BACKGROUND The Water Resources Council was established by the Water Resources Planning Act of 1965 to coordinate river basin plans and maintain a continuing study of water supply requirements and management. It is composed of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Army, HEW, Interior, and Transportation and the Chairman of the Federal Power Commission. This committee's report on the Water Resources Planning Act included this statement: The committee believes that the Water Resources Council *** will provide an effective mechanism not only for guiding our national water planning effort but also for bringing the agency heads together on a regular basis for coordinated planning of their respective program responsibilities and for resolving interagency conflicts. Notwithstanding the important responsibilities assigned to the Council, it has always been the position of the committee that the Council should not establish a large staff. A small but highly specialized staff was envisioned which would conduct its work primarily through existing departments and agencies and the river basin commissions established pursuant to title II of the Planning Act. At the time the Water Resources Planning Act was approved by the committee, the annual cost for the administrative functions of the Council was estimated at $150,000, and this was the amount authorized in the House bill. The committee of conference increased the amount to $300,000, the amount presently authorized to be appropriated. The legislation recommended by the Chairman of the Water Resources Council on February 2, 1968, asked for removal of the $300,000 limitation for administering the provisions of title I of the Planning Act. The committee does not believe that such action would be justified in present circumstances, though it agrees that a modest increase in the present limitation can be supported. COMMITTEE AMENDMENT The effect of the committee amendment to S. 3058 is to allow an increase of $200,000 annually in the amount authorized to be appropriated for the administrative functions of the Water Resources Council. This is a reduction of $600,000 from the amount authorized by the Senate. The committee believes that $500,000 annually is sufficient to permit the Council to carry out all of its statutory duties in a proper and efficient manner. The committee recognizes that title I of the Planning Act and title III, which authorizes matching financial grants to the States, are administered by a single staff even though the amount authorized to be appropriated for administering the two titles is divided in the act. Thus, during the life of the grant program, there would be available to the staff of the Water Resources Council, under the committee amendment, a total of $900,000 annually. The committee has no objection to a single staff operation without attempting to divide either the staff or the funds available between the two functions. EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATION An executive communication from the Chairman of the Water Resources Council recommending this legislation follows: Hon. JOHN W. MCCORMACK, WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL, Washington, D.C., February 2, 1968. Speaker of the House of Representatives, DEAR MR. SPEAKER: Enclosed is a draft of a proposed bill to amend the Water Resources Planning Act (Public Law 89-80; 79 Stat. 244; approved July 22, 1965). We recommend that this bill be referred to the appropriate committee for consideration, and we recommend that it be enacted. This proposed legislation would revise the authorization of appropriations for administrative expenses in carrying out the provisions of the Water Resources Planning Act that is contained in section 401 of the act. Aside from changing the sequence of the provisions of section 401, the draft bill would make only one change in the substance of the section. It would remove the limitation of $300,000 annually from the authorization for appropriations for administering the provisions of title I of the act, and substitute an authorization for appropriations in such amounts as may be necessary. The other limitations now contained in section 401 would remain unmodified. The passage of the Federal Salary Act of 1967 has necessitated either the removal of the limitation for administering the provisions of title I or the curtailment of essential functions. Furthermore, experience under this act since its enactment in July 1965, has pointed to the desirability of removing the appropriation limitation so that consideration may be given in future years to increases in appropriations to better carry out the functions and responsibilities of the Water Resources Council. AN ACT To amend the Water Resources Planning Act to revise the authorization of appropriations for administering the provisions of the Act, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 401 of the Water Resources Planning Act (Public Law 89-80; 79 Stat. 244) is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 401. There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the provisions of this Act "(a) such amounts as may be necessary to administer the provisions. of titles I, II, III, and IV: Provided, That, not to exceed $400,000 annually shall be available to administer the provisions of title III; and "(b) not to exceed $6,000,000 annually to carry out the provisions of title II: Provided, That, not more than $750,000 annually shall be available for any single river basin commission." The Bureau of the Budget has advised that enactment of this draft bill would be consistent with the administration's objectives. Sincerely yours, STEWART L. UDALL, Chairman. COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION The Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs recommends enactment of S. 3058, as amended. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW In compliance with clause 3 of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): ACT OF JULY 22, 1965 (79 STAT. 244) TITLE IV-MISCELLANEOUS AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS SEC. 401. There are authorized to be appropriated not to exceed [$300,000 $500,000 annually, to carry out the provisions of title I of this Act, not to exceed $6,000,000 annually to carry out the provisions of title II, and not to exceed $400,000 annually for the administration of title III: Provided, That, with respect to title II, not more than $750,000 annually shall be available for any single river basin commission. 90TH CONGRESS 2d Session } HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REPORT {No. 1854 FLAMING GORGE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, UTAH AND WYO. SEPTEMBER 4, 1968.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. TAYLOR, from the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 15245] The Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 15245) to establish the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in the States of Utah and Wyoming, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill do pass. The amendments are as follows: Page 3, line 18, add a new sentence to read: Nothing in this Act shall affect the jurisdiction or responsibilities of the States of Utah and Wyoming under other provisions of State laws with respect to hunting and fishing. Page 4, line 12, strike out "administration" and insert "purposes". PURPOSE The principal purposes of H.R. 15245, introduced by Congressman Harrison, are to give explicit statutory sanction to the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, to provide for a unified administration of the recreation aspects of this area by the Secretary of Agriculture, to extend the boundaries of the Ashley National Forest to include the whole of the area, and to withdraw the lands within it from location, entry, and patent under the mining laws of the United States. NEED Flaming Gorge Dam, located on the Green River just south of the Wyoming-Utah State line, is a unit of the Colorado River storage project. It rises more than 450 feet above the bed of the Green River, and the reservoir it creates will have a 375-mile shoreline and furnish 42,000 acres of water surface, much of which will be usable for recreation purposes. It and the scenic canyon country around it have already become a major outdoor recreation attraction. In 1967 over 1 million persons visited it. It is entirely proper, therefore, for the Congress to give statutory recognition to the value of the area for outdoor recreation and, subject to the primary use of the reservoir for its water-storage, water-delivery, and power-production functions, to provide that it shall be administered for this purpose. In doing so, the Congress will reinforce the provisions of section 8 of the Colorado River Storage Act (70 Stat. 110, 45 U.S.C. 610g) which authorized the Secretary of the Interior to investigate, plan, construct, operate, and maintain * * * * The boundary lines of the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area will embrace approximately 201,250 acres of which slightly more than 190,000 acres are in Federal ownership. The remainder of the land is divided between private ownership (10,160 acres) and State ownership (1,050 acres). A little more than half of the total acreage is in Wyoming and a little less than half in Utah. Administration of the area is now divided between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior. In addition to causing occasional confusion to visitors to the area, this division of administrative responsibility entails a certain amount of unnecessary expense. This has been estimated to be about $100,000 a year. Enactment of H.R. 15245 will correct both these defects by assigning administrative responsibility for the area to the Secretary of Agricul ture alone, with the proviso that "lands or waters needed or used for the operation of the Colorado River storage project shall continue to be administered by the Secretary of the Interior to the extent he determines to be required for such operation." The Secretary of Agriculture will administer the site as part of the Ashley National Forest within which 76,130 of its acres already lie, and the laws pertaining to which will be extended to the whole of the area. The provisions of the bill with respect to minerals are similar to those which are applicable to other Federal recreation areas. Although the lands are withdrawn from location, entry and patent under the mining laws, controlled development will be possible under the mineral leasing act in the case of the leasable minerals and under section 10 of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1196), as amended (43 U.S.C. 387) in the case of nonleasable minerals. The Secretary of the Interior will administer these provisions of the bill, but no lease or permit will be granted unless the Secretary of Agriculture finds that it will not have a significantly adverse effect on the recreation values of the area and the Secretary of the Interior finds the same with respect to its effect on the purposes of the Colorado River storage project. |