Mr. RAKER. Will you come back later and give us the benefit of your views, that is, after you have fully matured them? Secretary HOOVER. If you like, but I prefer that you get those views from each individual State; in other words, I hesitate to express any views because I am sitting as chairman of their commission. You can get an expression from them because they will no doubt be before you soon. Mr. SMITH of Idaho. In your consideration of this proposition has there been brought to your attention from any authoritative source a definite and concrete proposition to buy this power; that is, from the city of Los Angeles or from any other local power market? Secretary HOOVER. Yes; there are three or four groups interested in this power question. It is one of the most contentious parts of the whole business, but it did not seem to me that it is vitally necessary to make up our minds now as to what we should do three, five, or ten years hence. The power will be wanted even more then than now. Mr. SMITH of Idaho. When this matter is presented to Congress it is very important that we have some definite assurances as to how the Government is be reimbursed, because that is the problem that confronts us in connection with every irrigation project we suggest, namely, when will the Government get its money back? Mr. RAKER. In addition to that, the public will want some definite assurance through legislation that no one particular individual, if authority is given to dispose of it, will get hold of this power for 40 or 50 years and monopolize it. That phase of it must be carefully considered. Secretary HOOVER. But you have a double protection there because all the power in the United States is now distributed subject to public utility control as to rates and everything else. Mr. SINNOTT. If there are no more questions to be asked of Mr. Hoover, we thank him very much. Mr. Secretary, your statement has been very illuminating. LOWER COLORADO RIVER BASIN ,་ HEARINGS BEFORE THE U.S. Congress. House, COMMITTEE ON IRRIGATION OF ARID LANDS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SIXTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H. R. 11449 By Mr. SWING A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOWER COLORADO RIVER BASIN COMMITTEE ON IRRIGATION OF ARID LANDS, Mr. SWING. I would like to present Professor Durand, of Stanford University. Professor Durand is a graduate of the Annapolis Academy and has served in the United States Navy. He has been engaged in research work for the Government on water propellers and more recently on air propellers. He was professor of marine engineering at Cornell University and at present is professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University. During the war he was chairman of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and was later scientific attaché at Paris. He was the connecting link between the United States Government and the Allies on war research. He is a member of the board of consulting engineers of San Francisco on the Hetch Hetchy project and has been a member of the Los Angeles Hydro Electric Consulting Board since 1909. STATEMENT OF PROF. W. F. DURAND. Professor DURAND. I should, perhaps, explain that the reason I am appearing before this committee (my primary connection being as a professor in Stanford University) is due to the fact that during the entire period of the development of the municipal power system of Los Angeles I have been in association with those undertakings in a consulting capacity and have, therefore, had an opportunity of becoming familiar with the power problems of Los Angeles as a city and, in a considerable degree, with those affecting the southern part of California, and, of course, in some lesser degree the entire section of the Southwest. Mr. LITTLE. Were you employed by the city? Professor DURAND. By the city, yes. Perhaps I should also say that my contact with these problems has been chiefly technical and the subjects which I might naturally discuss before this committee have already been generally covered by the Director of the Reclamation Service. Any detailed discussion of these phases of the subject would therefore lead to a repetition, in considerable degree, of a part of the testimony already presented before the committee. This I believe to be unnecessary and I shall, therefore, endeavor to restrict my comments to certain features which were not so fully dealt with by the Director of the Reclamation Service and to certain other points which may be of interest to the committee. Evidence has been shown, in the questions which members of the committee have asked, regarding the very keen interest which they take in the problem of financial reinbursement, the problem of the practicability of the scheme as a financial and economic undertaking, and I wish to speak to that point briefly-that is, regarding the question of the prospective market for power as we see it in the southern part of the State of California and generally throughout the Southwest. It is known, I take it, to most members of the committee, that the city of Los Angeles has already developed power along the line of the aqueduct to the extent, in round numbers, of about 100,000 horsepower; the remaining capacity of the aqueduct and of the streams immediately tributary thereto represents something like 150,000 horsepower more, so that the ultimate development of the power immediately along the line of the aqueduct-thinking merely now of Los Angeles as the single customer-will be represented by something like 250,000 horsepower. The present demand for power in the city of Los Angeles far outruns its present development and it is itself at the present time a large purchaser of power from the private power companies. The business agent of the city of Los Angeles in recent years has been compelled to decline discussion with large prospective power users regarding power for industrial purposes and representing an aggregate of something like 100,000 horsepower. That is to say, there exists at present a void which might be immediately filled or filled at a very early date represented by some such figure. 63 Mr. LITTLE. One hundred thousand horsepower? Professor DURAND. Yes. Mr. RAKER. What is being done to develop this other 150,000 horsepower? Professor DURAND. They are proceeding as rapidly as circumstances will permit. Mr. RAKER. And expect in due course to develop it to the entire limit? Professor DURAND. Yes, sir; I am coming to that point immediately. The annual increase in power demand in the city of Los Angeles in recent years has run at about 20 per cent, so that looking forward into the future it is a 20 per cent compound interest program. Mr. LITTLE. Annually? Professor DURAND. Annually, yes, sir; for the increase of power. And what is true of Los Angeles is likewise substantially true for the other communities in the southern part of the State, as well as for the whole Southwest in a general way. At this rate of increase for the city of Los Angeles the entire capacity of its aqueduct power system will be required some time in 1925. That is to say, if Los Angeles is able to proceed promptly with the further development of these resources, it will in 1925 have reached the limit of their capacity and will immediately thereafter be in the market actively for other blocks of power. Mr. RAKER. About what is the estimated amount now required by the cities in southern California outside of Los Angeles? Professor DURAND. The demand for power in southern California outside of Los Angeles is such as to require an active working installation of something over 400,000 horsepower capacity, with, or course, a reasonable excess installed capacity to insure continuity of service. Mr. RAKER. They are now short too, are they not? Professor DURAND. There is a definite power shortage throughout the entire southern part of the State. This is especially the case in Los Angeles, and what is true of Los Angeles is, I am confident from my own contact with the situation in the southern part of the State, likewise true of other municipalities and of the entire section, and it is likewise true with regard to contiguous States and, in a general way, the entire section which would be related to the Colorado River as a source of power. In fact, what I believe to be a conservative estimate covering the probable increase in power demands during the future period of years seems to indicate that if there were no further supply in the meantime, the shortage within a period of seven or eight years, certainly by the time the Boulder Canyon Dam was completed and ready for service, would be sufficient to immediately absorb the entire amount, and by the entire amount I mean 600,000 continuous horsepower. Mr. RAKER. What is your view as to the construction of the Boulder Canyon Dam by the Government rather than by private individuals? Professor DURAND. I think the Government is the only agency which should undertake the construction of the dam. Mr. HAYDEN. Is it not true that the city of Los Angeles has not only developed power along the aqueduct but is also seeking to obtain permission to develop power sites in the Sierra Nevadas north of Tehachapi Pass, Calif., with the purpose of bringing the power down to the city of Los Angeles? Professor DURAND. I do not know to what extent the city is actively interested in the actual development of those sites but I know it has made some surveys and has estimated certain possibilities. Those possibilities, however, were not included in the figures which I gave a moment ago. Mr. HAYDEN. I also understood that there was objection on the part of those north of the Tehachapi Pass to Los Angeles invading their territory and developing the power which they would ultimately need, feeling that Los Angeles should be confined, as to its source of power, to southern California, and that the power resources of northern California be ultimately developed and used for the development of that section of the State. Professor DURAND. That is quite true. Mr. BARBOUR. I can testify to that, too, Mr. Hayden. Professor DURAND. But I should also state, as far as I can speak for the city of Los Angeles, that she would much prefer to insure in some way an adequate supply of power from the Colorado River rather than from these other sources referred to. Mr. RAKER. Has Los Angeles an application now pending for power privileges ou the Colorado River, I mean, before the power commission? Professor DURAND. I think there were certain applications filed some time ago simply for the purpose of insuring what might be called a hearing for Los Angeles when the question of the allocation of power should arise or in case the Federal Government should not proceed with the undertaking of securing for the city an opportunity of developing such power for herself. |