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EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT BUREAU OF THE BUDGET WASHINGTON 25. D. C. JUN 26 1963 Honorable Henry M. Jackson Chairman, Interior and Insular Affairs Committee U.S. Senate Washington 25, D.C. Dear Mr. Chairman: This is in reply to your letter of January 31, 1963 requesting the views of the Bureau of the Budget on S. 502, a bill "To preserve the jurisdiction of the Congress over construction of hydroelectric projects on the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam." This bill provides that no licenses or permits shall be issued under the Federal Power Act for the reach of the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Mead during the period ending December 31, 1968. The Federal Power Commission has before it an application by the Arizona Power Authority for a license to construct a hydroelectric project at the Marble Canyon site located in this region of the Colorado River. The Department of the Interior, the executive branch agency with primary responsibility for Federal water resources programs in the Colorado River Basin, has been unable to present the Congress with plans and proposals for development of the water resources of the lower Colorado River during the past decade because of unsettled interstate differences regarding water rights. The decision of the Supreme Court in Arizona v. California on June 3, 1963, has removed this obstacle to planning, and the Department of the Interior can now proceed with the preparation of comprehensive plans for the region. The Secretary of the Interior announced on June 12, 1963, that he has appointed a special departmental task force to prepare a sound comprehensive report on a regional water development plan, and the Department proposes to have an appropriate report and implementing proposals ready for presentation to the Congress in January 1964. In view of the critical nature of water problems in the lower Colorado Basin and the scheduled preparation of a regional plan for water development by the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of the Budget considers that further development of lam sites on the Colorado River should be deferred until the Congress has been given an opportunity to consider the Department's plan and proposals for comprehensive and unified development of the river. We believe, therefore, that the objective of S. 502 is desirable. COPY FOR UNDER BRCRETARY CARREpson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 24 bit, 42,024,960 byte