PALMETTO BEND RECLAMATION PROJECT, TEXAS HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON IRRIGATION AND RECLAMATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETIETH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H.R. 5117 TO AUTHORIZE THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE, AND MAINTAIN STAGE 1 OF THE PALMETTO BEND RECLAMATION PROJECT, TEXAS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES HELD IN WASHINGTON, D.C., AUGUST 14, 1967 Serial No. 90-17 Printed for the use of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs LLOYD MEEDS, Washington ABRAHAM KAZEN, JR., Texas SANTIAGO POLANCO-ABREU, Resident Commissioner, Puerto Rico SIDNEY L. MCFARLAND, Professional Staff Director NOTE. SIDNEY L. MCFARLAND, Engineering Consultant The chairman, Hon. Wayne N. Aspinall, and the ranking minority member, Hon. John P. Saylor, are ex officio members of each subcommittee. (II) Hearings held— CONTENTS Edna, Tex., December 8, 1967: Morning session_ Report of the Secretary of the Interior. Reevaluation statement of the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Hutchens, George, rancher, Edna, Tex- Koop, Arnold, member, board of directors, Jackson County Flood Moore, Joe G., Jr., executive director of the Texas Water Develop- 22, 70, 100 Stanford, Dick, assistant director, Texas Water Development Board. Letters: Bauer, W. H., Port Lavaca, Tex., to Hon. Harold T. Johnson, dated Connally, Hon. John, Governor of Texas, to Hon. Floyd E. Dominy, Hartzog, Hon. Howard G., county judge of Calhoun County, Tex., to Koop, Arnold, president, Jackson County Flood Control District, Mayfield, Eli, attorney for district, Matagorda County Navigation District No. 1, Palacios, Tex., to whom it may concern, dated Moore, Joe G., Jr., executive director, Texas Water Development Board, to Harry P. Burleigh, engineer in charge, Bureau of Rec- lamation, dated February 14, 1967- Owens, Adrian, president, Mid-Coastal Sportmen's Club, Victoria, Regional director, midcontinent region, to regional director, Bureau of Letters-Continued Selby, Roy, president, Texas Mid-Coast Water Development Associ- Stormont, Charles, W., Edna, Tex., to Representative Harold T. Page 96 101 Stormont, John W., Victoria, Tex., to Hon. Harold T. Johnson, dated 102 Udall, Hon. Stewart L., Secretary of the Interior, to Hon. Wayne N. 2 Table: State and local taxation on lands within the Palmetto Bend Reservoir area (based on 1963 records). 38 H.R. 5117, TO AUTHORIZE THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO CONSTRUCT, OPERATE, AND MAINTAIN STAGE 1 OF THE PALMETTO BEND RECLAMATION PROJECT, TEXAS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 1967 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON IRRIGATION AND RECLAMATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:45 a.m., in room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Harold T. Johnson (subcommittee chairman) presiding. Mr. JOHNSON. The Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation will come to order. The purpose of our meeting this morning is to hear witnesses concerning the Palmetto Bend reclamation project in Texas, and for other purposes. Without objection, the bill, H.R. 5117, will be printed in the record at this point, and also the report that was sent up from the Secretary of the Interior's Office recommending certain amendments and otherwise in support of the project; also the Bureau of the Budget has no objection. And then I would ask that the reevaluation statement be placed in the record also. Is there objection? Hearing none, it is so ordered. (The documents referred to follow:) [H. R. 5117, 90th Cong., first sess.] A BILL, To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain stage 1 of the Palmetto Bend reclamation project, Texas, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to construct, operate, and maintain the first stage of the Palmetto Bend Federal reclamation project, Texas, in accordance with the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto) for the purposes of storing, regulating, and furnishing water for municipal and industrial use, conserving and developing fish and wildlife resources, and enhancing outdoor recreation opportunities. The stage 1 development of the project shall consist of the following principal works: Palmetto Bend Dam and Reservoir on the Navidad River near Edna, Texas, and recreation facilities. SEC. 2. (a) Costs of the project or any unit or stage thereof allocated to municipal or industrial water supply shall be repayable with interest, by the municipal and industrial water users over a period of not more than fifty years from the date that water is first delivered for that purpose, pursuant to contracts with municipal corporations or other organizations, as defined in section 2(b) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 (53 Stat. 1187). Such contracts shall be precedent to the |