THE BASIN ACCOUNT IN RELATION TO PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PROCEDURES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND THE DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

The CHAIRMAN. You had better change it and turn it in this afternoon. Pass them to the chairman, and if you would like to make a further statement, we would be glad to hear you.

It there anyone here from the Department of Agriculture with respect to this? If not, Mr. Angell, you may arrange for the first witness, or whoever is to handle it.

Mr. ANGELL. Mr. Chairman, it is my pleasure to introduce to you and the other members of this committee at this time the Governor of the State of Oregon, the Honorable Douglas McKay.

The CHAIRMAN. Governor, if you will come around we will be glad to have your statement with respect to the authorizations under consideration.

Mr. ANGELL. May I say that the Governor has made an airplane trip of some 6,000 miles to be present here and give us the benefit of his information, and I may say that he is not only Governor of our State, but he is a very distinguished citizen in addition to that having served in both World Wars and having served as the chairman of the Willamette Commission which had charge of this very extensive project in the Willamette Valley and having been born and raised in my congressional district, I am very happy to have this pleasure.

Furthermore, I have served with him in the Oregon Legislature when we were seatmates in the Senate there. Down through the years I know that he has had a very active interest, both publicly and privately, in this great project development of the Willamette River Basin in the Columbia area.

Chairman WHITTINGTON. Governor, we are glad to have you.

STATEMENT OF HON. DOUGLAS MCKAY, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OREGON

Mr. McKAY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Northwest is the fastest growing area in the United States. It is the last frontier. That is the reason this project is desperate to us. That is the reason I put in some 13 or 14 years of my time gratuitously helping as a citizen to develop the Willamette River project.

The 308 report covering the entire area is a blueprint for a longrange development of this important area. It is particularly important to us locally now because of the influx of population which has made flood hazards doubly dangerous.

Last year, as has been pointed out here, in the lower Columbia, we had a flood for the first time since 1942 which did $100,000,000 worth of damage. The Willamette River project, the dams that have been completed last year, saved $1,000,000. There are two small dams. The average annual damage is of the order of $8,500,000. As Colonel Walsh pointed out, the damage has been $49,000,000 since 1943. So these are self-liquidating projects that we are interested in.

One other thing I would like to point out is the power situation. The people that are coming to the Northwest have to have employment. The only way we are going to get additional employment is through a project like this to develop a project which will bring industry.