SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE 4.5. ConSCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE. UNITED STATES SENATE SEVENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON S. 1385 A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE 66482 NOVEMBER 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, AND 30, 1944 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1945 A5 17440 Borchard, Dr. Edwin, Yale University, New Haven, Conn__. Hackworth, Green H., legal adviser, Department of State (accompa- 45-35462 GREAT LAKES-ST. LAWRENCE BASIN TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1944 SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, UNITED STATES SENATE, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, in the committee room, United States Capitol, at 10 a. m., Senator John H. Overton (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Overton (chairman), Bailey, Radcliffe, Mead, Vandenberg, and Burton. Also present: Senators Pepper, Wiley, and Ferguson. Senator OVERTON. The committee will come to order, please. This subcommittee is meeting for the purpose of conducting hearings on the question of whether the St. Lawrence waterway and power project can be concluded by executive agreement with Canada or whether it requires a treaty. (S. 1385 is as follows, together with H. Doc. 153, 77th Cong., 1st sess.:) [S. 1385, 78th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To provide for the improvement of the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Basin in the interest of national defense, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the purpose of promoting interstate and foreign commerce and the national defense, and providing an improved waterway through the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence River, and connecting waters reaching to the Atlantic Ocean, and for the generating of electric energy as a means of financing, aiding, and assisting such undertaking, the agreement made by and between the Governments of the United States and Canada, published in House Document Numbered 153, Seventy-seventh Congress, first session, providing for the construction of dams and power works in the International Rapids section of the Saint Lawrence River, and the completion of the Saint Lawrence deep waterway, is hereby approved; and the President is authorized and empowered to fulfill the undertakings made in said agreement on behalf of the United States, and to delegate any of the powers and duties vested in him by this Act to such officers, departments, agents, or agencies of the United States as he may designate or appoint. The works allocated for construction by the United States under said agreement shall be undertaken immediately under the direction of the Secretary of War and the supervision of the Chief of Engineers in accordance with the laws, regulations, and procedures applicable to rivers and harbor projects, subject, however, to the terms and conditions of said agreement; and shall be diligently prosecuted with a view to making essential facilities of said project available for national defense uses at the earliest possible moment. The President is hereby authorized and directed to negotiate an arrangement with the Power Authority of the State of New York for the transfer to said Power Authority of the power facilities constructed pursuant to this authorization and the right to use the United States share of the waters at the project for hydroelectric power purposes upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon, including provision for payment of $93,375,000, which represents the revised estimate of cost allocated to power in accordance with the method 1 |