Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 63 Part 1.djvu/75

 63 STAT.] 81ST CONG., IST SESS.-CH. 48 -APR. 6, 1949 37 "(h) The organization meeting of the Commission shall be held within four months from the effective date of this Compact. "ARTICLE IX "(a) No State shall deny the right of the United States of America Acquisition efwater and, subject to the conditions hereinafter contained, no State shall ng deny the right of another signatory State, any person, or entity of any signatory State to acquire rights to the use of water, or to construct or participate in the construction and use of diversion works and storage reservoirs with appurtenant works, canals and conduits in one State for the purpose of diverting, conveying, storing, regulating and releasing water to satisfy the provisions of the Colorado River Com- pact relating to the obligation of the States of the Upper Division to make deliveries of water at Lee Ferry, or for the purpose of diverting, conveying, storing or regulating water in an upper signatory State for consumptive use in a lower signatory State, when such use is within the apportionment to such lower State made by this Compact. Such rights shall be subject to the rights of water users, in a State in which such reservoir or works are located, to receive and use water, the use of which is within the apportionment to such State by this Compact. "(b) Any signatory State, any person or any entity of any signatory State shall have the right to acquire such property rights as are neces- sary to the use of water in conformity with this Compact in any other signatory State by donation, purchase or through the exercise of the power of eminent domain. Any signatory State, upon the written request of the Governor of any other signatory State, for the benefit of whose water users property is to be acquired in the State to which such written request is made, shall proceed expeditiously to acquire the desired property either by purchase at a price satisfactory to the requesting State, or, if such purchase cannot be made, then through the exercise of its power of eminent domain and shall convey such prop- erty to the requesting State or such entity as may be designated by the requesting State; provided, that all costs of acquisition and expenses of every kind and nature whatsoever incurred in obtaining the requested property shall be paid by the requesting State at the time and in the manner prescribed by the State requested to acquire the property. "(c) Should any facility be constructed in a signatory State by and for the benefit of another signatory State or States or the water users thereof, as above provided, the construction, repair, replace- ment, maintenance and operation of such facility shall be subject to the laws of the State in which the facility is located, except that, in the case of a reservoir constructed in one State for the benefit of another State or States, the water administration officials of the State in which the facility is located shall permit the storage and release of any water which, as determined by findings of the Commission, falls within the apportionment of the State or States for whose benefit the facility is constructed. In the case of a regulating reservoir for the joint benefit of all States in making Lee Ferry deliveries, the water administration officials of the State m which the facility is located, in permitting the storage and release of water, shall comply with the findings and orders of the Commission. "(d) In the event property is acquired by a signatory State in Iloe"m of txes fr another signatory State for the use and benefit of the former, the users of water made available by such facilities, as a condition precedent to the use thereof, shall pay to the political subdivisions of the State in which such works are located, each and every year during which such rights are enjoyed for such purposes, a sum of money equivalent to the average annual amount of taxes levied and assessed against the

�