COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

EDWARD T. TAYLOR, Colorado, Chairman

TKN
.M8

5 19 od

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

HEARINGS CONDUCTED BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE, MESSRS. EDWARD T. TAYLOR (CHAIRMAN), CLIFTON A. WOODRUM, CLARENCE CANNON, LOUIS LUDLOW, J. BUELL SNYDER, EMMET O'NEAL, GEORGE W. JOHNSON, JOHN TABER, RICHARD B. WIGGLESWORTH, WILLIAM P. LAMBERTSON, AND J. WILLIAM DITTER, OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, IN CHARGE OF DEFICIENCY APPROPRIATIONS, ON THE DAYS FOLLOWING, NAMELY:

TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1940.

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

STATEMENTS OF EDWARD R. STETTINIUS, JR., AND WILLIAM S. KNUDSEN, MEMBERS OF NATIONAL DEFENSE ADVISORY COMMISSION, ACCOMPANIED BY GANO DUNN AND JOHN BIGGERS, ASSISTANTS TO THE COMMISSIONERS; DAVID E. LILIENTHAL, VICE CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, AND COL. T. B. PARKER, CHIEF ENGINEER, TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

CONSTRUCTION OF HOLSTON RIVER DAM, INSTALLATION OF ADDITIONAL ELECTRICAL GENERATING UNITS; CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM ELECTRIC GENERATING FACILITIES, ETC.

Mr. WOODRUM. We will take up now the supplemental estimate of appropriation contained in Senate Document No. 241 for the Tennessee Valley Authority:

Tennessee Valley Authority Fund: For an additional amount to

carry out the provisions of the act entitled "The Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933," approved May 18, 1933, as amended by the act approved Aug. 31, 1935, and by the act approved July 26, 1939 (16 U. S. C., ch. 12a), including the funds necessary to begin construction of a dam on the Holston River near Jefferson City, Tenn.; to begin installation of 2 additional electric generating units at Wilson Dam, Ala., and 1 additional electric generating unit at Pickwick Landing Dam, Tenn.; and to begin construction of steam electric generating facilities with a rated capacity of approximately 120,000 kilowatts in the area served by the Authority; and the acquisition of necessary land, the clearing of such land, relocation of highways, and the construction or purchase of transmission lines and other facilities, and all other necessary works authorized by such acts, and for printing and binding, lawbooks, books of reference, newspapers, periodicals, purchase, maintenance, and operation of passenger-carrying vehicles, rents in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, and all necessary salaries and expenses connected with the organization, operation, and investigations of

1

the Tennessee Valley Authority, and for examination of estimates of appropriations and activities in the field, $25,000,000: Provided, That this appropriation shall be in addition to and shall be covered into and accounted for as a part of the "Tennessee Valley Authority Fund, 1941," as established by the "Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1941," approved Apr. 18, 1940- $25,000, COO STATEMENT OF THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY IN REGARD TO A SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION ESTIMATE OF $25,000,000 FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1941

Pursuant to the recommendation of the Advisory Commission to the National Defense Council the President has submitted to the Congress for consideration a supplementary estimate for an appropriation of $25,000,000 to be made available to the Tennessee Valley Authority for the fiscal year 1941.

This appropriation will enable the Authority to start immediate construction on a program to increase the available power supply in the Tennessee Valley area during the present national defense emergency. This program consists of (1) a storage project with power installation at the site, (2) installation of additional capacity in empty stalls at existing down-river projects to utilize the added flow contributed by the storage project, (3) the construction of additional steam electrical generating facilities, and (4) the construction of the new transmission facilities required on account of this added generating capacity. The following is a more complete description of these projects:

1. Cherokee Dam.-A storage dam and hydroelectric power plant to be built on the Holston River near Jefferson City, Tenn. This project will cost $36,000,000; will have a useful storage capacity of 1,400,000 acre-feet; and will have an installed capacity of 90,000 kilowatt. The supplemental appropriation will provide $11,000,000 for initial expenditure on this project. This amount, together with $19,000,000 in the fiscal year 1942 and $6,000,000 in the fiscal year 1943, will enable the Authority to have the storage from this project available in the spring of 1942 and the generating units at the site on the line in the fall of 1942. The storage and generating units at this project, together with additional generating units at Wilson and Pickwick Dams, as described below, will increase the continuous firm power capacity of the Tennessee Valley Authority power system by 120,000 kilowatts.

2. Generating units No. 11 and No. 12 at Wilson and No. 4 at Pickwick.— The supplemental appropriation will provide $3,500,000 to start installation of two additional 26,000-kilowatt generating units at Wilson Dam, and one additional 36,000-kilowatt unit at Pickwick Dam. This amount, together with $1,800,000 in the fiscal year 1942, will enable the Authority to have these three units with a total capacity of 88,000 kilowatts on the line by the spring of 1942 at which time the storage from the Holston project will be available to increase the low-water flow through all main river projects.

3. Steam electric generating facilities.—The supplemental appropriation will provide $7,500,000 to start construction of additional steam electric generating facilities in the area served by the Authority with an installed capacity of approximately 120,000 kilowatts. This amount, together with $3,000,000 in the fiscal year 1942, will be sufficient to have these facilities on the line by December 1941. The Authority will be assisted in the planning and design of these facilities by a nationally recognized engineering firm specializing in design of steam plants.

4. Transmission facilities.-The supplemental appropriation will provide $3,000,000 to start construction of the transmission facilities needed to tie the generating facilities described above into the Tennessee Valley Authority power system and to carry this power to the market. It is estimated that an additional $6,000,000 in fiscal year 1942 and $5,000,000 in fiscal year 1943 will be required for this purpose.

The total estimated cost of the projects to be started with this supplemental appropriation is $65,800,000. With this expenditure over the next 21⁄2 fiscal years, the generating capacity in the Tennessee Valley can be increased by 298,000 kilowatts. The emergency schedule to be followed will make this capacity and the attendant continuous firm power available for use on the following dates:

There is complete agreement among those responsible for national defense industrial development that the Tennessee Valley area is one of the important centers for the production of such essential national defense materials as aluminum and other metals, explosives, phosphorus and other chemicals, and more recently aircraft. Expansion in these directions is under way. A deficiency of power supply is the bottleneck. All existing power installations, both those of the Tennessee Valley Authority and private companies in adjoining territory, are now being taxed to the limit to meet normal demands, and presently scheduled installations will only care for normal growth in demands. without regard to the super-imposition of the new demands of national defense. This emergency program is therefore necessary for national defense purposes. The Authority is ready with plans and a seasoned construction force to. start work at once on the construction program herein recommended. program will go a long way toward the elimination of the emergency power supply bottleneck in the Tennessee Valley, which is largely dependent on the Authority as a source of power supply. These projects are all economically feasible whether for emergency or peacetime uses. After the emergency is over, they will fit logically into the normal navigation, flood control, and power program of the Authority. Should the emergency period end in the near future, the power capacity made available by this program will be absorbed within a few years by normal growth in demand.

This

Summary of estimates. The following table summarizes the expenditure estimates for this national defense power supply program:

The supplemental estimate of $25,000,000 for the fiscal year 1941 is in addition to the $40,000,000 appropriated to the Authority for that fiscal year in the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1941.

GENERAL STATEMENT OF E. R. STETTINIUS, JR.

Are you going to make the initial statement for us, Mr. Stettinius? Mr. STETTINIUS. I am, sir. I shall introduce it by saying it is a great satisfaction to have our associates on the Defense Commission, Mr. Knudsen and his executive assistant, Mr. John Biggers, with us. Mr. Knudsen and Mr. Biggers must go to Aberdeen im