Special Message to the Senate Transmitting Treaty With Canada Concerning Uses of the Waters of the Niagara River.

To the Senate of the United States:

With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith a treaty between the United States of America and Canada concerning uses of the waters of the Niagara River, signed at Washington February 27, 1950, together with a report of the Secretary of State.

This treaty is necessary in order to make definite and permanent allocations of Niagara River water for domestic, scenic, navigation and power purposes. At present these allocations are governed by an obsolete and inadequate set of international agreements.

The new treaty is designed to preserve and enhance the scenic beauty of Niagara Falls and to prescribe how much water, consistent with this purpose, may be diverted for power purposes in the two countries.

Today the beauty of the Falls--particularly of the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side--is impaired by uneven distribution of the waters over the crest, and concentrated flows are accelerating erosion. The treaty makes positive provision to correct this situation by providing for the construction of works designed to spread the waters over the Falls in an unbroken crestline and reduce the concentrated flows over parts of the crest.

The treaty reserves the necessary amounts of water for the scenic beauty of the Fails, as well as for domestic and sanitary purposes and for navigation, and provides that the remaining water shall be available for power and shall be divided equally between the United States and Canada.

The flow of water between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is the greatest potential source of hydroelectric power at one location on this continent. For many years, some of this water has been used to produce hydroelectric power. The International Boundary Waters Treaty, signed January 11, 1909, authorized some diversion for power purposes, and exchanges of notes between the United States and Canada in 1941 and 1948 provided for additional temporary diversions to meet emergency needs. In all, some 82,000 cubic feet of water per second has been authorized to be diverted for power purposes, of which 56,000 cubic feet is on a permanent basis, and some 1,290,000 kilowatts of power capacity have been installed on both sides of the border.

For some time, it has been evident that much more hydroelectric power can be produced from the Niagara River without detriment to navigation or to the scenic beauty of Niagara Falls. In September, 1949, the staff of the Federal Power Commission reported that by using the water which can properly be made available for power, through modern, efficient generating facilities, some 1,250,000 kilowatts of net additional power capacity can be developed in the United States. The Federal Power Commission staff report did not, of course, cover in detail the additional capacity which might be added on the Canadian side, where more water is already being used than in the United States. It is evident, however, that several hundred thousand kilowatts of additional power can also be made available in Canada.

Thus, the new treaty will permit the development of substantial amounts of low cost power, in an area of urgent need, without detriment to the scenic beauty of the Fails. I believe it is a fair and wise treaty, which protects all legitimate interests, and I recommend its approval by the Senate.

It is clear that the additional power to be produced from the Niagara River should be considered in relation to other sources of hydroelectric power in the northeastern United States, particularly the St. Lawrence seaway and power project which is in the same watershed.

The St. Lawrence project is urgently needed, of course, not only as a source of additional power, but equally as an additional avenue of transportation. Considered from the power point of view alone, however, both the Niagara and St. Lawrence sources are badly needed. The national security and the economic growth of this part of the country require that additional sources of low cost power should be rapidly developed. The staff of the Federal Power Commission found that the need for power in the northeastern part of the country is so great that the additional power from the Niagara River, together with that to be made available from the St. Lawrence seaway and power project, can all be used in New York and adjacent States as soon as the necessary works can be constructed.

When the Niagara treaty has been ratified, the question will naturally arise as to how additional facilities shall be developed to achieve the best use of water to be diverted for power purposes. My own views on this question are a matter of public record; I believe that the additional power facilities should be publicly constructed, in order that the benefits of the hydroelectric power produced there can be passed on to the people at the lowest possible cost to them.

This is a question, however, which is not determined by the treaty itself. It is a question which we in the United States must settle under our own procedures and laws. It would not be appropriate either for this country or for Canada to require that an international agreement between them contain the solution of what is entirely a domestic problem. All this treaty does is to make additional water legally available for power purposes in each of the two countries. This is a step which must be taken in the interest of the United States. It is one which should be left separate from the steps which must be taken in this country in order to convert this water into additional power.

Accordingly, I urge the Senate to consider this treaty promptly, in order that this hydroelectric power, badly needed in the United States and Canada, can be made available at the earliest possible time.

HARRY S. TRUMAN