VETOES

the Governors of the basin states and charged with developing an
institutional arrangement to adequately manage the water and
related land resources of the Potomac River Basin. The Compact
is modeled after the existing Delaware River Basin Compact and
the Susquehanna River Basin Compact, and provides for
comprehensive multistate water resources management and
regulation for the entire Potomac River Basin. The Compact was
enacted by the Virginia General Assembly in 1970 and by the
Maryland General Assembly in 1971. The Compact was introduced in
the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1972, but was never acted
upon. West Virginia has refused to introduce the Compact in
their legislative program. Since all the states have not acted
on the Compact, it is not operative.

As a result of the failure to ratify the Compact by West
Virginia and Pennsylvania, the Potomac River Basin Advisory
Committee revised the proposed Compact to reduce the area of its
jurisdiction and limit it to the drainage area in Maryland,
Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The revised Compact was
to be entitled "Potomac Water Resources Regional Compact", and
was essentially the same as the Potomac River Basin Compact
except for its area of jurisdiction. This Compact was submitted
to the Maryland General Assembly in 1976 as HB 1031 and failed in
committee.

The Department of Natural Resources reports that if the
Compact were to become active now it would duplicate most
activities of the Water Resources Administration in the
Department. The Compact is considered to be no longer useful
within the Department's present management and regulatory scheme.
The Department of Natural Resources recommends repealing the
Potomac River Basin Compact enabling legislation, codified as
Natural Resources Article, § 8-301, Preamble and Section 1.01
through Section .15.21, inclusive; now, therefore,

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Potomac River Basin Compact is repealed in its
entirety, including the Preamble and Sections 1.01 through 15.21,
inclusive, of the Compact, all of which is codified in § 8-301 of
the Natural Resources Article.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall
take effect July 1, 1987.

June 2, 1987
The Honorable Thomas V. Mike Miller
President of the Senate
State House

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