Source: https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1138400
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 08:39:02+00:00

Document:
18 Flood Control.-In addition to navigation control, the Commerce Clause vests in Congress other authority over waters under its jurisdiction. Thus, the application of recog- nized engineering principles finds sanction in constitutional doctrine where certain improvements for navigation are allied with control of floods. In his message to Congress on the 1882 Report of the Mississippi River Commission, which recom- mended improvements for navigation and protection of the valley, President Arthur said, "The constitutionality of a law making appropriations in aid of these objects can not be ques- tioned." 56 And the Supreme Court in 1913 recognized a rela- tionship of flood control to the "plenary power of the United States to legislate for the benefit of navigation." B7 Similarly, while the point was not directly in issue in the 1940 New River case, the Court there stated that flood protec- tion and watershed development are parts of commerce con- trol.58 The following year, in disposing of a direct attack upon the constitutionality of the statute authorizing construction of the Denison Dam,59 the Court pointed out that although the development "is a multiple-purpose project, it is basically one for flood control," and recognized it "as part of a compre- hensive flood-control program for the Mississippi itself."00 Negating any suggestion of constitutional impediment to em- a requirement of federal license for proposed construction by the company of a hydroelectric power plant at its dam located in nonnavigable waters where operation of the project would adversely affect navigation, noting that exercise of commerce authority is not restricted to an adverse effect on present navigable capacity, but extends to navigable capacity after reasonable improvements which might be made and irrespective of whether the effect is injurious or beneficial. See also Harris v. Central Nebraska Public Power & Irrigation Dist., 29 F. Supp. 425, 429 (D. O. Nebr. 1938) ; Grand River Dam Authority v. Going, 29 F. Supp. 316, 325 (D. 0. Okla. 1939). 68 8 Richardson, Messages and Papers op the Presidents, 95 (1896). But see the doubts entertained by the National Waterways Commission in 1912, infra, n. 55, p. 269. 87 Jackson v. United States, 230 U. S. 1, 23 (1913). 88 United States v. Appalachian Electric Power Co., 311 U. S. 377, 426 (1940), reh. den., 312 U. S. 712 (1941). 88 Act of June 28,1938, § 4, 52 Stat. 1215, 1219. 80 Oklahoma v. Atkinson, 313 U. S. 508, 529, 525 (1941).

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