Chap. 324.—An ACT to authorize the Governor to execute, on behalf of the Com-
monwealth, a certain compact with certain other states and the District of
Columbia, said compact relating to the creation of a Potomac Valley Conser-
vancy District and an Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, and
to the powers, duties and functions thereof; and to create a Potomac River
Basin Commission of Virginia, under certain conditions, to prescribe and provide
for the appointment, terms of office, removal, compensation, powers and duties
of the said Commission and the members thereof, and to appropriate certain
funds to the said Commission. {H B 399]

Approved March 29, 1940

1. Beit enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia as follows:

Section 1. The Governor is hereby authorized and directed to
execute, on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a compact with
the states of Maryland and West Virginia, the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, or with such of the same
as shall, by their respective legislative bodies, enact legislation with
like provisions to those of this act, but not with such of the same as
shall not so enact such legislation, which compact shall be in form
substantially as follows:

Whereas it is recognized that abatement of existing pollution and
the control of future pollution of interstate streams can best be pro-
moted through a joint agency representing the several states located
wholly or in part within the area drained by any such interstate
stream; and

Whereas the Congress of the United States has given its consent
to the states of Maryland and West Virginia, the Commonwealths of
Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the District of Columbia to enter
into a compact providing for the creation of a conservancy district to
consist of the drainage basin of the Potomac River and the main
and tributary streams therein, for the purpose of regulating, con-
trolling, preventing, or otherwise rendering unobjectionable and
harmless the pollution of the waters of said Potomac drainage area
by sewage and industrial and other wastes:

Now, therefore, the states of Maryland and West Virginia, the
Commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the District of
Columbia, hereinafter designated signatory bodies, do hereby create
the Potomac Valley Conservancy District, hereinafter designated the
Conservancy District, comprising all of the area drained by the
Potomac River and its tributaries; and also, do hereby create the
Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, hereinafter
designated the Commission, under the articles of organization as set
forth below.

ARTICLE I

The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin shall
consist of three members from each signatory body and three mem-
bers appointed by the President of the United States. Said Com-
missioners, other than those appointed by the President, shall be
chosen in a manner and for the terms provided by law of the signatory
body from which they are appointed and shall serve without com-
pensation from the Commission but shall be paid by the Commission
their actual expenses incurred and incident to the performance of
their duties.

(A) The Commission shall meet and organize within thirty days
after the effective date of this compact, shall elect from its number a
chairman and vice-chairman, shall adopt suitable by-laws, shall
make, adopt, and promulgate such rules and regulations as are neces-
sary for its management and control, and shall adopt a seal.

(B) The Commission shall appoint and, at its pleasure, remove
or discharge such officers and legal, engineering, clerical, expert and
other assistants as may be required to carry the provisions of this
compact into effect, and shall determine their qualifications and fix
their duties and compensation. Such personnel as may be em-
ployed shall be employed without regard to any civil service or other
similar requirements for employees of any of the signatory bodies.
The Commission may maintain one or more officers for the transaction
of its business and may meet at any time or place within the area of
the Conservancy District.

(C) The Commission shall keep accurate accounts of all receipts
and disbursements and shall make an annual report thereof and
shall in such report set forth in detail the operations and transactions
conducted by it pursuant to this compact. The Commission, how-
ever, shall not incur any obligations for administrative or other
expenses prior to the making of appropriations adequate to meet the
same nor shall it in any way pledge the credit of any of the signatory
bodies. Each of the signatory bodies reserves the right to make at
any time an examination and audit of the accounts of the Commission.

(D) A quorum of the Commission shall, for the transaction of
business, the exercise. of any powers, or the performance of any
duties, consist of at least a majority of the members of the Commis-
sion; provided, however, that no action of the Commission relating
to policy shall be binding on any one of the signatory bodies unless
at least two of the Commissioners from such signatory body shall
vote in favor thereof.

ARTICLE II

The Commission shall have the power and its duties shall be:

(A) To coordinate, tabulate, and summarize technical and other
data now available, or as shall become available in the future from
any source, on the pollution of the streams of the Conservancy District
and on the character and conditions of such streams, and to prepare
reports thereon annually and at such other times as may be deemed
advisable by the Commission.

(B) To supplement existing information and data, and to secure
new data by such investigations, analyses, or other means as may be
necessary to secure adequate information on the character and condi-
tion of the streams of the Conservancy District as they now exist
or may be affected by the future discharge of sewage and industrial
and other wastes into the said stream.

(C) To cooperate with the legislative and administrative agencies
of the signatory bodies, or the equivalent thereof, and with other in-
terested commissions and similar organizations for the purpose of
promoting uniform laws, rules or regulations for the abatement and
control of pollution of streams in the said Conservancy District.

(D) To disseminate to the public information on the aims and
purposes of the Commission and on the harmful and uneconomical
results of stream pollution, through the issuance of bulletins, cir-
culars, correspondence, literature and reports.

(E) To cooperate with other organizations engaged in fact-
finding and research activities on the treatment of sewage and in-
dustrial wastes or other wastes, and if deemed advisable, to institute
and conduct such research and fact-finding activities.

(F) To make and, if needful from time to time, revise and to
recommend to the signatory bodies, reasonable minimum standards
for the treatment of sewage and industrial or other wastes now dis-
charged or to be discharged in the future to the streams of the Con-
servancy District, and also, for cleanliness of the various streams in
the Conservancy District.

ARTICLE III

The moneys necessary to finance the Commission in the adminis-
tration of its business in the Conservancy District shall be provided
through appropriations from the signatory bodies and the United
States, in the manner prescribed by the laws of the several signatory

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The pro rata contribution shall be based on such factors as popula-
tion, the amount of industrial and domestic pollution; and a flat
service charge, as shall be determined from time to time by the
Commission, subject, however, to the approval, ratification and appro-
priation of such contribution by the several signatory bodies. And,
further, provided, that the total of such sums from signatory bodies
shall not exceed a total of $30,000 per annum.

ARTICLE IV

Pursuant to the aims and purposes of this compact, the signatory
bodies mutually agree:

1. Faithful cooperation in the abatement of existing pollution
and the prevention of future pollution in the streams of the Con-
servancy District.

2. The enactment of adequate and, in so far as is practicable,
uniform legislation for the abatement and control of such pollution.

3. The appropriation of biennial sums on the proportionate basis
as set forth in Article III.

ARTICLE V

This compact shall become effective immediately after it shall
have been ratified by the majority of the legislatures of the states of
Maryland and West Virginia, the Commonwealths of Pennsylvania
and Virginia, and by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia,
and approved by the Congress of the United States; provided, how-
ever, that this compact shall not be effective as to any signatory body
until ratified thereby.

ARTICLE VI

Any signatory body may by legislative act, after one year’s notice
to the Commission, withdraw from this compact.

Section 2. (a) There is hereby created a commission of three
members to be known as the Potomac River Basin Commission of
Virginia, but the said commission shall not come into being unless
and until the Governor shall have executed the compact hereinabove
authorized. If and when the Governor shall have executed the said
compact, the members of the said commission shall be appointed by
the Governor and shall hold office for terms of four years each, subject
to suspension or removal by the Governor. Appointments to fill
vacancies shall be made for the respective unexpired terms. One of
the members so appointed shall be a resident of the Potomac River
drainage basin, but if such member should cease to be a resident of
the said basin his term of office shall thereupon terminate and his
office become vacant. One member shall be appointed from the
membership of the Virginia Commission on Interstate Cooperation,
but if such member should cease to be a member of the Virginia Com-
mission on Interstate Cooperation his term of office shall thereupon
terminate and his office become vacant. The other member shall be
appointed at large. One of the members shall be designated by the
Governor as chairman. The members of said commission shall be
paid their expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as
such in such manner and amount as shall be provided in the compact
hereinabove authorized to be executed.

(b) The Potomac River Basin Commission of Virginia is hereby
authorized and empowered, and it shall be its duty, if and when it
shall come into existence as hereinabove provided, to act jointly with
commissions appointed for like purpose by the states of West Virginia
and Maryland, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the District
of Columbia, or by such of the same as shall enter into the said com-
pact and with an additional three members to be appointed by the
President of the United States, as a unit of the Interstate Commis-
sion on the Potomac River Basin which shall be constituted as pro-
vided by the compact hereinabove mentioned. The Potomac River
Basin Commission of Virginia shall perform such further duties as
shall be provided by.the said compact.

Section 3. There is hereby appropriated to the Potomac River
Basin Commission of Virginia, if and when it shall come into existence
as hereinabove provided, out of any moneys in the State treasury not
otherwise appropriated, the sum of twenty-four hundred dollars for
each year during the biennium ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred
and forty-two, or so much thereof as shall be necessary to carry out
the purposes of this act and of the compact executed hereunder, which
funds shall be used for the support and expenses of the Interstate
Commission on the Potomac River Basin and for no other purpose.
Disbursements from the fund so appropriated shall be made by the
State treasurer on warrants of the Comptroller issued upon vouchers
signed by the chairman of the Potomac River Basin Commission of
Virginia, or by such other person or persons as may be designated by
the said commission for the purpose.