Statement of Governor Edmund G. Brown of California on S. 1658 and the Pacific Southwest Water Plan

Document: Statement of Governor Edmund G. Brown of California on S. 1658 and the Pacific Southwest Water Plan, April 9-10, 1964 (thermofax), page 10inescapable fact is that the Congress must choose among these fundamental alternatives: (1) stop further development in the lower basin and allow a regression of existing developments in Arizona: or (2) allow further development in Arizona at the expense of existing developments in California; or (3) adopt a regional plan of development which will introduce adequate water supply into the lower basin. In addition to the fundamental alternatives, the very magnitude of a regional plan breeds a multiplicity of subsidiary proposals. One such is the suggestion from some California quarters that California's uses up to 4.4 million acre-feet be given a priority over the Central Arizona Project even as part of a Regional Plan. Although this suggestion is sometimes phrased as a claim of a legal right, we recognize that under the opinion of the Supreme Court, it is not a legal right unless the Congress makes it so. The reasons why Congress should do so can be given at length and with vigor. We do not pause to state or assess them, because the whole argument is rendered academic if a regional plan succeeds in assuring a supply of 7.5 million acre-feet in the lower basin at Colorado River costs. If the plan does not succeed, the priority argument will not have gone away, and it will remain for assertion should the occasion for assertion ever arise. -10-Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 24 bit, 2,502,715 byte