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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON 25, D.C. August 26, 1963 LETTER OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO GOVERNORS FANNIN OF ARIZONA, BROWN OF CALIFORNIA, CAMPBELL OF NEW MEXICO, SAWYER OF NEVADA, AND CLYDE OF UTAH Dear Governor: As promised to you in my letter of June 12, and pursuant to provisions of Section 1(c) of the Flood Control Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 887), I am enclosing herewith three copies of the proposed Pacific Southwest Water Plan Report. This report was prepared by an interior task force headed by Assistant Commissioner William I. Palmer of the Bureau of Reclamation. At the outset I should like to make it crystal clear that while the report has been approved as a proposed report for transmittal in accordance with the Flood Control Act, nevertheless as Secretary I have made no final judgments concerning the component parts of this plan, and that it is my intention to maintain an open mind on all of its details until all of the comments and recommendations received in the course of the statutory review are taken into account. During the 90-day review period, we expect to give the closest kind of scrutiny to the plan and its details. As you fully understand, in proposing that the States in the Pacific Southwest region emulate their neighbors in the north who agreed upon the eminently successful Upper Colorado River Storage Project plan--this report is, in essence, a search for the essentials of a basin-wide plan which could become a longrange vehicle for mutual cooperation. Therefore, in candor, I want to make it plain at this point that we are keeping an open mind on all major issues and expect to weigh carefully the major recommendations which you will make. Candor also compels me to underscore the two major questions which this report will undoubtedly raise in your mind as the Governor of a lower basin State. The first relates to the fact that the initial phase construction recommended by the task force is a very ambitious program which would entail aEpson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 14,159,872 byte