PRINTER'S NO. 1937
No. 183 Session of 1998
INTRODUCED BY MUSTO, HELFRICK, PICCOLA, STOUT, WAGNER, BODACK,
WOZNIAK, GERLACH, STAPLETON, BRIGHTBILL, COSTA, BELAN,
WENGER, MELLOW AND RHOADES, APRIL 24, 1998
REFERRED TO INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, APRIL 24, 1998
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging the United States Government to fulfill its financial
2 obligation under the Susquehanna River Basin Compact.
3 WHEREAS, The Susquehanna River represents one of
4 Pennsylvania's and one of the mid-Atlantic region's most
5 important water resources, draining an area of 27,510 square
6 miles and flowing through the states of New York, Pennsylvania
7 and Maryland; and
8 WHEREAS, The Susquehanna River provides 50% of the freshwater
9 flowing to the Chesapeake Bay and is classified by the Federal
10 Government as a navigable waterway, factors which emphasize its
11 significance to state, regional and national interests; and
12 WHEREAS, The Congress of the United States created the
13 Susquehanna River Basin Compact in recognition of the need to
14 coordinate the efforts of the three states and Federal agencies
15 and to establish a management system to oversee the use of water
16 and related natural resources of the Susquehanna River; and
17 WHEREAS, The Compact was enacted by the legislatures of New
1 York State, Pennsylvania and Maryland and Congress and was
2 signed into law on December 24, 1970, to provide a mechanism to
3 guide the conservation, development and administration of the
4 water resources of the river basin; and
5 WHEREAS, The Compact established the Susquehanna River Basin
6 Commission as the agency to coordinate the water resources
7 efforts of the three states and the Federal Government and
8 provided the Commission with authority for management and
9 protection of flood plains, water supplies, water quality,
10 watersheds, recreation, fish and wildlife, and cultural, visual
11 and other amenities; and
12 WHEREAS, Section 14.3 of the Compact calls for an equitable
13 apportionment of the Commission's annual expense budget among
14 the signatory parties to the Compact; and
15 WHEREAS, The United States of America is a duly constituted
16 signatory party to the Compact; and
17 WHEREAS, In Fiscal Years 1996, 1997 and 1998, the Commission
18 duly submitted its approved budgets to the President's Office of
19 Management and Budget (OMB) and Congress; and
20 WHEREAS, The United States failed to provide full funding in
21 Fiscal Year 1996 and failed to provide any funding in Fiscal
22 Years 1997 and 1998 for the Commission's current expense budget
23 and has therefore not met the "equitable" funding requirement of
24 section 14.3 of the Compact; and
25 WHEREAS, The Commission also has adopted and duly submitted
26 to OMB a current expense budget for Fiscal Year 1999 that
27 includes an apportionment for the Federal Government in the
28 amount of $400,000; and
29 WHEREAS, The cumulative shortfall of Federal funding to the
30 Commission since Fiscal Year 1996 is $1.218 million; and
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1 WHEREAS, The Commission pays the Federal Government
2 approximately $3.8 million per year to purchase storage in the
3 Cowanesque and Curwensville Flood Control Reservoirs; and
4 WHEREAS, The Commission is the agent of Congress in the
5 allocation of the waters of the basin among the signatory
6 states; and
7 WHEREAS, The Commission, through its regulations and
8 programs, protects interstate waters and the Chesapeake Bay and
9 provides a forum for the prevention and settlement of interstate
10 disputes that arise over the use of interstate waters; and
11 WHEREAS, Through these interstate functions and many other of
12 its programs and activities such as the coordination of the
13 basin flood forecasting and warning system, the Commission saves
14 the Federal Government time, resources and money, thus advancing
15 the welfare of the nation; and
16 WHEREAS, On January 15, 1998, the members of the Commission
17 adopted Resolution No. 98-01, authorizing the Commission to
18 offset from payment of moneys made to the Federal Government a
19 sum not to exceed the amount apportioned to the United States in
20 the Commission's officially adopted current expense budget and
21 unpaid by the Federal Government since Fiscal Year 1996; and
22 WHEREAS, Resolution No. 98-01 provides that this offset
23 authority will continue in force as long as the United States
24 fails to fund the amount apportioned to the Federal Government
25 in the Commission's current expense budget; and
26 WHEREAS, Resolution 98-01 stipulates that the amount to be
27 withheld in the current fiscal year is $1.218 million; therefore
28 be it
29 RESOLVED, That the Senate of Pennsylvania support the
30 Commission's decision to withhold from the Federal Government a
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1 portion of its reservoir storage payments equal to the amount
2 owed by the Federal Government for its share of the Commission's
3 operating budgets for Fiscal Years 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999
4 until such time as the Federal Government provides these funds;
5 and be it further
6 RESOLVED, That the Senate of Pennsylvania urge the President
7 of the United States and Congress to provide the Commission with
8 funding in an amount equal to what is owed for the Federal
9 Government's share of the Commission's operating budgets for
10 Fiscal Years 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999; and be it further
11 RESOLVED, That the Senate of Pennsylvania urge the President
12 of the United States and Congress to fulfill the Federal
13 Government's obligation under the Susquehanna River Basin
14 Compact to annually contribute an equitably apportioned share of
15 the Commission's future operating budgets; and be it further
16 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
17 the President of the United States, to the presiding officers of
18 each house of Congress and to each member of Congress from
19 Pennsylvania.
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