KRS 224.18-780: Tennessee River Basin Water Pollution Control Compact.

The Tennessee River Basin Water Pollution Control Compact is enacted and entered into

by the Commonwealth of Kentucky as a party and is of full force and effect as between

the Commonwealth of Kentucky and any other state of the Tennessee River Basin Water

Pollution Control District that has entered into the compact. The compact is as follows:

ARTICLE I

The purpose of this Compact is to promote effective control and reduction of

pollution in the waters of the Tennessee River Basin through increased cooperat ion of the

states of the Basin, coordination of pollution control activities and programs in the Basin,

and the establishment of a joint interstate commission to assist in these efforts.

ARTICLE II

The party states hereby create the "Tennessee River Basin Water Pollution Control

Commission," hereinafter referred to as the "Commission," which shall be an agency of

each party state with the powers and duties set forth herein, and such others as shall be

conferred upon it by the party states or by the Congres s of the United States concurred in

by the party states.

ARTICLE III

A. The party states hereby create the "Tennessee River Basin Water Pollution

Control District," hereinafter called the "District," which consists of the area drained by

the Tennessee River and its tributaries.

B. From time to time the Commission may conduct surveys of the Basin, study

the pollution problems of the Basin, and make comprehensive reports concerning the

prevention or reduction of water pollution therein. The Commission may d raft and

recommend to the parties hereto suggested legislation dealing with the pollution of waters

within the Basin or any portion thereof. Upon request of a state water pollution control

agency, and in a manner agreed upon by such agency and the Commissi on, the

Commission shall render advice concerning the various governments, communities,

municipalities, persons, corporations or other entities with regard to particular problems

connected with the pollution of waters. The Commission shall present to the a ppropriate

officials of any government or agency thereof its recommendations relating to enactments

to be made by any legislature in furthering the intents and purposes of this Article. The

Commission, upon request of a member state or upon its own instanc e may, after proper

study, and after conducting public hearings, recommend minimum standards of water

quality to be followed in the several areas of the District.

ARTICLE IV

The Commission shall consist of three Commissioners from each state, each of

whom shall be a resident voter of such state. The Commissioners shall be chosen in the

manner and for the terms provided by the laws of the state from which they are appointed,

and each Commissioner may be removed or suspended from office as provided by the law

of the state from which he is appointed.

ARTICLE V

A. The Commission shall elect annually from its members a Chairman and a

Vice Chairman to serve at its pleasure. It shall adopt a seal and suitable bylaws for its

management and control. The Commission is hereby authorized to adopt, prescribe and

promulgate rules and regulations for administering and enforcing all provisions of this

Compact. It may maintain one or more offices for the transaction of its business.

Meetings shall be held at least once each year. It may determine duties, qualifications and

compensation for and appoint such employees and consultants as may be necessary and

remove or replace them.

B. The Commission shall not compensate the Commissioners for their services

but shall pay their actual expenses incurred in and incidental to the performance of their

duties.

C. The Commission may acquire, by gift or otherwise, and may hold and dispose

of such real and personal property as may be appropriate to the performance of its

functions. In the event of sale of real property, proceeds may be distributed among the

several party states, each state's share being computed in a ratio t o its contributions; and

in the event of dissolution of the Commission, the property and assets shall be disposed

of and proceeds distributed in a like manner.

D. Each Commissioner shall have one vote. One or more Commissioners from a

majority of the part y states shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but

no action of the Commission imposing any obligation on any party state or any

municipality, person, corporation or other entity therein shall be binding unless a majority

of all of the members from such party state shall have voted in favor thereof. The

Commission shall keep accurate accounts of all receipts and disbursements, and shall

submit to the Governor and the legislature of each party state an annual report concerning

its activi ties, and shall make recommendations for any legislative, executive or

administrative action deemed advisable.

E. The Commission shall at the proper time submit to the Governor of each party

state for his approval an estimate of its proposed expenditures. The Commission shall

subsequently adopt a budget and submit appropriation requests to the party states in

accordance with the laws and procedures of such states.

F. The Commission shall not pledge the credit of any of the party states. The

Commission may meet any of its obligations in whole or in part with funds available to it,

from gifts, grants, appropriations or otherwise, provided that the Commission takes

specific action setting aside such funds prior to the incurring of any obligation to be met

in whole or in part in this manner. Except where the Commission makes use of funds

already available to it, the Commission shall not incur any obligations prior to the making

of appropriations adequate to meet the same.

G. The accounts of the Commission shal l be open at any reasonable time to the

inspection of such representatives of the respective party states as may be duly constituted

for that purpose. All receipts and disbursements of funds handled by the Commission

shall be audited yearly by a qualified public accountant, and the report of the audit shall

be included in and become a part of the annual report of the Commission. The

Commission shall appoint an Executive Director. The Commission shall also appoint a

Treasurer who may be a member of the Commi ssion. The Executive Director shall be

custodian of the records of the Commission with authority to attest to and certify such

records and copies thereof under the seal of the Commission. The Commission shall

require bonds of its Executive Director and Tre asurer in the amount of at least twenty -

five percent (25%) of the annual budget of the Commission.

ARTICLE VI

Each of the Commission's budgets of estimated expenditures shall contain specific

recommendations of the amount or amounts to be appropriated by each of the party states.

In determining these amounts, the Commission shall prorate one -half (1/2) of its budget

among the several states in proportion to their land area within the District, and shall

prorate the other half among the several states in proportion to their population within the

District at the last preceding Federal census.

ARTICLE VII

A. It is recognized, owing to such variable factors as location, size, character and

flow and the many varied uses of the waters subject to the terms of thi s Compact, that no

single standard of sewage and waste treatment and no single standard of quality of

receiving waters is practical and that the degree of treatment of sewage and industrial

wastes should take into account the classification of the receivin g waters according to

present and proposed highest use, such as for drinking water supply, industrial and

agricultural uses, bathing and other recreational purposes, maintenance and propagation

of fish life, navigation and disposal of wastes.

B. The Commi ssion may establish reasonable physical, chemical and

bacteriological standards of water quality satisfactory for various classifications of use. It

is agreed that each of the signatory states through appropriate agencies will prepare a

classification of its interstate waters in the District in entirety or by portions according to

present and proposed highest use, and for this purpose technical experts employed by

appropriate state water pollution control agencies are authorized to confer on questions

relating to classification of interstate waters affecting two (2) or more states. Each

signatory state agrees to submit its classification of its interstate waters to the

Commission for approval. It is agreed that after such approval, all signatory states

through their appropriate state water pollution control agencies will work to establish

programs of treatment of sewage and industrial wastes which will meet standards

established by the Commission for classified waters. The Commission may from time to

time mak e such changes in definitions of classifications and in standards as may be

required by changed conditions or as may be necessary for uniformity and in a manner

similar to that in which these standards and classifications were originally established.

ARTICLE VIII

A. A state pollution control agency of any party state may certify to the

Commission an alleged violation of the Commission's standards of quality of water

entering said state. Upon such certification the Commission may call a hearing at which

the appropriate state pollution agencies shall be represented. If the Commission finds a

violation has occurred, is occurring or is likely to recur, it shall make recommendations as

to the manner of abatement of the pollution to the appropriate water pollutio n control

agency of the party state within which the violation has occurred, is occurring or is likely

to recur. In the event that Commission recommendations made pursuant to the preceding

provisions of this Article do not result in compliance within a rea sonable time, the

Commission may, after such further investigation if any as is deemed necessary and

proper and after a hearing held in the state where a violation occurs or has occurred, issue

an order or orders upon any municipality, person, corporation or other entity within said

party state violating provisions of this Compact by discharging sewerage or industrial

wastes into the waters of the District which flow through, into or border upon any party

state. Such order or orders may prescribe the date on or before which such discharge shall

be wholly or partially discontinued, modified or treated or otherwise disposed of. The

Commission shall give reasonable and proper notice in writing of the time and place of

the hearing to the municipality, person, co rporation or other entity against which such

order is proposed except that when the Commission shall find that a public health

emergency exists, it may issue such an order pending hearing. In all such instances, the

hearing shall be promptly held and the o rder shall be withdrawn, modified or made

permanent within thirty days after hearing. No order prescribing the date on or before

which such discharge shall be wholly or partially discontinued, modified or treated or

otherwise disposed of shall go into effe ct upon a municipality, person, corporation or

other entity in any state unless and until it receives the approval of a majority of the

Commissioners from each of not less than a majority of the party states, provided that

such order receives the assent of not less than a majority of the Commissioners from such

state.

B. It shall be the duty of the municipality, person, corporation or other entity

within a party state to comply with any such order against it or him by the Commission,

and any court of compe tent jurisdiction in any of the party states shall have jurisdiction,

by mandamus, injunction, specific performance or other form of remedy, to enforce any

such order against any municipality, person, corporation or other entity domiciled, located

or doing business within such state; provided, however, such court may review the order

and affirm, reverse or modify the same in any appropriate proceeding brought and upon

any of the grounds customarily applicable in proceedings for court review of

administrative decisions. The Commission or, at its request, the Attorney General or other

law enforcing official of the appropriate state shall have power to institute in such court

any action for the enforcement of such order.

ARTICLE IX

Nothing in this Compact shall be construed to limit the powers of any party state, or

to repeal or prevent the enactment of any legislation, or the enforcement of any

requirement by any party state, imposing any additional conditions and restrictions to

further reduce or prevent the pollution of waters within its jurisdiction.

ARTICLE X

A. Nothing contained in this Compact shall be construed so as to conflict with

any provision of the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Compact or to impose

obligations on any state inconsistent with those which it has undertaken or may undertake

by virtue of its membership in said Compact; provided that nothing contained in this

Article shall be deemed to limit the Commission's power to set higher standards for the

waters of the Tennessee River Basin W ater Pollution Control District or any portion

thereof than those required for the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation District.

B. Nothing contained in this Compact shall be deemed to give the Commission

any regulatory power or jurisdiction over any aspec t of pollution abatement or control

within the District unless existing or future pollution of such waters does or is likely to

affect adversely the quality of water flowing among, between, into or through the territory

of more than one party state.

ARTICLE XI

Any two (2) or more of the party states by legislative action may enter into

supplementary agreements for further regulation and abatement of water pollution in

other areas within the party states and for the establishment of common or joint services

or facilities for such purpose and designate the Commission to act as their joint agency in

regard thereto. Except in those cases where all member states join in such supplementary

agreement and designation, the representatives in the Commission of any gr oup of such

designating states shall constitute a separate section of the Commission for the

performance of the function or functions so designated and with such voting rights for

these purposes as may be stipulated in such agreement; provided that, if any additional

expense is involved, the member states so acting shall appropriate the necessary funds for

this purpose. No supplementary agreement shall be valid to the extent that it conflicts

with the purposes of this Compact and the creation of such a sect ion as a joint agency

shall not affect the privileges, powers, responsibilities or duties of the member states

participating therein as embodied in the other articles of this Compact.

ARTICLE XII

This Compact shall enter into force and become effective an d binding when it has

been enacted by the legislature of Tennessee and by the legislatures of any one or more of

the states of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia and

upon approval by the Congress of the United States and t hereafter shall enter into force

and become effective and binding as to any other of said states when enacted by the

legislature thereof.

ARTICLE XIII

This Compact shall continue in force and remain binding upon each party state until

renounced by act of the legislature of such state, in such form and manner as it may

choose; provided that such renunciation shall not become effective until six (6) months

after the effective date of the action taken by the legislature. Notice of such renunciation

shall be g iven to the other party states by the Secretary of State of the party state so

renouncing upon passage of the act.

ARTICLE XIV

The provisions of this Compact or of agreements thereunder shall be severable and

if any phrase, clause, sentence or provision o f this Compact, or such agreement, is

declared to be contrary to the Constitution of any participating state or of the United

States or the applicability thereof to any state, agency, person or circumstance is held

invalid, the constitutionality of the rem ainder of this Compact or of any agreement

thereunder and the applicability thereof to any state, agency, person or circumstance shall

not be affected thereby, provided further that if this Compact or any agreement thereunder

shall be held contrary to the Constitution of the United States or of any state participating

therein, the Compact or any agreement thereunder shall remain in full force and effect as

to the remaining states and in full force and effect as to the state affected as to all

severable matters. It is the legislative intent that the provisions of this Compact shall be

reasonably and liberally construed.