PUBLIC WORKS APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1961 MARCH 11, 1960. UPPER COLORADO RIVER STORAGE PROJECT WITNESSES IVAL V. GOSLIN, CHIEF, ENGINEER-SECRETARY, UPPER COLORADO RIVER COMMISSION HON. GALE MCGEE, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING STEPHEN E. REYNOLDS, STATE ENGINEER, NEW MEXICO JAY A. BINGHAM, DIRECTOR, UTAH WATER AND POWER BOARD Mr. CANNON. The committee will be in order. We will take up this morning the Upper Colorado River storage project. I recognize Mr. Goslin to present this case. Mr. GOSLIN. Chairman Cannon and members of the committee, it is with a great deal of pleasure that we from the Upper Colorado River Basin are here again this year on behalf of appropriations for our vast interstate project. I am the chief engineer and secretary of the Upper Colorado River Commission. We have with us today some rather distinguished guests to present our testimony. They are either Governors of our four States, or representatives of those Governors. I have a prepared statement that I would like to insert in the record at this time. Mr. CANNON. Without objection it will be inserted in the record at this point. (The statement referred to follows:) STATEMENT OF IVAL V. GOSLIN, CHIEF ENGINEER AND SECRETARY, My name is Ival V. Goslin. I am the chief engineer and secretary of Upper Colorado River Commission, Salt Lake City, Utah. The Upper Colorado River Commission is an interstate administrative agency created under the (924) terms of the Upper Colorado River Basin compact, executed at Sante Fe, N. Mex., October 11, 1948. The commission represents the States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming in matters pertaining to the water resources of the Upper Colorado River Basin. BUDGET REQUEST FOR FISCAL 1961 In his budget request to the Congress on January 18, 1960, the President recommended that construction and planning funds be appropriated to the Upper Colorado River Basin fund for the Colorado River storage project and participating projects, as follows: It was anticipated at the time of President Eisenhower's budget request in January that there would be approximately $18 million of carryover funds available for use in 1961 due to the 6 months labor strike at Glen Canyon Dam during the first half of fiscal 1960. On March 10, 1960, the original budget request for Glen Canyon construction funds was reduced by $8.5 million because the contractor will be unable to accomplish sufficient construction to earn the full sum apportioned in the original budget recommendation to Congress plus the $18 million carryover from fiscal 1960. In general, the President's budget request, as it now stands, contains recommended sums for construction of the storage units and participating projects that fairly well represent the amounts of work that can be expected to be accomplished in 1961. Therefore, it is requested that the Committee on Appropriations report to the House of Representatives a bill that will include the budgeted items for the storage units and participating irrigation projects of the Colorado River storage project, with the exception noted hereinafter. NEW PROJECT STARTS FOR FISCAL 1961 Included in the fiscal year 1961 proposed reclamation programs are six new construction starts, of which two are located in the Upper Colorado River Basin. These two are the Curecanti storage unit on the Gunnison River in western Colorado and the Florida participating irrigation project in southwestern Colorado. The Curecanti storage unit for which an initial construction appropriation of $1,400,000 is requested was authorized by Public Law 485, 84th Congress, 2d session, subject to certification by the Secretary of the Interior to the Congress and to the President that it is economically justifiable. Certification to this effect was transmitted to the required parties in the form of an economic justification report in July 1959. As certified the Curecanti unit will consist of two dams, reservoirs, powerplants, and other appurtenant works on the Gunnison River. The feasibility of a third dam, reservoir, and powerplant is currently under study. The primary purposes of the Curecanti unit are the regulation and storage of flood flows of the Gunnison River and the generation of hydroelectric energy. The storage of water will also assist in river regulation in complying with the requirements of the Colorado River compact, and will, by the exchange process, furnish irrigation water supplies for participating irrigation projects in the upper basin. Major benefits will accrue to the area, the State of Colorado, and the Nation from recreational facilities that will be provided. The $1.4 million sought for initiating construction in fiscal 1961 will allow for the preparation of designs and specifications leading to the award of a construction contract for Blue Mesa Dam and Reservoir. Funds are urgently needed in order to make surveys and prepare estimates of costs of relocating U.S. Highway 50 around the reservoir area. Owners of business enterprises and of homes in the area have been in a state of indecision for several years waiting for these plans to be consummated. This has disrupted the economy of the area and, in some instances, has caused hardships to citizens who cannot plan their enterprises in an orderly manner. The Florida participating project was also authorized by Public Law 485, 84th Congress, 2d session. In order to initiate construction, $750,000 is requested for fiscal 1961. It is anticipated that these funds will be used for collection of design data for Lemon Dam and Reservoir, acquisition of rights-of-way, and the preparation of designs and specifications leading to the award of a construction contract. Investigations will also be continued on the enlargement and rehabilitation of the distribution system. The primary purpose of this multipurpose project is to provide a supplemental supply of water for 13,720 acres of land now inadequately irrigated, and a full supply to 5,730 acres of new land. There will be additional local and national benefits from flood control, propagation of fish and wildlife, and recreation facilities. GENERAL INVESTIGATIONS The amount in the President's budget request, $4,650,000, for the general investigations program of the Bureau of Reclamation is insufficient. For a number of years proponents of a sound reclamation program have advocated an increase in these funds. They recognize that the backbone of the entire program lies in having adequate funds available each year for project investigations. Without investigations and planning there cannot be created a backlog of projects ready at the time they should be constructed. Unnecessary delays, added expenses, insecurity, and lack of employment opportunities result when adequate blueprints are not maintained well in advance of construction. One very effective way to provide for the future requirements of the United States is for Congress to increase the appropriations of funds for general investigations activities. During the past few years, in the neighborhood of $600,000 to $700,000 have been apportioned to investigating the feasibility of projects in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The appropriation for the overall GI program of the Bureau of Reclamation should be increased to such an amount that at least $1 million per year would be available as the share of these funds allotted to the upper basin for this purpose. In fiscal 1961 the general investigations in the Upper Colorado River Basin should be sharply accelerated. There are many projects in western Colorado for which feasibility reports should be completed at an early date. In fact, one, the Animas-La Plata project in Colorado and New Mexico has already been placed on an accelerated priority schedule and will need additional investigation money if other potential projects in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, are to be kept on schedule. In the classification of advance planning there are 5 of the 11 originally authorized participating projects remaining upon which investigations and planning should be completed and definite plan reports prepared as rapidly as possible. These reclamation projects are: The Lyman and La Barge projects in Wyoming, the Emery County project and remaining portions of the central Utah project in Utah, and the silt project in Colorado. Increases in both general investigations and advance planning moneys could logically be derived from part of the $8.5 million reduction in the budget request for construction of the Glen Canyon Dam and Reservoir. TRANSMISSION LINES, POWER MARKET AREA During the past year, intense interest has developed in the problems related to the geographic area in which energy generated by the Colorado River storage project will be sold, the nature, extent, and characteristics of the transmission system for distributing the electrical energy, and whether the transmission lines are to be constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation or by private utilities. Questions have been raised by both preference users' groups and private utilities concerning power rates, the amounts of power and energy that will be for sale, etc., in addition to questions about the potential power market area and transmission lines. The Upper Colorado River Commission is cognizant of the fact that the establishment of a power market area by the Secretary of the Interior is necessary before final decisions can be rendered regarding related items; such as, the type and extent of the transmission system, line locations and costs, transmission voltages, interconnections with transmission systems in adjacent areas, interim rate schedules, allocations of power to consumers, etc. Therefore, the Commission formally adopted a statement of policy, that will provide a basis for an equitable and practicable means of determining a market area and marketing criteria for power to be generated by the powerplants of the Colorado River storage project. The following letter to the Secretary of the Interior contains the policy statement to which reference is made: UPPER COLORADO RIVER COMMISSION, Hon. FRED A. SEATON, DEAR SECRETARY SEATON: At a special meeting held in Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 29 and March 1, 1960, the Upper Colorado River Commission authorized me to submit to you the following statement of policy pertaining to the power market areas for energy to be generated by the Colorado River storage project. "The Colorado River storage project and participating projects were authorized by the U.S. Congress to be constructed as a comprehensive, basinwide, river regulation, power generation, and reclamation project directly dependent upon the utilization of the water resources of the upper division States of the Colorado River Basin (Public Law 485, 84th Cong., 2d sess.). It is the intent of Public Law 485 that direct benefits from the Colorado River storage project are to accrue primarily to said States of the upper division. "The Secretary of the Interior is required to operate the water-regulating and power-generating facilities of the Colorado River storage project in an efficient manner and to apportion and distribute the hydroelectric energy in as equitable and fair way as practicable, at the same time maintaining a rapid and efficient payout schedule for the storage units and participating projects. In performing these functions, the Secretary must comply with the preference clause and other applicable portions of reclamation law, including Public Law 485, 84th Congress (70 Stat. 105). "Initially the indicated net requirements of preference customers in the four upper division States for power from the Colorado River storage project will be substantially less than the generating capability of the power plants of the Colorado River storage project, but such requirements will equal or exceed the generating capability by 1980. "In order to operate the powerplants of the Colorado River storage project in conjunction with other Federal powerplants, present and potential, so as to produce the greatest practicable amount of power and energy that can be sold at firm power and energy rates' (sec. 7, Public Law 485), it will be necessary to Coordinate and integrate the operations of the reservoir and power plant at Glen Canyon with the operations at Hoover Dam and other lower basin dams. "The determination by the Secretary of the Interior of the power market area for Colorado River storage project power is an essential prerequisite to final decisions by the Secretary pertaining to load centers, transmission voltages, transmission line locations, power rates and other power marketing criteria. "It is the consensus of the Upper Colorado River Commission that at the earliest practicable date the Secretary of the Interior should declare the market area and basic marketing criteria for energy generated by the storage units: of the Colorado River storage project in conformity with the following general principles: "I. MARKET AREA "A. The primary market area to be defined as those regions within economic transmission distance in the upper division States: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. "B. The secondary market to be defined as those regions within economic transmission distance within: "1. State of Arizona. "2. Those parts of the States of California and Nevada located within the Colorado River drainage basin. "II. BASIC MARKETING CRITERIA "A. Initial preference customer loads in the primary market area to be served to fill 1965 requirements, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior, and subsequently adjusted as defined in II D. "B. Predicated upon the understanding that lower basin preference customers in the secondary market area, as defined in I B, have applied to the Secretary of the Interior for substantial blocks of energy from the Colorado River storage project, it is recommended that, prior to the need for this energy by upper basin preference users, preference customer loads in the secondary market area be served to the extent practicable; provided that the Secretary shall not contract for the sale of energy directly or indirectly to a preference customer in the secondary market area for delivery by resale or exchange to a nonpreference customer in the secondary market area. "C. Energy in excess of that in paragraphs II A and II B to be sold to private utilities in the primary market area. "D. At reasonable intervals beginning with January 1, 1964, the Secretary of the Interior shall reappraise the requirements for energy of the preference customers in the primary market area and shall make arrangements to fill their requirements by: first, contracting for the sale of available unsold energy: second, recapturing, after reasonable notice, energy remaining under contract to private utilities in the primary market area; and, third, recapturing, after reasonable notice, energy remaining under contract to preference users in the secondary market area. In recognition of the possibility that in order to be attractive to consumers in the secondary market area, contracts for sales of power may need to include provision for continuing a minimum power supply beyond the recapture period, it is recommended that any such minimum, if deemed necessary, should not exceed 7 percent of project capability and generation during the winter months or 20 percent during the summer months, the winter maximum to be decreased and the summer maximum to be increased as diversity of preference loads between the primary and secondary market areas may indicate. "E. Nonfirm energy shall be sold under the same priorities as outlined under II A, B, and C. "III. ENERGY RATES "The delivery of all energy generated by, or credited to, the powerplants of the Colorado River storage project shall be at rates that will provide repay. ment assistance to retire the costs of the Colorado River storage project and participating projects allocated to irregation in a manner consistent with an orderly and progressive development of the water and land resources of the upper division States in conformity with Public Law 485, 84th Congress, 2d session (70 Stat. 105)." Engineers of the Department of the Interior are meeting with the engineering committee of the Upper Colorado River Commission and the lower basin engineering group on March 21 and 22 for an initial explanation and discussion of "The Proposed General Principles To Govern, and Operating Criteria For, Glen Canyon Reservoir and Lake Mead During the Glen Canyon Reservoir Filling Period." The designation of the power market areas prior to that joint meeting of the engineers would be of great aid in the understanding of not only the proposed "general principles," but also of the overall Colorado River picture |