and heavy rains last month. Farms, livestock, roads, railroads, power facilitie and homes suffered severe damages in Colfax, Platte, and Madison Counties. This area has a long history of heavy flooding with major flooding resultir from an average 2-inch rainfall. In 1950 some 17,000 acres of good agricultur land was affected and water filled the streets of three principal towns of New man Grove, Platte Center, and Lindsay. The estimated property damage fro this flood alone was $296,700. The Shell Creek project was authorized by the 1958 Flood Control Aet an consists of channel improvements along the creek together with the construc tion of three detention basins. No land acquisition for easements or right-of-wa; is contemplated by the Corps of Engineers since these will be provided by the sponsors. No funds have been appropriated for planning or construction of this project, nor were any requested in the 1960 budget to begin this work. The district engineer, Omaha, has made extensive studies of Salt Creek and its tributaries within the watershed. Plans call for channel improvement and the strategic location of reservoirs to relieve the peril of further floods. To afford complete protection the work would include 8 miles of cutoffs, 8 miles of enlarged channel, spoil bank levees, and three side-channel basins. The Shell Creek Project Board of Directors are in agreement with the engi neers' plans for the project which was estimated to cost $2.5 million in 1956, now somewhat higher due to rising cost. The sponsor's contribution is estimater to be near $600,000. To get the project started there is included in the 1961 budget an item o $75,000 to provide engineer planning and preparation of construction drawing and specifications. The engineers advise me that they are ready to go into this phase of the project on July 1, 1960. I feel that the funds requested are small compared with the thousands of dollars lost with each flooding sustained through the years and I urge the committee to approve funds in the amount requested. I want to thank the committee for their time and attention. STATEMENT OF J. O. PECK, CHAIRMAN, SHELL CREEK FLOOD CONTROL PROGRAM Mr. Chairman and members of the committee; I am J. O. Peck of Columbus, Nebr., and chairman of the Shell Creek Flood Control Committee. My principal occupation is banking and I am currently serving as a Nebraska State senator in our unicameral legislature. This statement is submitted in behalf of our committee urging your favorable consideration for the request appropriation of $75,000 included in the President's budget--the funds to be used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete a detailed and final survey of the Shell Creek flood control project. I do not wish to discuss the more technical aspects of the program since comment on this phase of the development will be handled by the Corps of Engineers in their report to your committee. However, I will mention that the channel of Shell Creek runs for approximately 120 miles through east central Nebraska and is a tributary of the Platte River. The creek drains approximately 470 square miles of exceptionally fertile and productive land. The basin is predominately in an agricultural area and except for flood periods is very productive in crops and livestock. There are no large cities or municipalities located in the valley although the towns of Newman Grove, Lindsay, Platte Center, and Schuyler, having populations from 300 to 3,000 people, are in the general area of the valley. Seventy-six percent of the population of the valley reside on the farms located through the drainage area. Less damaging floods often occur on the local level as the result of rainfall measuring less than 2 inches; with a general rain of 2 inches or more falling in the middle or upper area of the valley, a damaging flood condition arises and the severity and extent of the damage, of course, is determined by the volume of rain received. Local interests and the surrounding area have long desired protection for their homes and farms against floods. It was in 1945 when an organized effort was made to effect a program offering relief. In that year, our Congress authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make a primary survey of the problem and readily it was determined a full-scale survey could be justified. During the intervening period, the Corps of Engineers have developed a plan economically feasible by removing some bends from the channel, removing debris and deepening the riverbed and some dikes at areas where needed and providing for three detention basins designed to pocket temporarily excess flows of water which would flow away gradually and in an orderly manner as the floodwater receded in the channel. At numerous public meetings, property owners in the valley have been kept informed as the program progressed and it was developed by the Army Corps of Engineers. The people owning property in the valley, city, and municipal organintions and other interested parties and organizations have a genuine desire to lend every cooperation necessary to complete the plan as now developed by the Corps of Engineers. They recognize the necessity of completing an official organization to hold the U.S. Government free from damages due to the construction work and furnish without cost to the United States, all lands, easements and rights-of-way necessary for the improvements and to maintain and operate the improvements in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Army and to relocate highways or bridges or make alterations and improvements as may be necessary. To complete these arrangements, our committee has employed legal counsel to perfect such an organization immediately following advice that the appropriation of $75,000 as requested has been approved and allowed by Congress It would be impossible to present to you all evidence and experience accumulated by the Shell Creek Flood Control Committee and the complete willingness on the part of the people residing in the valley because of the voluminous statements which would be necessary to convey this evidence to you. However, when the program was first entered, comments made by property owners at that time during a public meeting run true today except for the fact that the damage is more apparent and more severe because the channel of the creek is not able to handle the excess water due to the debris and silt collected during the intervening years. Some of the comments of property owners who attended one of the first meetings are as follows: A. P. Peterson, Lindsay: "Home lost in flood. Part of road had to be closed and highways rerouted. Damage to bridges and culverts quite severe. During last year, seven floods were experienced. In my 25 years of residence in Lindsay, it is my opinion that flood conditions are getting worse. The rainfall has not exceeded that of other years, but now an inch and a half or more of rain will cause a flood. If the channel could be excavated or cleaned out to care for additional flow, it would help." Charles Flood, Newman Grove: "Accompanied Mr. Beckworth on inspection tour of the north branch. An estimated 1,000 acres is nothing but cockleburs and weeds whereas it used to be the best land in the county. If many of the crooks and bends were taken out, it would take care of the problem. The farmers are all for it. They think the program is a good thing and something must be done. Improvement of the channel is the solution." Henry Wiese, Lindsay: "I contacted seven farmers and learned that $80,000 in crop loss was experienced in the last 3 years. The water in the valley gets almost a mile wide in some places. Mail route has been lost due to floods; $140 per acre paid for land originally, now would bring about $40 per acre. Seven floods suffered within 2 weeks last year." Willis Loseke, Monroe: "Damage in my territory over a 3-year period $60,000. All farmers in this 2-mile area 100 percent for straightening the channel and cleaning debris from the river bed." Similar expressions to those mentioned could be quoted from statements made by many property owners at the organization meeting. It is evident that those residing in the valley definitely want to cooperate in every way possible to complete a flood control program and protect their property which represents a life's ambition and savings for their family. As further evidence of the willingness of the property owners to cooperate in perfecting an official organization, please permit me to mention a more recent meeting held at Platte Center in the valley of the Shell Creek area at which time approximately 250 people were present. The program as now approved by the Army Corps of Engineers was explained to that group by Col. Hubert S. Miller, the then district engineer in charge of the Omaha office. At that meeting, a resolution was passed unanimously endorsing the plan as presented. Attached to this statement are comments from the city clerk of Lindsay, Nebr., the mayor of Newman Grove, Nebr., and a statement from the unit conservationist of the soil and water conservation program of Platte County indicating the desires of the people they represent in their work. Similar expressions could be had from many people as evidence of the willingness of all to cooper the Shell Creek flood control program. Much has been done by the conservation people to conserve water and the upper areas of the valley and it is the intention of our committee to and intensify the conservation activities as the flood control program is dev and completed. Our committee urges your favorable consideration on the appropriati $75,000 as requested. Property owners and their children who operate i in the valley will be assured of protection from flood damage in the future program as proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers is completed. It is hoped that favorable consideration will be given by your committee please accept our thanks and gratitude for permitting this statement presented to you. I COLUMBUS, NEBR., March 11, 13 Mr. J. O. PECK, Chairman, Shell Creek Flood Control Committee, Columbus, Nebr. DEAR MR. PECK: The following are some of the land treatments accompl in the Shell Creek Valley by the Platte County Soil and Water Conservi District: The above accomplishments are estimates as our records are for the en county. Sincerely, RUDY R. HRABAN, Work Unit Conservationist LINDSAY, NEBR., Mr. J. O. PECK, Chairman, Shell Creek Flood Control District, DEAR MR. PECK: The village of Lindsay and its trade territory are int ested very much in the Shell Creek Flood Control District. We have seen various times all the bottomland along Shell Creek flooded out and no cro could be planted nor harvested. It was impossible for farmers and others get into town account the high water. This in turn caused business and othe to suffer. The completion of the work of this flood control district would eliminate tl problem which this valley is faced with after each heavy rain and would p back into production acres and acres of some of the best land we have, not t mention the pasture land which suffers greatly after these floods. The citizens of Lindsay and its surrounding territory will be glad to give an assistance to the district if necessary. Yours truly, P. H. WEITZEL, Village Clerk. FEBRUARY 25, 1960. Mr. J. O. PECK, Chairman, Shell Creek Flood Control District, DEAR MR. PECK: The citizens of Newman Grove are very much interested in the Shell Creek Flood Control District. Some of our homes in the east part of Newman Grove have been very badly damaged in the past when Shell Creek would flood over its banks. The basements in some of our homes would be full of water, the foundations weakened, and furnaces and other appliances badly damaged. We feel that the completion of the work of this flood control district will eliminate this problem. If the citizens of Newman Grove can be of any assistance to the district, please write us. Yours respectfully, H. L. GERHART, Mayor. MONDAY, APRIL 4, 1960. POWER PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY NRECA WITNESSES CLYDE T. ELLIS, GENERAL MANAGER, NATIONAL RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION CHARLES A. ROBINSON, JR., STAFF ENGINEER, NATIONAL RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION Mr. CANNON. Mr. Ellis is a former Member of the Congress and was, at one time, one of the leading and outstanding Members of the House. We are always glad to have him come back and, out of his accumulated wisdom since he left the House, advise us on these problems. Mr. ELLIS. I am always happy to come back before this great committee which has done so much to develop the United States and its waterways. If it is agreeable with the chairman, I will take 1 minute and then defer to our electrical engineer, Charles Robinson, for our principal statement. OZARK DAM One item that Mr. Robinson does not have in his prepared statement has to do with the Ozark Dam on the Arkansas River in Arkansas. We are not asking any more money be provided than is in the budget request, but we are asking that $100,000 of the funds appropriated to the Corps of Engineers be designated for preliminary planning on the Arkansas project. We are interested primarily, we of the rural electric systems, in power that would be developed. Frankly, there is some difficulty on the power situation in this project, but we are hopeful that the study will reveal the feasibility and that the project may continue. If it is agreeable with the chairman, I now defer to our electrical engineer who has been working with the rural electric systems and appearing before this committee for some 10 years. Mr. ROBINSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am Charles A. Robinson, staff engineer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. About half of all of the rural electric systems in the United States purchase a portion of all of their power requirements from the Federal Government. Our people pay the Federal power marketing agencies about $45 million a year at their present rate of consumption. They purchase 40 percent of all the power they use from these Federal power agencies and they purchase a similar 40 percent from the investor-owned utility companies. For the 40 percent of power that we purchase from the Federal Government we pay about $45 million a year and for a similar quan tity of power purchased from the investor-owned companies, we pay approximately $72.5 million. So, for every dollar that our peopl spend for wholesale power, they are able to purchase 60 percent more from the Federal power agencies than they are from the investor owned utility companies, and that is our interest in the Federal power program. Our sales are growing at the rate of 15.5 percent a year which means our loads are doubling in every 4 or 5 years. Actually, it is closer to 4 years. If you will view the fact that the loads of the Nation as a whole for all types of power distributors are growing only at about 10 percent a year, then you can see that our people are understandably anxious as to where their future power supplies are going to come from. COLORADO RIVER STORAGE PROJECT TRANSMISSION LINES In general, Mr. Chairman, we support the budget figures for the Federal power construction and marketing agencies this year with just one exception, and that is the Colorado River storage project. The first power from that project will be coming on the line in 1963. And, in 1964 the largest power producing feature of the project, the Glen Canyon unit, will be coming on the line. That is only 3 years away. And yet, the Bureau has requested no funds to initiate construction of transmission facilities on the project this year; only some $500,000 for continuing the study of transmission facilities upon which over $1 million has already been spent. The Bureau is apparently hesitant because of the fact it does not know whether to build a complete Federal transmission system for marketing the power, or allow the private utility companies to build a portion of the system as they have urged from the very beginning. However, in view of the fact that the preference customers will absorb all the firm power from the project, and in view of the fact that construction on some transmission must begin almost immediately, we are asking for an appropriation of $5 million to begin two transmission lines only. Those would be the Flaming Gorge to Oak Creek and the Glen Canyon to Curecanti transmission lines. These are two backbone facilities that would be used to interconnect major power producing features. Actually, if these funds were appropriated, the Congress would not be, by so doing, prejudging whether or not the Federal transmission system, or the combined Federal-private system, would ultimately be used because even the private utility companies, in their recommendation, anticipate that these two particular lines would be built by the Government under any circumstances. So, in consideration of those circumstances, may I again emphasize that we are asking for $5 million to begin those two lines this year. POTOMAC RIVER STUDY Within the Budget Bureau recommendations, there are just a couple of projects which I would like to talk about very briefly. The |