Mr. ELLENDER, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H.R. 17787]

The Committee on Appropriations, to which was referred the bill H.R. 17787) making appropriations for certain civil functions administered by the Department of Defense, the Panama Canal, certain agencies of the Department of the Interior, the Atomic Energy Commission, the Atlantic-Pacific Interoceanic Canal Study Commission, Le Delaware River Basin Commission, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Water Resources Council, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1967, and for other purposes, reports the same to the Senate with various amendments and presents herewith information relative to the changes

made:

The committee recommends $15,348,000, which is $250,000 above the budget estimate and the amount allowed by the House.

The funds appropriated under this heading are to cover the cost of maintenance and operation of the national cemetery system; the purchase of headstones and markers for unmarked graves; and the maintenance of that portion of Congressional Cemetery to which the United States has title, Confederate burial places under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Army, and graves used by the Army in commercial cemeteries.

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The funds recommended for fiscal year 1967 represent an increase of $1,542,000 over the amount appropriated for fiscal year 1966. this amount, $188,000 will be required under operation and_maintenance to defray the cost of maintenance of the additional areas developed in existing cemeteries. An increase of $506,000 will be necessary for the procurement of an additional 19,200 headstones estimated to be required in fiscal year 1967 over the number for fiscal year 1966; and $28,000 additional is provided for administrative expenses. An increase of $570,000 will be required for construction at 14 sites in 13 cemeteries. The Senate increase of $250,000 over the budget estimate and the amount allowed by the House is for the acquisition of additional land for the following national cemeteries: Beverly National Cemetery, Beverly, N.J., $125,000; Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, Calif., $50,000; Fort Rosencrans National Cemetery, San Diego, Calif., $50,000; Fort Harrison National Cemetery, Richmond, Va., $12,500; and Camp Nelson National Cemetery, Nicholasville, Ky., $12,500. The committee action is intended to meet a current emergency with respect to the aforementioned cemeteries pending a discussion as to the future Federal policy with respect to the continued operation of national cemeteries.

CORPS OF ENGINEERS

The budget estimate of the Corps of Engineers civil functions amounting to $1,280,470,000 compares with an appropriation of $1,324,370,500 for fiscal year 1966. The bill as passed by the House provided $1,273,945,000. The House added 24 unbudgeted construction items under "Construction, general." The Senate Appropriations Committee recommends $1,294,833,000, which includes an additional 14 new construction starts and restoration of certain House cuts.

The budget estimate included 25 new construction starts involving future commitments of $235,459,000. The 24 new starts added by the House involve a future commitment of $331,188,000. The future commitment of the 14 new starts recommended by the Senate committee amounts to $238,742,000. The bill as reported to the Senate provides for 63 new construction starts involving a future commitment of $805,389,000, or less than the appropriation for construction for 1 year at the current rate of appropriations.

The committee desires to provide funds at a rate consistent with the current pressing needs for water resources development. However, the committee is cognizant of the large financial requirements for meeting our commitments in Vietnam. Accordingly, while minimum progress will be made on water resources development, it is far below that which would be desirable, and the amount recommended is $29,537,500 below the appropriation for last year.

IMPENDING WATER SHORTAGES

The President has always recognized the absolute necessity for conserving, preserving, and developing the water resources of our Nation if we are to meet the challenges of tomorrow as well as the challenges of the year 2000. As recently as September 3, 1966, in dedicating the Summersville Dam in West Virginia, the President said, "In a sense, the whole story of man is revealed in his search for dependable water supplies. Where there has been too little, wars have been fought over what there was. Where there has been too much, great cities and flourishing agriculture have been engulfed and destroyed. Where there was enough-and where people could depend upon it and where the people could control it civilization has blossomed and has endured." The President then stated that, "We have committed ourselves to a water for peace program." He announced that our Government will sponsor an International Conference on Water for Peace to be held in the Nation's Capital next May 23 through 31.

The race for an adequate supply of good quality water is not only the problem of others, it is a very real and pressing problem in this country. For years we have become accustomed to the need of the arid West to develop and preserve its water resources. More recently, the receding water tables in the vast Mississippi Valley, and prolonged droughts along the eastern seaboard are focusing the attention of the Nation on the absolute necessity for embarking now on an aggressive plan to meet the current and future water supply needs of the Nation.

EVALUATION OF WATER RESOURCE PROJECTS

Not

Last year the committee expressed its concern over the unduly restrictive nature of the criteria for evaluating navigation benefits issued by the Chief of Engineers under date of November 20, 1964. Time has shown that the committee's concern was well founded. a single waterway project was recommended under the new criteria. More important, however, even the Bureau of the Budget recently recognized the difficulties in the use of the so-called water compelled rates and advised members of the committee, under date of May 4, 1966, that existing instructions would be revised to eliminate the use of water compelled rates. Subsequently, on August 24, the Bureau of the Budget rescinded the previous instructions pending the development of satisfactory techniques for evaluating projects on a cost basis. The cost basis under consideration by the Bureau of the Budget will, in effect, be based on a comparison of incremental costs by rail compared with fully distributed costs by water. Entirely aside from the logic of such an unrealistic comparison, there is the very real proble of obtaining any meaningful cost data on rail costs.

Recognizing the importance of navigation in the comprehensive development of our water resources, the Senate, in acting on the bill to establish a Department of Transportation defined the term "Pri

mary Navigation Benefits." When finally enacted by Congress, this will prevent such an unrealistic method of evaluation.

The committee is keenly aware of the disruptive effect these directives have had on the planning of both navigation and multiplepurpose projects, and urges that no hasty decisions be made with respect to any revision of standards and criteria for the evaluation of water resource projects.

In order that the Congress can be kept currently informed of any proposed changes in criteria for the evaluation of water resource projects, the Chief of Engineers is requested to promptly inform the Appropriations and Public Works Committees of the House and Senate of any such proposed changes in the criteria for the evaluation of water resource projects.

RIVERS AND HARBORS AND FLOOD CONTROL

The committee recommendation of $32,575,000 represents a modest increase in the overall survey program and is considered the minimum consistent with the urgent need to accelerate the development of our water resources to meet the needs of our expanding population. The significance of that statement can be best illustrated by reflection on the meaning of the population forecasts of our experts who tell us that our population is going to jump from 195 million to something like 362 million in the next 33 or 34 years. It took until 1930 to reach a population of 100 million, and the next 100 million was reached in about 37 years, but in the next 33 or 34 years the population is expected to increase by an additional 162 million. The urgency of planning now for the water requirements in the year 2000 can be demonstrated by an analysis of the projects in the last authorization act. The average time required from the date of the authorization of the study to the authorization of the improvements recommended in the reports was 10 years and 8 months. A major reservoir project requires at least 3 additional years of detailed planning and 5 years of construction. It is evident, therefore, that, on an average, a leadtime of 18 or 19 years is required from the time a study is authorized to the time the first major unit is completed.

The committee is of the opinion that in view of the wealth of information collected over the years by the Federal and State agencies concerned with water resource development ways and means must be found to reduce the cost and time required for the completion of review reports. If a practical means of reducing the cost of these investigations cannot be found, the only alternative is a substantial increase in appropriations for general investigations in future years.

As in the past, the committee prefers not to make specific allocations of its increases to individual investigations. It desires, however, to call to the attention of the Corps of Engineers the testimony concerning the need for increased amounts for surveys contained in its tentative allocation of the budget recommendation and expects that additional funds will be applied to those surveys where feasible. In the allocation of the balance of the increase recommended, it is desired that careful consideration be given to the needs of those areas for which testimony was presented to the committee.

INVESTIGATION COORDINATION

The committee shares the concern of the House committee with respect to duplication of general investigations, and expects that in the future increased efforts will be made by the Federal and State agencies involved in water resource studies to coordinate their studies so as to reduce the number of separate reports covering the same area. The House committee deleted $75,000 requested by the Bureau of Reclamation for a continuation of a reconnaissance study of the southern California coastal project because it appears to duplicate extensive investigations of local and State agencies as well as of the Corps of Engineers.

In its report the House committee expressed the view that any essential work required in this area by the Bureau should be conducted by transfer of funds from within the amount appropriated to the Corps of Engineers. The committee concurs in the views of the House committee and directs that not to exceed $50,000 shall be transferred to the Bureau of Reclamation for any supplemental additional work in this area required by the Bureau of Reclamation.

ALLOCATION OF COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The allocation of funds recommended by the committee is shown in the following table: