William O. Douglas

“ Inundation of the land will deprive those units of much of the tax revenue, so that many will be practically destroyed and the remainder seriously hampered. Since the state derives much of its revenue from a gross production tax on oil and gas, it will suffer great losses in tax revenues from the inundation of the oil and gas lands. The 'annual wealth production' to the citizens of Oklahoma from the lands in the reservoir basin is about $1,500,000. ”

“ The bill alleges that Oklahoma will be injured in the following manner by construction of the project: The greater part of the dam will rest on Oklahoma soil and will form a reservoir inundating about 150,000 acres of land, of which 100,000 acres are located in Oklahoma. Of those acres about 3,800 are owned by the state. The United States will acquire title to the inundated land. The land owned by the state is used for school purposes, for a prison farm, for highways, rights of way, and bridges. The basin to be inundated is inhabited by about 8,000 Oklahoma citizens. ”

“ There is no complaint that any property owner will not receive just compensation for the land taken. The possible adverse effect on the tax revenues of Oklahoma as a result of the exercise by the federal government of its power of eminent domain is no barrier to the exercise of that power. ”

“ From this history it is plain that this project, which is part of a comprehensive flood control plan, is designed to control the watershed of one of the principal tributaries of the Mississippi in alleviation of floods in the lower Red River and Mississippi valleys. The Red River, sixth in length among rivers in the United States, has one of the largest watersheds in the country, draining an area about 50 per cent larger than New England-an area of 91,430 square miles, of which 38,291 square miles are above the dam site. ”

“ And the history of the Red River valley shows that it has long been plagued by such disasters and burdened by their costs. [20]
Floods pay no respect to state lines. [21] Their effective control in the Mississippi valley has become increasingly a subject of national concern [22] in recognition of the fact that single states are impotent to cope with them effectively. The methods of dealing with them have elicited a contrariety of views. [23]
The idea of reservoir control on the tributaries of the Mississippi is not new. ”

“ Much of the land is rich soil in a high state of cultivation. Much of it has large potential oil reserves. On some of it there are large producing oil wells and on other parts there are drilling operations and exploration for oil and gas. At least 15,000 acres will be highly productive oil lands and at least 50,000 acres are underlaid with oil and gas. ”

“ It is sufficient for us that Congress has exercised its commerce power, though other purposes will also be served. Id., 283 U.S. page 456, 51 S.Ct. page 526, 75 L.Ed. 1154.
But Oklahoma points out that the Denison Reservoir is a multiple purpose project, [39] combining functionally and physically separate and unrelated purposes. It says that only the top 40 feet of the dam is set apart for flood control and that the lower portions of the dam are designed for the power project and are neither useful or necessary for flood control. ”

“ More than 500,000 persons were driven from their homes and suffered great discomfort and distress. Highway and railway communications were severed and business and industrial activities were completely disrupted for several weeks. Relief agencies were taxed to the utmost to provide for the flood refugees. ”

“ They demonstrate tha in operation of the dam the several functions will be interdependent and that the conflicts between the respective requirements of flood control and power development are here more apparent than real. [56] They show that this is nonetheless a flood control project which will 'fully control the maximum flood of record', [57] though power, it is hoped, will pay the way. Whether the work of flood-control, including river flow, would be better done by a dam of one design or another is for Congress to determine. ”

“ It rises near the east edge of New Mexico, flows easterly about 850 miles across the Texas Panhandle and between the states of Oklahoma and Texas to Fulton, Arkansas. From there it flows south and southeast some 460 miles and enters the Mississippi at Red River Landing. The site of the Denison dam is 228 miles up the river from Fulton. ”