There is a newer version of the New York Consolidated Laws
2006 New York Code - The Delaware River Basin Water Commission Compact Approved.
Sec. 21-1701. The Delaware river basin water commission compact
approved.
The authority of the Governor to enter into a compact on behalf of the
state of New York with the states of Delaware and New Jersey and the
commonwealth of Pennsylvania in substantially the following form, which
authority was first conferred by chapter 701 of the laws of 1952, is
hereby continued:
COMPACT
BETWEEN THE STATES OF DELAWARE, NEW JERSEY
AND NEW YORK AND THE COMMONWEALTH OF
PENNSYLVANIA CREATING THE DELAWARE
RIVER BASIN WATER COMMISSION AND
DEFINING ITS POWERS AND DUTIES
Whereas, the peoples of the States of Delaware, New Jersey, and New
York and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have a common interest in the
waters of the Delaware River Basin; and
Whereas, it is desirable that the water and water resources of the
Delaware River and its tributaries be developed, utilized, controlled,
and conserved for the benefit of all the people; and
Whereas, the United States Supreme Court, in its decision in the
Delaware River Case (283 U.S. 336), established the principle of
equitable apportionment of the waters of the upper Delaware River Basin;
and
Whereas, political subdivisions and metropolitan areas in the States
of New Jersey and New York and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have
been confronted constantly with the problem of meeting existing and
prospective requirements of the people within their respective areas for
obtaining and maintaining an adequate and satisfactory supply of water,
both for domestic and industrial purposes; and
Whereas, it is essential that there be maintained an adequate minimum
flow in the Delaware River for the protection of public health, for the
benefit of industry and of fisheries, such as oysters, clams and other
shellfish, for animal and aquatic life, for recreation, for general
sanitary conditions, for the dilution and abatement of pollution, and
for the prevention of undue salinity; and
Whereas, for the purpose of promoting interstate cooperation in
various fields of governmental operations, including the utilization,
control and conservation of water resources of interstate river systems,
the States of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York and the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania each has created and now maintains a Commission (or
Committee) on Interstate Cooperation, which Commissions have jointly
organized and established and are now maintaining, in cooperation with
each of the others, a joint advisory board known as "The Interstate
Commission on the Delaware River Basin" for the purpose, among other
activities, of formulating and recommending integrated programs for the
development, utilization, control and conservation of the water
resources of the Delaware River Basin; and
Whereas, upon the recommendation of the said Interstate Commission on
the Delaware River Basin, submitted through the Commission on Interstate
Cooperation of each of the States concerned, the legislatures of the
States of New Jersey and New York and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
by reciprocal legislation, enacted laws at their 1949 Sessions (New
Jersey Laws of 1949, Chap. 105; New York Laws of 1949, Chap. 610;
Pennsylvania Laws of 1949, Act 475), authorizing and directing the said
Interstate Commission on the Delaware River Basin to make surveys and
investigations to determine and report on the feasibility and
advisability of the future construction of an integrated water project
designed, among other purposes, to meet the combined prospective water
supply requirements of political subdivisions and metropolitan areas in
the said States, both within and outside the said Basin, empowering such
Commission to enter upon lands, structures, and waters for the purposes
of such surveys and investigations, making an appropriation to such
Commission, and requiring a full report of its proceedings, findings,
conclusions, recommendations, and such draft or drafts of legislation as
it may deem necessary or proper for enactment by such States; and
Whereas, based upon a full report submitted by the Interstate
Commission on the Delaware River Basin setting forth the findings,
conclusions, and recommendations resulting from its surveys and
investigations, it is the opinion of that Commission, concurred in by
each of the aforesaid Commissions on Interstate Cooperation, that the
future construction of integrated water projects in the Delaware River
Basin is feasible, advisable, and urgently needed, and can best be
accomplished by and through a joint administrative agency created by an
agreeement or compact between the States of Delaware, New Jersey, and
New York and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and
Whereas, the Congress of the United States, by its joint Resolution of
March 1, 1911 (36 Stat. 961), relating to the conservation of forests
and water supply and protection of forests from fire, gave general
consent to encourage the making of agreements or compacts between States
for the purpose of conserving the forests and the water supply;
Now, Therefore, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the States of New
Jersey and New York (and the State of Delaware if and when Delaware
becomes a signatory State) do hereby solemnly covenant and agree each
with the other as follows:
ARTICLE 1
CREATION AND PURPOSES OF THE COMMISSION
1. There is created hereby a body corporate and politic with perpetual
succession, to be known as the Delaware River Basin Water Commission
(hereinafter in this compact referred to as the Commission), which shall
constitute a public corporate instrumentality of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania and of the States of New Jersey and New York, (and of the
State of Delaware if and when Delaware becomes a signatory State), and
of each of them, to exercise an essential governmental function of each
of the signatory States, for the purposes of developing, utilizing,
controlling, and conserving the water resources of the Delaware River
Basin in order to assure an adequate water supply:
(a) to meet the domestic and industrial requirements of political
subdivisions and metropolitan areas within those States;
(b) to provide an adequate minimum flow in the Delaware River for the
protection of public health, for the benefit of industry and of
fisheries, such as oysters, clams, and other shellfish, for animal and
aquatic life, for recreation, for general sanitary conditions, for the
dilution and abatement of pollution, and for the prevention of undue
salinity; and
(c) to provide for such other uses of water as navigation, flood
control, production of hydro-electric power, and related uses.
2. In order to effectuate the foregoing purposes, the Commission shall
determine the exact locations and character of, formulate plans for, and
determine all matters in connection with, the construction, operation
and maintenance of dams, reservoirs, and appurtenant structures within
the Delaware River Basin as herein defined for the storage and effective
regulation of the water resources thereof, and treatment plants,
aqueducts, conduits, or other facilities, and shall finance, construct,
operate, and maintain such structures and facilities as are deemed
necessary to the following project, or a reasonable modification
thereof, that is to say: (a) a dam across the West Branch of the
Delaware River near Cannonsville, New York; (b) a dam across the
Delaware River near Barryville, New York; (c) a dam across the Neversink
River near Godeffroy, New York; (d) a dam across the Delaware River near
Wallpack Bend; (e) a dam across the East Branch of the Delaware River
near Fish Eddy; (f) a dam across Flat Brook near Flatbrookville, New
Jersey; (g) an aqueduct connecting the reservoir created by the dam
across the Delaware River near Barryville, New York, with the reservoir
on the Neversink River created by a dam near Godeffroy, New York; (h) an
aqueduct, with equalizing reservoir en route, to convey a supply of
water from the reservoir on the Neversink River created by the dam near
Godeffroy, New York, to municipalities in northern New Jersy and to New
York City; and (i) such dams, reservoirs, tunnels, conduits, and other
facilities as may be required to furnish water supply to Philadelphia
and adjacent areas.
3. For the purpose of this compact the "Delaware River Basin" is
defined as all that land from which surface water drains naturally into
the Delaware River.
ARTICLE II
COMMISSIONERS
1. The Commission shall consist of three members from each signatory
State, who shall be citizens and residents thereof and shall be
appointed by the Governor of that State, by and with the consent of its
Senate, unless its Constitution otherwise provides.
2. The term of each such commissioner shall be for five years,
provided, however, that the terms of the three commissioners first
appointed by each state shall be as follows, to wit: one for three
years, one for four years, and one for five years. All commissioners
shall continue to hold office after the expiration of the terms for
which they shall have been appointed until their respective successors
shall have been appointed and qualified, but no period during which any
commissioner shall hold over shall be deemed to be an extension of his
term of office for the purpose of computing the date on which his
successor's term expires.
3. Any commissioner may be removed or suspended from office as
provided by the Constitution or applicable law of the State which he
represents. In the event of a vacancy in the office of any
commissioner, from any reason or cause, such vacancy shall be filled by
appointment by the Governor of the State concerned, subject to
confirmation as above provided, for the unexpired term.
4. The commissioners shall serve without compensation but shall be
paid their actual and necessary expenses incurred in and incident to the
performance of their duties, provided, however, that the elected
officers of the Commission shall receive such compensation as may be
fixed by the Commission.
5. The Federal Government may be represented on the Commission by
three advisory members who shall serve without compensation from the
Commission. The Constitution and other laws of the United States shall
apply to the appointment or removal of such advisory members and the
term or terms during which they shall serve.
ARTICLE III
OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, MANAGEMENT AND PROCEDURE
1. The commissioners shall have charge of the Commission's property
and affairs. The Commission shall adopt an official seal and suitable
by-laws and shall promulgate rules and regulations for its management
and control.
2. A majority of the commissioners from the signatory States shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting of
the Commission. No action shall be taken by the Commission unless a
majority of the members from each state are present at a meeting of the
Commission and no action so taken, including any action which, for the
purposes of the project authorized by paragraph two of Article I of this
compact or for any expansion thereof or any new project, imposes any
financial obligation on any signatory State or on any political
subdivision therein or which allocates water for water supply or for the
maintenance of an adequate minimum flow to any signatory State or any
political subdivision therein, shall be binding or effective unless a
majority of the members from each State shall have voted in favor
thereof; provided, however, that no action taken at any meeting of the
Commission by any member shall have force or effect until the Governor
of the State, which such member represents, shall have an opportunity to
approve or veto the same. For the purpose of procuring such approval or
veto, the secretary or other officer of the Commission in charge of the
minutes of the proceedings of the Commission shall transmit to the
Governors of the signatory States at their official offices a certified
copy of the minutes of every meeting of the Commission as soon after the
holding of such meeting as such minutes can be written out. Each
Governor shall, within five days after such minutes shall have been
delivered at his official office, cause the same to be returned to the
Commission either with his approval or with his veto of any action
therein recited as having been taken by any member of the Commission
appointed from his State, provided, however, that if a Governor shall
not return the said minutes within the said period then at the
expiration thereof any action therein recited will have full force and
effect according to the wording thereof. If a Governor within the said
period returns the said minutes with a veto against the action of any
member of the Commission from his State as recited therein, then such
action of such member shall be null and void. A governor may by order
filed with the secretary of the Commission relieve the members from his
State from the duty of procuring his approval of their action upon any
particular matter or class of matters, and thereupon the secretary or
other officer in charge of the minutes of the proceedings of the
Commission shall be relieved from reporting the same to him.
3. The Commission shall elect annually a chairman and a vice-chairman.
The Commission shall appoint a secretary and a treasurer, who may be but
need not be members of the Commission. The secretary shall be custodian
of the records of the Commission with authority to affix the
Commission's official seal and to attest to and certify such records or
copies thereof. Disbursements by the Commission shall be valid only
when authorized by the Commission.
4. The Commission shall appoint and at its pleasure remove or
discharge counsel, an executive director, engineers, and such other
agents and employees as it may require for the performance of the powers
and functions of the Commission. The Commission shall determine and fix
the duties and compensation of its appointed officers and employees, and
shall fix the compensation, if any, of its elected officers.
5. The Commission may establish and maintain one or more offices
within the area of the signatory States for the transaction of its
business and may meet at any time or place, but must meet at least once
each year.
6. The Commission shall keep accurate accounts of all receipts and
disbursements. The accounts of the Commission shall be open at any
reasonable time for inspection and audit by such representative or
representatives of the respective signatory States as may be duly
constituted for that purpose, and for inspection by others who may be
authorized by the Commission.
7. The Commission shall make an annual report to the Governor and the
legislature of each signatory State setting forth in detail the
operations and transactions conducted by it pursuant to this compact,
and shall make recommendations for any legislative action deemed by it
to be advisable, including amendments to the statutes of the signatory
States which may be deemed necessary to carry out the intent and purpose
of this compact.
8. No member, agent or employee of the Commission shall have a
personal interest, either directly or indirectly, in any contract
entered into by the Commission, including the sale to the Commission of
any real or personal property. A violation of this provision shall
constitute a misdemeanor and, upon trial and conviction, shall be
punishable in accordance with the laws of the signatory State in which
the offense is committed, but, in no event, shall the punishment
therefor exceed imprisonment for more than one year or a fine of more
than five hundred dollars, or both.
9. No member, agent or employee of the Commission, while acting within
the scope of his authority, shall be personally liable for any acts
performed in the execution of the powers expressly authorized by this
compact.
ARTICLE IV
GENERAL POWERS AND LIABILITY TO SUIT
1. For the effectuation of its authorized purposes, the Commission is
hereby granted and shall have the following powers in addition to such
powers as may be provided for elsewhere in this compact, to wit:
(a) To sue in its own name in Federal and State courts.
(b) To acquire, own, hire, use, operate, and dispose of personal
property.
(c) To acquire, own, use, and operate real property and interests
therein, to make improvements thereon, and to convey, lease or otherwise
dispose of any such property no longer necessary for the authorized
purposes of the Commission.
(d) To grant, by lease or otherwise, the use of any property or
facility owned or controlled by the Commission, and to make charges
therefor.
(e) To exercise the right of eminent domain, as provided in Article V
of this compact.
(f) To borrow money, make and issue from time to time negotiable bonds
and notes, to fund and refund the same, and to provide for the rights of
the holders of its bonds and notes, as provided in Article XIII of this
compact.
(g) To establish, levy, and collect, without being subject to the
supervision or regulation of any commission, board, bureau or agency of
any of the signatory States or political subdivisions thereof, such
rentals, fees or other charges for use of the facilities of or for the
services rendered by the Commission, and to revise such rentals, fees,
or other charges as may be necessary to assure revenues at least
adequate to defray the expenses of operation and maintenance of the said
facilities, to pay the interest on and principal of any bonds or other
obligations of the Commission, and to establish any reasonable reserves
therefor.
(h) To accept such payments, appropriations, grants, gifts, loans, and
other funds, properties, and services as may be made available to it by
the Federal government or any of its agencies, by the governments and
political subdivisions of the signatory States, or by private agencies,
corporations, or individuals.
(i) To conduct surveys of dam, reservoir, treatment plant, aqueduct,
or conduit locations and study subsurface conditions affecting the
selection of such locations. Members of the Commission and its duly
accredited agents, engineers, contractors, and employees may enter upon
any lands, structures, and waters within any of the signatory States for
such purposes or whenever it is deemed necessary for any of the purposes
authorized by this compact, and such entry shall not be deemed a
trespass or an entry under any condemnation proceedings which may be
then pending. In the exercise of this power, the Commission shall save
harmless the signatory States from, and be responsible to any property
owner for, any damage caused by surveys or by entry on lands or any
other damage resulting therefrom, and the Commission shall require every
contractor or other agency performing work for said Commission to
provide security for the faithful performance of any contract with the
Commission and to save harmless the Commission and the signatory States
from damages caused as aforesaid.
(j) To determine the exact locations and character of, to formulate
plans for, and to determine all matters in connection with, the
construction, operation, and maintenance of the dams, reservoirs, and
appurtenant structures within the Delaware River Basin as herein defined
for the storage and effective regulation of the water resources thereof,
and treatment plants, aqueducts, conduits, and other facilities deemed
necessary or convenient to effectuate the structures and facilities
described in paragraph 2 of Article I of this compact, and to finance,
construct, operate and maintain such structures and facilities.
(k) To prepare, upon the request of two or more signatory States, or
upon its own initiative, in appropriate form for submission to the
legislatures of the signatory States, a report covering plans for, and
the method of financing of, any new project, or any expansion of the
project authorized and described in paragraph 2 of Article I of this
compact; and, upon approval of such report by the legislatures of the
signatory States and upon approval by the appropriate agency or agencies
of the State or States of the detailed plans and specifications, all in
accordance with the provisions of Article XI of this compact, to
finance, construct, operate and maintain such new or expanded project.
(l) To determine and to allocate, subject to the provisions of paragraph
2 of Article III, to each of the signatory States an equitable
apportionment of available water supply in order to meet domestic and
industrial requirements of political subdivisions and metropolitan areas
therein.
(m) To release, subject to the provisions of Article IX, the quantity
of water required to be released from storage in order to maintain an
adequate minimum flow in the Delaware River during periods of low flow
therein for the protection of public health, for the benefit of industry
and of fisheries, such as oysters, clams, and other shellfish, for
animal and aquatic life, for recreation, for general sanitary
conditions, for the dilution and abatement of pollution, and for the
prevention of undue salinity.
(n) To provide for such other uses of the water and water resources of
the Delaware River Basin as navigation, flood control, production of
hydro-electric power, and related uses, and to cooperate with other
appropriate agencies for that purpose.
(o) To develop, or to provide for the development of, subject to the
provisions of Article X, hydro-electric power and energy inherent in the
development and use of the waters to which this compact relates and
incident to the control and conservation of such waters.
(p) To make, enter into, and perform contracts with the Federal
government, with any of the signatory States or any of their political
subdivisions, with public or private agencies, and with corporations or
individuals, including (1) contracts for the sale of water for water
supply, for the sale of falling water and hydro-electric power and
energy, subject to the provisions of Article X, or for other services,
(2) contracts for payments by the signatory States, or the political
subdivisions thereof, for benefits resulting from water released from
storage in order to maintain an adequate minimum flow in the Delaware
River during periods of low flow therein, and (3) any other contracts
necessary or incidental to the performance of its duties and the
execution of its powers under this compact.
(q) To take all measures necessary to guard and protect the areas in
which its facilities or developments are located or in which any work of
construction under authority of this compact is in progress, and to
protect its facilities and developments from damage by pollution or
otherwise, and to appoint a suitable number of persons as guards for
such purposes. Such persons shall possess the power and authority of a
constable, peace officer, or police officer and shall have full power to
serve as such officers within the signatory States and to enforce the
provisions of such laws thereof as are applicable to the purposes of
this paragraph.
(r) To do all acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out the
powers expressly granted in this compact.
2. The signatory States consent to suits, actions or proceedings of
any form or nature at law, in equity or otherwise (including proceedings
to enforce arbitration agreements) against the Commission, and to
appeals therefrom and reviews thereof, except as hereinafter provided in
subparagraphs (a) and (b) hereof.
(a) The foregoing consent does not extend to civil suits, actions or
proceedings for the recovery of statutory penalties.
(b) The foregoing consent does not extend to suits, actions or
proceedings for judgments, orders or decrees restraining, enjoining or
preventing the Commission from committing or continuing to commit any
act or acts, other than suits, actions or proceedings by the attorney
general of any of the signatory States. The attorney general of each of
the signatory States is hereby authorized to bring such suits, actions
or proceedings in his discretion on behalf of any person or persons
whatsoever who requests him so to do except in the cases excluded by
subparagraph (a) hereof; provided, that in any such suit, action or
proceeding, no judgment, order or decree shall be entered except upon at
least two days' prior written notice to the Commission of the proposed
entry thereof.
(c) The foregoing consent is granted upon the condition that venue in
any suit, action or proceeding against the Commission shall be laid
within a county or a judicial district, established by any of the said
signatory States or by the United States, and situated wholly or
partially within one of the signatory States. The Commission shall be
deemed to be a resident of each such county or judicial district for the
purpose of such suits, actions or proceedings. Although the Commission
is engaged in the performance of governmental functions, the signatory
States consent to liability on the part of the Commission in such suits,
actions or proceedings for tortious acts committed by it and its agents
to the same extent as though it were a private corporation.
(d) The foregoing consent is granted upon the condition that any suit,
action or proceeding prosecuted or maintained hereunder shall be
commenced within one year after the cause of action therefor shall have
accrued, and upon the further condition that in the case of any suit,
action or proceeding for the recovery or payment of money, prosecuted or
maintained hereunder, a notice of claim shall have been served upon the
Commission by or on behalf of the plaintiff or plaintiffs at least sixty
days before such suit, action or proceeding is commenced. The
provisions of this subparagraph shall not apply to claims arising out of
provisions of any workmen's compensation law of any of the signatory
States.
(e) The notice of claim required by subparagraph (d) hereof shall be
in writing, sworn to by or on behalf of the claimant or claimants, and
shall set forth (1) the name and post office address of each claimant
and of his attorney, if any, (2) the nature of the claim, (3) the time
when, the place where and the manner in which the claim arose, and (4)
the items of damage or injuries claimed to have been sustained so far as
then practicable. Such notice may be served in the manner in which
process may be served, or in lieu thereof, may be sent by registered
mail to the Commission at its principal office. Where the claimant is
an infant or is mentally or physically incapacitated and by reason of
such disability no notice of claim is filed or suit, action or
proceeding commenced within the time specified in subparagraph (d)
hereof, or where a person entitled to make a claim dies and by reason of
his death no notice of claim is filed or suit, action or proceeding
commenced within the time specified in subparagraph (d) hereof, then any
court in which such suit, action or proceeding may be brought may in its
discretion grant leave to serve the notice of claim and to commence the
suit, action or proceeding within a reasonable time but in any event
within three years after the cause of action accrued. Application for
such leave must be made upon an affidavit showing the particular facts
which caused the delay and shall be accompanied by a copy of the
proposed notice of claim if such notice has not been served, and such
application shall be made only upon notice to the Commission.
(f) The commissioners, officers or employees of the Commission shall
not be subject to suits, actions or proceedings for judgments, orders or
decrees restraining, preventing or enjoining them in their official or
personal capacities from committing or continuing to commit any act or
acts on behalf of the Commission other than suits, actions and
proceedings brought by the attorney general of any of the signatory
States. The attorney general of each of the signatory States is hereby
authorized to bring such suits, actions or proceedings in his discretion
on behalf of any person or persons whatsoever who requests him so to do
except in the cases excluded by subparagraph (a) hereof; provided, that
in any such suit, action or proceeding brought by an attorney general,
no judgment, order or decree shall be entered except upon at least two
days' notice to the defendant of the proposed entry thereof.
ARTICLE V
CONDEMNATION PROCEEDINGS
1. The commission shall have the power, except as hereinafter provided
and limited, to acquire by condemnation lands, lands lying under water,
rights in land, riparian rights, water rights, waters, and other
property within the Delaware River basin as defined herein or required
for aqueducts, or conduits deemed necessary or convenient to effectuate
the structures and facilities described in paragraph two of Article I of
this compact. This grant of the power of eminent domain includes,
except as hereinafter provided and limited, but is not limited to, the
power to condemn property, within the Delaware river basin as defined
herein or required for aqueducts, or conduits deemed necessary or
convenient to effectuate the structures and facilities described in
paragraph two of Article I of this compact, owned or held by a political
subdivision for municipal or public purposes, by a public district, by a
public corporation or by a public authority, and includes as well the
power to condemn any property already devoted to a public purpose, by
whomsoever owned or held, other than property owned or held by the
signatory States and other than property owned or held by the City of
New York, wherever situate, for its water supply or for its water supply
system. Nothing herein shall be deemed to include the power to condemn
the lands, structures or properties necessary or convenient to the
exercise of the rights reserved in Article XVI of this compact.
2. Such power shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of
such special law, specifically applicable to the said Commission, as may
now or hereafter be in force in the signatory State in which such
property is located; provided, that if there be no such special law in
force in such State, condemnation proceedings shall be in accordance
with the provisions of such applicable general condemnation law as may
be in force in such State.
3. Any award or compensation for the taking of property pursuant to
this Article shall be paid by the Commission, and none of the signatory
States nor any agency, instrumentality, or political subdivision thereof
shall be liable for such award or compensation.
ARTICLE VI
CONVEYANCE OF LANDS AND RELOCATION OF PUBLIC FACILITIES
1. The signatory States hereby consent to the acquisition, use and
occupation by the Commission, pursuant to the laws of the respective
States, of any real property within the said States, or any of them,
including lands lying under water and lands already devoted to public
use, which may be or may become necessary or convenient for the
construction, operation, and maintenance of dams, reservoirs, treatment
plants, aqueducts, conduits, and other structures or facilities,
approved in accordance with the provisions of this compact; provided,
such lands and property are located within the Delaware River Basin as
defined herein or required for aqueducts, or conduits deemed necessary
or convenient to effectuate the structures and facilities described in
paragraph 2 of Article I of this compact.
2. The signatory States hereby authorize their respective officers,
agencies, departments, commissions or bodies having jurisdiction and
control over real property owned by the signatory States to convey in
accordance with the laws of the respective States, to the Commission,
with or without consideration, any such real property as may be
necessary or convenient to the effectuation of the authorized purposes
of the Commission.
3. Each political subdivision of each of the signatory States is
hereby authorized and empowered, notwithstanding any contrary provision
of law, to grant and convey to the Commission, upon the Commission's
request, but not otherwise, upon reasonable terms and conditions, any
real property owned by such political subdivision, including lands lying
under water and lands already devoted to public use, which may be
necessary or convenient to the effectuation of the authorized purposes
of the Commission.
4. The term "real property" as used in this compact shall include any
and all things and rights usually included within the said term and
includes not only fees simple absolute, but also any and all lesser
interests such as easements, rights of way, uses, leases, licenses, and
all other incorporeal hereditaments, and every estate, interest or
right, legal or equitable, including terms of years and liens thereon
by way of judgments, mortgages or otherwise, and also claims for damage
to real property.
5. Any highway, sewer, public utility, or other public facility, which
will be dislocated by reason of the constructions deemed necessary by
the Commission to effectuate the authorized purposes of this compact,
shall be relocated, providing that such relocation be required to serve
the public interest, in the manner provided for by the laws of the
respective signatory States, at the expense of the Commission.
ARTICLE VII
TAXES AND PAYMENTS IN LIEU OF TAXES
1. The effectuation of its authorized purposes by the Commission is and
will be in all respects for the benefit of the people of the signatory
States; and, since the Commission will be performing essential
governmental functions in effectuating said purposes, the bonds or other
securities or obligations issued by the Commission and the income
therefrom, or any profit made on the sale thereof, shall be exempt from
all taxation by or within the States of Delaware, New Jersey and New
York and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania except for transfer and
inheritance taxes.
2. Lands acquired by the Commission for the purposes of this compact
shall be taxable in the tax districts wherein such lands are located at
the average value thereof as improved on the date of acquisition. Such
average value shall be determined on the basis of computation of the
average assessed value of such lands as improved for the five-year
period immediately prior to such date of acquisition. The assessed
value of such land shall be reviewed by the taxing authority at the end
of each five-year period after the date of acquisition and such assessed
valuation shall be increased or decreased percentagewise as the average
assessed valuation of all the other property in the tax district has
increased or decreased in such five-year period. However, none of the
dams, reservoirs, treatment plants, aqueducts, conduits, or other
structures, or facilities, or their appurtenances, to be built in
accordance with the authority conferred by this compact shall be
taxable, nor shall the assessed value of the lands upon which such
structures are built be increased by reason of their presence thereon.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of the last preceding paragraph, the
Commission is hereby authorized and empowered to enter into agreements
with political subdivisions to pay a fair and reasonable sum or sums to
the said political subdivisions in lieu of taxes which otherwise would
be levied and collected with respect to any property hereafter acquired
by the Commission. Any such payment or payments made by the Commission
may be paid on an annual basis, or such payment or payments may be made
in a lump sum or sums or over a stated period of years, as shall be
agreed upon by and between the Commission and such political
subdivision; provided, however, that in any case the payment or payments
shall not be in excess of the amount of the taxes upon such property
when last assessed prior to the time of its acquisition by the
Commission. Every political subdivision wherein property shall be
acquired by the Commission is authorized and empowered to enter into
such agreement or agreements with the Commission to accept such payment
or payments.
ARTICLE VIII
CONTRACTS FOR WATER SUPPLY
1. The term "political subdivision", as used in this Article, shall
mean and include, in addition to its usual meaning, water districts,
water supply districts, and any other public authorities, public
corporations, commissions or bodies having power to own, acquire, or
contract for a public water supply.
2. Political subdivisions of the signatory States, either directly or
through any board of water commissioners, district water supply
commissioners, or any other board, commission, or public authority
having jurisdiction or control over all or any part of a water supply or
distribution system, may enter into contracts for the supplying of water
by the Commission and the payment of any fees or other charges to the
Commission. The contracts may be made for a specfied or an unlimited
time notwithstanding any other provisions of law, general or special, on
any terms and conditions which may be approved by the political
subdivision and which may be agreed to by the Commission, and such
contracts shall be valid and binding upon the political subdivision,
notwithstanding that no appropriation has been made or provided to cover
the cost or estimated cost of the contract.
3. Such political subdivision is hereby authorized and directed to do
and perform any and all acts or things necessary, convenient or
desirable to carry out and perform every such contract and to provide
for the payment of any obligations thereunder in the same manner as
other obligations of such political subdivision. Each political
subdivision shall pay promptly to the Commission all fees and other
charges due the Commission.
ARTICLE IX
RELEASE OF STORED WATERS
1. No signatory State shall permit the flow in the Delaware River to
be diminished by the diversion of any water from the main channel of the
Delaware River during any period in which waters are being released from
storage reservoirs constructed under the provisions of this compact for
the purpose of maintaining an adequate minimum flow in the Delaware
River during the periods of low flow therein, except in cases where such
diversion shall have been duly authorized under the provisions of this
compact.
2. The Commission shall release water from storage for the purpose of
maintaining an adequate minimum flow in the Delaware River during
periods of low flow therein in accordance with the following provisions:
(a) Upon and after completion of a storage reservoir on the West
Branch of the Delaware River near Cannonsville, New York, sufficient
water shall be released from the aforesaid reservoir to maintain a
minimum flow in the Delaware River, as measured at the stream gaging
station at Port Jervis, New York, of at least 1800 cubic feet per
second.
(b) Upon and after completion of storage reservoirs on the West Branch
of the Delaware River near Cannonsville, New York, on the main channel
of the Delaware River near Barryville, New York, and on the Neversink
River near Godeffroy, New York, sufficient water shall be released from
the system consisting of the three aforesaid reservoirs to maintain a
minimum flow in the Delaware River, as measured at the stream gaging
station at Trenton, New Jersey, of at least 4000 cubic feet per second.
(c) Upon and after completion of storage reservoirs on the West Branch
of the Delaware River near Cannonsville, New York, on the main channel
of the Delaware River near Barryville, New York, on the Neversink River
near Godeffroy, New York, and on the main channel of the Delaware River
near Wallpack Bend, sufficient water shall be released from the system
consisting of the four aforesaid reservoirs to maintain a minimum flow
in the Delaware River, as measured at the stream gaging station at
Trenton, New Jersey, of at least 4800 cubic feet per second.
(d) The intent and purpose of the requirements of paragraphs (b) and
(c) of this article are to provide for a flow at all times of at least
4000 cubic feet per second, or at least 4800 cubic feet per second, as
the case may be, from the non-tidal section of the Delaware River above
Trenton into the tidal section of the Delaware River below Trenton.
Accordingly, the requirements for the flow of at least 4,000 cubic feet
per second, or a least 4800 cubic feet per second, at Trenton may be
reduced by the Commission in such a manner as to carry out this intent
and purpose in the event the Commission is called upon to utilize a part
of the waters which would otherwise flow in the Delaware River at
Trenton as a source of water supply for the City of Philadelphia and
other political subdivisions and metropolitan areas in the greater
Philadelphia-South Jersey area which are situated wholly within the
Delaware River Basin.
ARTICLE X
HYDROELECTRIC POWER AND ENERGY
In the exercise of its power to develop, or to provide for the
development of, hydroelectric power and energy, no water shall be used
in addition to the water which would otherwise be developed and used by
the Commission for water supply and for water required to be released
from storage in order to maintain an adequate minimum flow in the
Delaware River during periods of low flow therein. The Commission shall
not engage in the transmission and distribution of power and energy
except for its own use.
ARTICLE XI
FORMULATION AND APPROVAL OF PLANS
1. Upon the request of two or more signatory States, or upon its own
initiative, the Commission shall prepare, in appropriate form for
submission to the legislatures of the signatory States, a report
covering plans for, and the method of financing, any new project, or any
expansion of the project authorized and described in paragraph 2 of
Article I of this compact, for the construction, operation, and
maintenance of such dams, reservoirs, and appurtenant structures within
the Delaware River Basin, and such treatment plants, aqueducts,
conduits, and other facilities, as may be required to effectuate the
purposes of this compact.
2. Prior to the submission of any such report to the legislatures of
the signatory States the Commission shall:
(a) Conduct investigations in such manner as to give appropriate
consideration and weight to the interrelation of the proposed project
with projects and programs of other agencies, public and private,
federal, interstate, state, and local, concerning the development,
utilization, control and conservation of the water resources of the
Delaware River Basin.
(b) Transmit a copy of its tentative draft of a report concerning any
proposed project to the following agencies, or their respective
successors, for the purpose of affording such agencies an opportunity to
submit to the Commission, within ninety days from the date of receipt of
such tentative draft, written statements of their views and
recommendations regarding any such project: Water Pollution Control
Commission of the State of Delaware; Division of Water Policy and Supply
of the State of New Jersey; Water Power and Control Commission of the
State of New York; Water and Power Resources Board of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania; and the Interstate Commission on the Delaware River
Basin. Representatives of each of the aforesaid agencies may, in order
to analyze and appraise any project proposed by the Commission created
by this compact, enter upon any lands, structures, and waters within the
states in which the Delaware River Basin is located, for the purpose of
surveying dam, reservoir, treatment plant, aqueduct, or conduit
locations, studying subsurface conditions affecting the selection of
such locations, and for such other purposes as may be deemed necessary.
(c) Include in its report, for submission to the legislatures of the
signatory States, the statements of views and recommendations, if any,
of the aforesaid agencies.
3. The report, prepared after compliance with the procedures
hereinbefore provided, shall be submitted by the Commission to the
legislatures of the signatory States. The Commission shall have
authority to proceed with the project proposed in the said report when
such report has been approved by the legislatures of all the signatory
States, or by the legislatures of the States of New Jersey and New York
and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
4. Prior to proceeding with any construction which is a part of the
project authorized and described in paragraph 2 of Article I of this
compact, or of any authorized expansion thereof, or of any authorized
new project, the Commission shall submit detailed plans and
specifications for the construction of any structure, or part thereof,
to, and secure the approval of, the appropriate agency or agencies of
the State or States within which such construction is necessary as a
part of the said project.
ARTICLE XII
GRANTS, LOANS, OR PAYMENTS BY STATES OR POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS
1. Any or all of the signatory States, or any political subdivisions
thereof, may after appropriate legislative authorization for that
purpose,
(a) Appropriate to the Commission such funds as may be necessary to
pay preliminary expenses such as the expenses incurred in the making of
borings and other studies of sub-surface conditions, in the preparation
of contracts for the sale of water, and in the preparation of detailed
plans and estimates required for the financing of a construction
project.
(b) advance to the Commission, either as grants or loans, such funds
as may be necessary or convenient to finance the operation and
management of, or construction by, the Commission.
(c) make payments to the Commission for benefits received, or to be
received, from the operation of any of the structures or facilities of
the Commission.
2. Any funds which may be loaned to the Commission either by a
signatory State, or a political subdivision thereof, shall be repaid by
the Commission through the issuance of bonds, or out of other income of
the Commission, such repayment to be made within such period and upon
such terms as may be agreed upon between the Commission and the State or
political subdivision making the loan.
ARTICLE XIII
FINANCING
1. The Commission shall have power and is hereby authorized, from time
to time, to issue its negotiable bonds for any of its authorized
purposes, to issue its bonds to refund bonds issued by it, to issue its
negotiable notes in anticipation of bonds, and to pay its bonds and
notes from revenues of the Commission and the proceeds of its bonds and
other moneys of the Commission, as the resolution authorizing the
issuance may provide:
(a) Refunding bonds may be issued partially to refund bonds then
outstanding and partially for any other of its authorized purposes.
Refunding bonds may be issued whenever the Commission deems expedient,
whether the bonds to be refunded have or have not matured, and may be
exchanged for the bonds to be refunded with such cash adjustments as may
be agreed, or may be sold before the bonds to be refunded become due and
the proceeds applied to the purchase, redemption or payment of the bonds
to be refunded, including interest accrued, and any redemption premiums
payable, thereon.
(b) Except as may be otherwise expressly provided by the Commission,
every issue of bonds shall be general obligations payable out of any
moneys or revenues of the Commission, subject only to any agreements
with the holders of any bonds pledging any moneys or revenues.
(c) Whether or not bonds or notes issued by the Commission are of
such form and character as to be negotiable instruments, such bonds or
notes shall be fully negotiable within the meaning and for all the
purposes of the Negotiable Instruments Law, subject only to any
provisions of the bonds for registration.
(d) The Commission may issue temporary bonds, with or without
coupons, pending the preparation of definitive bonds, exchangeable for
definitive bonds.
(e) Bonds shall be authorized by resolution of the Commission and
shall bear such date or dates, mature at such time or times, bear
interest at such rate or rates not exceeding five per centum per annum,
be in such denominations, be in such form, either coupon or registered,
carry such registration privileges, be executed in such manner, be
payable in such medium of payment and at such place or places, and be
subject to such terms of redemption, as such resolution or resolutions
may provide, but in no event shall the redemption price of a bond exceed
the par value thereof and a premium of four per centum plus accrued
interest. The official seal of the Commission, or a facsimile thereof,
shall be impressed, engraved, or otherwise reproduced on each bond or
note, and be attested by the Secretary or by such other officer or agent
as the Commission shall appoint and authorize. If any officer or
authorized agent whose signature, or a facsimile thereof, shall appear
on any bonds, coupons, or notes, shall cease to be such officer or
authorized agent before the delivery of the bonds or notes, such
signature or such facsimile signature shall be valid and sufficient for
all purposes the same as if he had continued in office until such
delivery. The bonds shall be sold at public sale for a price not less
than ninety-six per centum of the par value thereof plus accrued
interest, provided that the interest cost to maturity of the money for
any issue of such bonds shall not exceed five per centum per annum.
(f) Any resolution of the Commission authorizing the issuance of
bonds may appoint a trustee or trustees, a fiscal agent or fiscal
agents, a paying agent or paying agents, and such other fiduciaries as
such resolution may provide. Any trustee, fiscal agent, paying agent
and other fiduciary so appointed may be any trust company or bank having
the powers of a trust company within any one of the signatory States.
(g) In order to secure the payment of its bonds the Commission shall
have power, in the resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds
(which shall be deemed a contract with the bondholders):
(1) to pledge all or any part of its revenues to which its right then
exists or may thereafter come into existence, and the moneys derived
therefrom, and the proceeds of bonds;
(2) to covenant against pledging all or any part of its revenues, or
against mortgaging all or any part of its real or personal property then
owned or thereafter acquired, or against permitting or suffering any
lien on such revenues or property; to covenant with respect to
limitations on its right to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any
project or any part thereof, or any property of any kind; (3) to
covenant as to the bonds to be issued and the limitations thereon and
the terms and conditions thereof and as to the custody, application and
disposition of the proceeds thereof, and to covenant as to the issuance
of additional bonds or as to limitations on the issuance of additional
bonds and on the incurring of other debts by it;
(4) to provide for the replacement of lost, destroyed or mutilated
bonds;
(5) to provide for the investment of all or a part of its funds on
deposit with the trustee or other fiduciary in such obligations as the
resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds may provide;
(6) to covenant against extending the time for the payment of bonds
or interest thereon; to covenant as to the redemption premiums and other
terms and conditions thereof;
(7) to covenant as to the payment of the principal of or interest on
the bonds, or any other obligations, as to the sources and methods of
such payment, as to the rank or priority of any such bonds or
obligations with respect to any lien or security or as to the
acceleration of the maturity of any such bonds or obligations;
(8) to covenant as to the rates of fees or other charges to be
established and to be charged, and the amount to be raised each year or
other period of time by such charges or other revenues and as to the use
and disposition to be made thereof; to create or authorize the creation
of special funds or moneys to be held in pledge or otherwise for
construction, operating expense, payment or redemption of bonds,
reserves or other purposes and to covenant as to the use and disposition
of the moneys held in such funds;
(9) to establish the procedure, if any, by which the terms of any
contract or covenant with or for the benefit of the bondholders may be
amended or abrogated, the amount of bonds the holders of which must
consent thereto, and the manner in which such consent may be given;
(10) to covenant as to the maintenance of its real and personal
property, the replacement thereof, the insurance to be carried thereon,
and the use and disposition of insurance moneys;
(11) to provide for the rights and liabilities, powers and duties
arising upon the breach of any covenant, condition or obligation; to
prescribe the events of default and the terms and conditions upon which
any or all of the bonds shall become or may be declared due and payable
before maturity and the terms and conditions upon which any such
declaration and its consequences may be waived;
(12) to vest in a trustee or trustees such property, rights, powers
and duties in trust for the bondholders, as the Commission may
determine, which may include any or all of the rights, powers and duties
of the statutory trustee appointed by the holders of bonds pursuant to
sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph 2 of this Article; to limit or abrogate
the rights of the holders of such bonds to appoint such statutory
trustee, or to limit the rights, duties and powers of such statutory
trustee;
(13) to limit the rights of the bondholders to enforce any pledge or
covenant securing the bonds; and
(14) to make covenants other than and in addition to the covenants
herein expressly authorized, of like or different character; and to make
such covenants to do or refrain from doing such acts and things as may
be necessary or convenient or desirable in order to better secure the
bonds or which, in the absolute discretion of the commission, will tend
to make the bonds more marketable, notwithstanding that such covenants,
acts or things may not be enumerated herein.
(h) Any pledge of revenues or other moneys made by the Commission
shall be valid and binding from the time when the pledge is made; the
revenues or other moneys so pledged and thereafter received by the
Commission shall immediately be subject to the lien of such pledge
without any physical delivery thereof or further act, and the lien of
any such pledge shall be valid and binding as against all parties having
claims of any kind in tort, contract or otherwise against the
Commission, irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof.
Neither the resolution nor any other instrument by which a pledge is
created need be filed or recorded except in the records of the
Commission.
(i) Bonds may be issued under the provisions of this compact without
obtaining the consent of any department, division, commission, board,
bureau or agency of any of the signatory States, and without any other
proceedings or the happening of any other conditions or things than
those proceedings, conditions or things which are specifically required
by this compact.
(j) The Commission shall not have power to mortgage real property.
(k) Moneys of the Commission or moneys held in pledge or otherwise
for the payment of bonds or in any way to secure bonds and the deposits
of such moneys may be secured in such manner as the Commission may
require and all banks and trust companies in each of the signatory
States are authorized to give such security therefor.
(l) Neither the members of the Commission nor any person executing
the bonds shall be liable personally on the bonds or be subject to any
personal liability or accountability by reason of the issuance thereof.
(m) The Commission shall have the power to purchase its bonds out of
any funds available therefor. The Commission may refund, or it may
hold, cancel, or resell, such bonds subject to and in accordance with
agreements with bondholders.
2. The following provisions shall be applicable to an issue of bonds
authorized or issued by the Commission, only if the resolution of the
Commission authorizing or providing for the issuance of such bonds shall
provide in substance that the holders of the bonds of such issue shall
be entitled to the benefits and be subject to the provisions of this
paragraph 2:
(a) In the event that there shall be a default in the payment of
principal of or interest on any bonds of such issue after the same shall
become due, whether at maturity or upon call for redemption, and such
default shall continue for a period of thirty days, or in the event that
the Commission shall fail or refuse to comply with the provisions of
this compact or shall fail or refuse to carry out and perform the terms
of any contract or covenant with or for the benefit of the holders of
any such bonds, and such failure or refusal shall continue for a period
of thirty days after written notice by any holder of bonds of such issue
or by a trustee for bondholders to the Commission of its existence and
nature, the holders of twenty-five per centum (25%) in aggregate
principal amount of the bonds of such issue then outstanding by
instrument or instruments filed in the office of the Secretary of State
of each signatory State and proved or acknowledged in the same manner as
a deed to be recorded, may appoint a statutory trustee to represent the
holders of the bonds of such issue for the purposes provided in this
paragraph 2.
(b) Such statutory trustee may and, upon written request of the
holders of twenty-five per centum (25%) in aggregate principal amount of
the bonds of such issue then outstanding, shall, in his or its own name:
(1) by civil action or suit, enforce all rights of the holders of
such bonds, including the right to require the Commission to charge and
collect revenues adequate to carry out any contract as to, or pledge of,
such charges and revenues, and to require the Commission to carry out
and perform the terms of any contract or covenant with or for the
benefit of the holders of such bonds or its duties under this compact;
(2) bring action or suit upon all or any part of such bonds or
interest coupons or claims appurtenant thereto;
(3) by action or suit require the Commission to account as if it were
the trustee of an express trust for the holders of such bonds;
(4) by action or suit enjoin any acts or things which may be unlawful
or in violation of the covenants of the Commission or the rights of the
holders of such bonds; or
(5) declare all such bonds due and payable, whether or not in advance
of maturity, upon thirty days' prior notice in writing to the Commission
and if all defaults shall be made good, then with the consent of the
holders of twenty-five per centum (25%) of the principal amount of such
bonds then outstanding, annul such declaration and its consequences.
(c) Before declaring the principal of all such bonds due and payable
the statutory trustee shall first give thirty days' notice in writing to
the Commission.
(d) Any such statutory trustee, whether or not the issue of bonds
represented by such trustee has been declared due and payable, shall be
entitled as of right to the appointment of a receiver of any part or
parts of the property of the Commission the revenues derived from which
property are pledged for the security of the bonds of such issue and
such receiver may enter and take possession of such part or parts of
such property and subject to any pledge or agreement with bondholders
shall take possession of all moneys and other property derived from or
applicable to the construction, operation, maintenance and
reconstruction of such part or parts of such property and proceed with
any construction thereon which the Commission is under obligation to do
and to operate, maintain and reconstruct such part or parts of the
property and collect and receive all revenues thereafter arising
therefrom subject to any pledge thereof or agreement with bondholders
relating thereto, and perform the public duties and carry out the
agreements and obligations of the Commission under the direction of the
court. In any suit, action or proceeding by the statutory trustee the
fees, counsel fees and expenses of the said trustee and of the receiver,
if any, shall constitute taxable disbursements and all costs and
disbursements allowed by the court shall be a first charge on any
revenues derived from such property.
(e) Such statutory trustee shall, in addition to the foregoing, have
and possess all of the powers necessary or appropriate for the exercise
of any function specifically set forth herein or incident to the general
representation of bondholders in the enforcement and protection of their
rights.
3. Notes issued in anticipation of bonds shall be paid from any moneys
of the Commission available therefor and not otherwise pledged or from
the proceeds of sale of the bonds of the Commission in anticipation of
which they were issued. The notes shall be issued and sold in the same
manner as the bonds and such notes and the resolution or resolutions
authorizing the same may contain any provisions, conditions or
limitations which the bonds or a bond resolution of the Commission may
contain. Such note shall be as fully negotiable as the bonds of the
Commission.
4. Bonds issued by the Commission under the provisions of this compact
are hereby made securities in which any signatory State and all
political subdivisions thereof, their officers, boards, commissions,
departments or other agencies, all banks, bankers, savings banks, trust
companies, savings and loan associations, investment companies and other
persons carrying on a banking business, all insurance companies,
insurance associations, and other persons carrying on an insurance
business, and other fiduciaries, and all other persons whatsoever,
except as hereinafter provided, who now are or may hereafter be
authorized to invest in bonds or other obligations of any signatory
State, may properly and legally invest any funds, including capital
belonging to them or within their control; provided that,
notwithstanding the provisions of any other general or special law to
the contrary, such bonds shall not be eligible for the investment of
funds, including capital, of trusts, estates or guardianships under the
control of individual administrators, guardians, executors, trustees and
other individual fiduciaries. Said bonds or other securities or
obligations are hereby made securities which may properly and legally be
deposited with and received by any State or municipal officers or agency
of any signatory State for any purpose for which the deposit of bonds or
other obligations of such State is now or may hereafter be authorized by
law.
5. Each of the signatory States hereby pledges to and agrees with the
holders of the bonds and notes issued in accordance with the provisions
of this compact, that such State will not limit or restrict the rights
hereby vested in the Commission to maintain, construct, reconstruct, and
operate any project as defined in this compact or to establish and
collect such rents, fees, receipts or other charges as may be convenient
or necessary to produce sufficient revenues to meet the expenses of
maintenance and operation thereof and to fulfill the terms of any
agreements made with the holders of bonds authorized by this compact or
in any way impair the rights or remedies of the holders of such bonds
until the bonds, together with interest thereon, are fully paid and
discharged.
ARTICLE XIV
CREDIT OF SIGNATORY STATES NOT PLEDGED
Bonds or notes issued under the provisions of this compact shall not
be deemed to constitute a debt or liability of any of the signatory
States or of any political subdivision thereof or a pledge of the faith
and credit of any of the signatory States or of any such political
subdivision. All such bonds or notes shall contain on the face thereof
a statement to the effect that none of the signatory States nor any
political subdivision thereof is obligated to pay the same or the
interest thereon and that neither the faith and credit nor the taxing
power of any signatory State or of any political subdivision thereof is
pledged to the payment of the principal of or the interest on such
bonds.
ARTICLE XV
NONIMPAIRMENT OF STATE POWERS
1. Except as provided in Article XVI of this compact, the signatory
States, as of the effective date of this compact, waive, renounce and
release any claim, or alleged claim, of or to a prior appropriation of
the waters of the Delaware river, and waive, renounce and release any
claim or alleged claim, of or to any superior right of appropriation,
diversion or use of said waters.
2. Nothing in this compact shall be construed as impairing the powers
of any signatory State to develop, improve, utilize, control, or
conserve the water resources of the upper Delaware River Basin within
the boundaries of such State; provided, however, that the exercise of
such powers by said State shall not conflict with the power of the
Commission established by this compact with respect to those water
resources authorized to be developed, improved, utilized, controlled, or
conserved by such Commission.
3. Nothing in this compact shall be deemed to authorize the taking in
any of the signatory States of a supply of water from this Commission
unless and until all of the laws of the State, in which the proposed
taking of such water is located, have been complied with, and the
approval of such taking has been secured from the appropriate agency or
agencies of said State having jurisdiction over the taking of water
supplied.
ARTICLE XVI
EXISTING RIGHTS, DEVELOPMENTS AND COMPACTS
1. Nothing in this compact shall be deemed to affect any right of the
States of New Jersey, New York, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the
City of New York, or any of them, granted or reserved by or pursuant to
the decision of the United States Supreme Court in New Jersey versus New
York, et al., (283 U.S. 336), or any modification thereof by that Court.
2. Nothing in any existing compact between any two or more of the
signatory States shall be impaired or invalidated by any of the
provisions of this compact.
ARTICLE XVII
CONSTRUCTION AND SEVERABILITY
The provisions of this compact, or of agreements thereunder, shall be
severable and if any phrase, clause, sentence, or provision of this
compact or such agreement is declared to be unconstitutional or the
applicability thereof to any State, agency, or person is held invalid,
the constitutionality of the remainder of this compact or such agreement
and the applicability thereof to any other State, agency, person, or
circumstance shall not be affected thereby. It is the legislative intent
that the provisions of this compact be reasonably and liberally
construed.
ARTICLE XVIII
EFFECTIVE DATE
1. This compact shall enter into force and become effective and
binding between the States of New Jersey and New York and the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania when (a) it has been adopted and enacted
into law by the respective legislatures of the said States and
Commonwealth, and (b) it has been signed by the respective Governors of
the said States and Commonwealth, after authorization therefor by their
respective legislatures, and has been attested by the Secretary of the
State of each of said States and Commonwealth and the Seal of each of
said States and Commonwealth has been affixed thereto, and (c) the
Congress of the United States of America has consented thereto.
2. This compact shall become effective and binding with respect to the
State of Delaware, either at the same time it becomes effective and
binding between the States of New Jersey and New York and the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as provided in the first paragraph of this
Article or at any time thereafter, when (a) it has been adopted and
enacted into law by the legislature of the State of Delaware, and (b) it
has been signed by the Governor of the State of Delaware, after
authorization therefor by the legislature thereof, and has been attested
by the Secretary of State of the State and the Seal of that State has
been affixed thereto.
3. This compact shall be signed, attested, and sealed in five
originals, one original to be forwarded to the Governor of each
signatory State for filing in accordance with the laws of that State and
one original to be deposited in the archives of the Commission upon its
establishment.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, and in evidence of the adoption and enactment into
law of this compact by the legislatures of the respective States, the
respective Governors of the signatory States do hereby, in accordance
with authority conferred by the legislatures of their respective States,
sign this compact in five originals, as attested by the respective
Secretaries of State of the said States, and have caused the respective
Seals of the said States to be hereunto affixed,
this...................day of......................,19....
Disclaimer: These codes may not be the most recent version. New York may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
