June 11, 1984
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 relating to the Skagit River and Ross Lake in the State of Washington, and the Seven Mile Reservoir and the Pend d'Oreille River in the Province of British Columbia, together with a report of the Department of State.
The primary purpose of this Treaty is to provide the necessary legal bases for an arrangement under which the City of Seattle, Washington will refrain from raising the Ross Dam on the Skagit River, thus avoiding additional flooding of the Skagit Valley in the Canadian Province of British Columbia, and will receive in return a guaranteed long-term supply of electrical power from British Columbia. Through this arrangement a longstanding dispute between Seattle and British Columbia over the construction of the High Ross Dam has been constructively and ingeniously settled, and a difficult and potentially divisive bilateral problem between the United States and Canada positively resolved. The British Columbia-Seattle Agreement and the United States-Canada Treaty that provides the necessary legal bases for the Agreement represent both a significant substantive achievement in terms of power provision and environmental conservation, and a model for the orderly and amicable settlement of international issues.
I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to the Treaty, and give its advice and consent to ratification.
Ronald Reagan
The White House,
June 11, 1984.