BASIN

In addition to previous authorizations, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $35,000,000 for the prosecution of the comprehensive plan approved in the Act of June 28, 1938, as modified by the Act approved August 18, 1941, for the Arkansas River Basin.

The projects for local flood protection on the Arkansas River are hereby modified and authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 447, Seventy-eighth Congress, second session, at an estimated additional cost of $10,299,400.

The project on tributaries of the Fountaine Que Bouille River for flood protection at Colorado Springs, Colorado, is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 186, Seventy-eighth Congress, first session, at an estimated cost of $500,000.

The project on Purgatoire River for local flood protection at Trinidad, Colorado, is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 387, Seventy-eighth Congress, second session, at an estimated cost of $909,000.

WHITE RIVER BASIN

In addition to previous authorizations, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $45,000,000 for the prosecution of the comprehensive plan approved in the Act of June 28, 1938, as modified by the Act approved August 18, 1941, for the White River Basin.

UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN

In addition to previous authorizations, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the sum of $10,000,000 for the prosecution of the comprehensive plan approved in the Act of June 28, 1938, for the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

The project authorized by the Act of June 22, 1936, for local flood protection on the Mississippi River at the Sainte Genevieve Levee District Numbered 1, Missouri, is hereby modified substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 727, Seventyseventh Congress, second session, at an estimated cost of $141,000.

The project on the Mississippi River for local flood protection at Sabula, Iowa, is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 328, Seventy-seventh Congress, first session, at an estimated cost of $25,000.

The project on the Galena River, for local flood protection at Galena, Illinois, is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 336, Seventy-seventh Congress, first session, at an estimated cost of $418,000.

The project for flood control on the Illinois River is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 692, Seventy-seventh Congress, second session, at an estimated cost of $111,500.

The project on Elk Creek and Turkey River for local flood protection at Elkport, Iowa, is hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 700, Seventy-seventh Congress, second session, at an estimated cost of $13,000.

RED RIVER OF THE NORTH BASIN

The projects for flood control for Red Lake River, Minnesota, including Clearwater River, Minnesota, are hereby authorized substantially in accordance with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 345, Seventy-eighth Congress, first session, at an estimated cost of $902,940.