UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WAR DEPARTMENT CIVIL FUNCTIONS APPROPRIATION BILL, 1947 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1946 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met at 10:30 a. m., Hon. Elmer Thomas of Oklahoma (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Thomas of Oklahoma (presiding), Hayden, Chavez, Maybank, Gurney, Ferguson, Wherry, and Cordon. CORPS OF ENGINEERS RIVERS AND HARBORS AND FLOOD CONTROL AMENDMENTS REQUESTED BY WAR DEPARTMENT Senator THOMAS. The committee will be in order. The committee has before it for consideration the War Department civil functions appropriation bill for 1947. The bill is No. H. R. 5400. Pursuant to the practice of the committee, as soon as the House passed the measure, this committee sent a request to the Secretary of War asking for his viewpoint with respect to the bill as it passed the House. On February 19, we received a reply from the Secretary of War. I will ask that the letter from the Secretary, which was in reply to our request, be placed in the record at this point. (The letter referred to is as follows:) Hon. ELMER THOMAS, Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, February 19, 1946. DEAR SENATOR THOMAS: There are transmitted herewith memoranda of changes desired in the War Department civil functions appropriation bill, 1947, in accordance with the request contained in your letter of February 6, 1946. A bill has recently passed the House of Representatives, H. R. 3936, covering repatriation of our dead from foreign battlefields. In the event of favorable legislative action in the immediate future, the War Department will probably find it necessary to recommend a change in the appropriation "Quartermaster Corps," subappropriation "Cemeterial expenses" to permit prompt initiation of the program in compliance with the provisions of this new measure. Final reply has not yet been received from the Governor of the Panama Canal. In the event further changes are requested by him, these changes under the appropriation "the Panama Canal" will be transmitted promptly. Representatives of the Department will appear before your committee at such time as you may desire. Sincerely yours, ROBERT P. PATTERSON. 1 AMENDMENT NO.1. FLOOD CONTROL, GENERAL Page 8, line 5, strike out "$110,814,000," and insert in lieu thereof "$124,506,200," an increase of $13,692,200. The break-down of the $13,692,200 increase requested is as follows: Name of project (1) Bull Shoals Reservoir, Ark.. (2) Hulah Reservoir, Okla.. (3) Stringtown, Fort Chartres, and Ivy Landing drainage and levee district, Illinois. (4) Wood River Levee, Ill. (5) Garrison Reservoir, N. Dak. (6) Harlan County Reservoir, Nebr. (7) Kansas Citys, Mo. and Kans. (8) Wolf Creek Reservoir, Ky.. (9) Center Hill Reservoir, Tenn.. (10) Bluestone Reservoir, W. Va. (11) Los Angeles River, Calif.. (12) San Gabriel River, Calif. (13) Detroit Reservoir, Oreg.. Total. The following information is submitted relative to each of the individual projects and items listed above: (1) Bull Shoals Reservoir, Ark. Authorized by the 1938 Flood Control Act, as amended by the 1941 Flood Control Act. Concrete dam and powerhouse on White River about 420 miles above the confluence with the Mississippi River and about 10 miles west of Mountain Home, Ark. The reservoir will have a capacity of 5,408,000 acre-feet, of which 2,360,000 acre-feet will be allocated to flood control and 3,408,000 acre-feet for power development. The minimum power pool of 964,000 acre-feet will be available for recreation and conservation. The reservoir will be operated as a unit in the comprehensive plan for flood control in the lower White and Mississippi River Basins. Benefits will also be provided by the generation of hydroelectric power, low-water regulation, conservation, and potential use for rice irrigation. Funds are required to continue construction of the dam and powerhouse and for land acquisition and relocations which is being initiated with funds ($3,000,000,) provided in the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1946. Amount allowed by House will be sufficient only for starting land acquisition and provision of accessory construction facilities. Completion of dam will be delayed at least 1 year and contract for construction of dam proper will have to be deferred until additional funds are appropriated. Substantial additional overhead costs will be incurred during the extended period of time for construction. Restoration of amount of $2,000,000 is essential to permit starting construction of dam proper in fiscal year 1947. (2) Hulah Reservoir, Okla. Authorized by the 1936 Flood Control Act. Earth-fill dam on Caney River about 15 miles northwest of Bartlesville, Okla., with a reservoir having a storage capacity of 295,000 acre-feet. This reservoir will provide flood protection for the industrialized area surrounding Bartlesville, Okla., and to the Verdigris and Arkansas River Valleys. Additional benefits will be provided by maintenance of a small pool for recreation and preservation of wildlife. The present estimate of the ratio of benefits to cost is 1.17:1. Construction is being initiated with funds ($1,000,000) provided in the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1946. Restoration of the $3,000,000 approved by the Bureau of the Budget, but not allowed by the House, is necessary to continue construction of the project during the fiscal year 1947. If these funds are not restored, work on the project will have to be suspended completely early in the fiscal year 1947 and cannot be resumed until additional funds are appropriated. Suspension of the work will result not only in at least a year's delay in completion of the project but will also result in partial loss of the work in place if left in an uncompleted state. (3) Stringtown, Fort Chartres, and Ivy Landing drainage and levee district, Illinois (4) Wood River drainage and levee district, Illinois Authorized by the 1936 and 1938 Flood Control Acts. Raising and enlarging of earth levees and reconstruction of appurtenant drainage facilities. These levees are part of a system of levee and drainage districts located on both banks of the Mississippi River between Wood River and East Cape Girardeau, Ill., which levee districts now afford partial protection against Mississippi River floods to approximately 153,000 acres of highly productive agricultural lands; to the highly industrialized area of Wood River and East St. Louis, Ill.; to the main line of the Missouri-Pacific Railway south from Dupo, Ill.; the main freight yards of the Missouri-Pacific at Dupo and main lines of the St. Louis-Southwestern, Illinois Central, and St. Louis-San Francisco Railways. Raising and strengthening of these levees was initiated in June 1945 following a determination of essentiality by the WPB, and with funds provided in the First Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1945, approved December 22, 1944, and in the War Department Civil Appropriation Act, 1946, approved March 31, 1945. Funds are required to continue this program of raising, strengthening, and extending these existing levee districts to afford full protection against major Mississippi floods. Restoration of the amounts of $392,000 and $400,000 for these two projects which were approved by the Budget but not allowed by the House is necessary to permit continuation of construction of the levees along the Mississippi River. If these funds are not restored, work on the levees in these two drainage districts will have to be suspended for the fiscal year 1947 and cannot be resumed until further funds are appropriated. (5) Garrison Reservoir, N. Dak. Authorized in the 1944 Flood Control Act. Dam and reservoir located on the Missouri River 1,455 miles above its mouth and about 11 miles south of Garrison, N. Dak. This dam is the key unit of the five main stem reservoirs above Sioux City. In combination with other units of the comprehensive plan, the reservoir will control flooding on the Missouri River downstream and will effect important reduction in flood stages in the lower Mississippi River. Alone, the project will effect an important reduction in floods on the Missouri River. The importance of constructing flood-control reservoirs on the main stem of the Missouri River has been emphasized by the major floods in 1943, 1944, and 1945, with resulting extensive damages and large expenditures for flood fighting and for emergency repair operations. Additional benefits will be realized by the generation of hydroelectric power and by low-flow regulation for navigation and pollution abatement. Construction of access roads and railroad and land acquisition is being initiated with funds ($2,000,000) contained in the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1946. Restoration of $1,000,000 cut by the House is necessary to permit construction of the access road; a portion of the access railroad; minimum administrative and housing facilities; foundations and superstructure for the construction bridge; and initiation of excavation of spillway and outlet works; and further studies for development of the most economical methods of handling materials for the embankment in advance of advertising the large contract which will be required in the following fiscal year for the entire embankment. If the $1,000,000 is not restored a considerable part of this work must be curtailed and the construction of the access railroad will have to be deferred until further funds are appropriated. That reduction will result in a substantial loss of economy by interruption of the present minimum orderly schedule and additional overhead costs for the longer period of time required for construction. (6) Harlan County Reservoir, Nebr. Authorized in the 1938 Flood Control Act, as amended and extended by the 1941 and 1944 Flood Control Acts. Earth-fill dam with concrete gravity overflow section on Republican River in Harlan County, Nebr., about 3 miles east of Republican City, Nebr., with a reservoir having a total storage capacity of 850,000 acre-feet. The reservoir will be operated primarily for flood control as a unit in the comprehensive plan for flood control in the Missouri River Basin. The reservoir will afford flood protection benefits to 11 towns in the Republican River Basin and 10 towns in the Kansas River Basin, including the Kansas Citys, Mo. and Kans. The reservoir will control all previously experienced floods at the dam site. Protection will also be afforded to extensive areas of agricultural lands in the Kansas River Basin. Additional benefits will be provided by storage of water for irrigation, low-water regulation, and recreation. The present estimate of the ratio of benefits to cost is 1.05:1. Funds are required for acquisition of land at the dam site, for initiation of construction of the dam, and for relocations. Restoration of the $500,000 cut by the House is necessary to provide a sufficient amount of money to obtain bids for contractors for starting work on the dam itself, since the amount allowed is scarcely sufficient for the initial complementary features of work consisting of land acquisition, access roads and railroad spurs, clearing and stripping of dam site, and minimum housing and administrative facilities. If that amount is not restored completion of the project will be delayed about 1 year with resulting increased costs due to overhead from the extended construction period. (7) Kansas Citys, Mo. and Kans. Authorized in the 1936 Flood Control Act as modified by the 1944 Flood Control Act. Levees, flood walls, channel rectification, pumping plants, and bridge alterations. The project provides for substantially complete flood protection for Kansas City, Mo., Kansas City, Kans., and North Kansas City, Mo., as well as smaller neighboring communities. The average annual benefits that will accrue from construction of this project are estimated to be approximately $3,948,000. Recurring floods experienced in the past few years have caused severe damage and required expenditure of large sums in flood fighting and evacuation of threatened areas. Construction of the Fairfax-Jersey Creek and the Kansas River channel improvement units of the project is practically complete and the entire project is about 20 percent complete. Funds are required to continue construction of works for the central industrial and North Kansas City units, which are being initiated with funds ($2,000,000) provided in the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1946, and for the initiation of the Liberty Bend cut-off unit of the project. Restoration of the $500,000 cut by the House is necessary to initiate construction of the bridge at the Liberty Bend cut-off which must be started before the dredging of the cut-off itself can be initiated. The Liberty Bend cut-off is a key unit of the Kansas Citys project, and since it will afford a substantial reduction in flood heights at Kansas Citys deferment of this work extends the present danger of overtopping the levees now in place at Kansas Citys. (8) Wolf Creek Reservoir, Ky. Authorized in the 1938 Flood Control Act. Concrete dam and power house on the Cumberland River 460.9 miles above its mouth and about 10 miles southwest of Jamestown, Ky. The project will be operated as a unit in the comprehensive plan for flood control in the Ohio River Basin and will control all floods of record from its drainage area of 5,810 square miles, which is approximately one-third of the drainage area of the entire Cumberland River Basin. The reservoir will have a storage capacity of 6,089,000 acre-feet for flood control, power development, recreation, and conservation. The contract for construction of the dam and appurtenant works was approximately 8 percent complete when suspended in 1942 due to the war. Funds are required to continue construction of the dam and appurtenant works, which is being resumed with funds ($4,000,000) contained in the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1946. If the $1,300,000 cut by the House is not restored the funds available for work on the large contract for the dam itself will be insufficient to continue that work throughout the fiscal year 1947 and construction work would have to be suspended for as much as 6 months during the year awaiting the appropriation of further funds. Restoration of the $1,300,000 is necessary to avoid interruption of the construction work during fiscal year 1947 and to avoid delay in completion of the project with resulting increased overhead costs. (9) Center Hill Reservoir, Tenn. Authorized in the 1938 Flood Control Act. Concrete gravity dam and powerhouse on the Caney Fork River, 26.6 miles above its confluence with Cumberland River at Carthage, Tenn. The reservoir will have a total storage capacity of 2,092,000 acre-feet to be devoted to flood control, development of power, conservation, and recreation, and will control a drainage area of 2,195 square miles. The reservoir will be operated as a unit of the coordinated plan for the Ohio River Basin. Construction of the dam and appurtenances was approximately 40 percent complete when the project was suspended in 1942 due to the war. Funds are required for continuation of construction of the dam and appurtenant works, which is being resumed with funds ($3,000,000) provided in the First Deficiency Appropriation Act, 1946. The amounts now available, plus the amount allowed by the House for fiscal year 1947, will be sufficient to carry work on this project only about 6 months in the fiscal year 1947. Work on the main contract for the dam itself, which is now |