CONFERENCE WITH DIRECTORS OF THE NATIONAL RECLAMATION ASSOCIATION FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1957 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:40 a. m., in the committee room, 224 Senate Office Building, Senator James E. Murray (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators James E. Murray, Montana (chairman of the committee); Clinton P. Anderson, New Mexico; Alan Bible, Nevada; Richard L. Neuberger, Oregon; John A. Carroll, Colorado; Frank Church, Idaho; George W. Malone, Nevada: Arthur V. Watkins, Utah; Henry C. Dworshak, Idaho; Thomas H. Kuchel, California; Frank A. Barrett, Wyoming; Barry Goldwater, Arizona; and Gordon Allott, Colorado." Also present: Senator Frank Carlson, Kansas. The CHAIRMAN. The meeting will come to order, please. Gentlemen, it has become an annual custom for the Senate Committee on Interior to meet with members and directors of the National Reclamation Association. We have been greatly benefited by these conferences where we discuss our mutual problems and questions and we have made very fine progress, I think, in the programs that we have been supporting. I am sure that this will continue to be a very beneficial practice and I am very much in favor of it. I have enjoyed very much the meeting that we had a year ago. I am pleased to welcome you here today and I will ask Mr. Jackson, who is the president of the association, to present the members of his organization who are here with us this morning. STATEMENT OF GUY C. JACKSON, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL RECLAMATION ASSOCIATION Mr. JACKSON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. On behalf of our National Reclamation Association we do want to express appreciation for the privilege of appearing before this committee to bring to you firsthand some of the important things that we believe should be considered in the development of reclamation in the West. We all believe in reclamation. Naturally there are some who do not believe in it, and it is part of our job as an association to try to sell those who cannot clearly see what we can see coming in the future so that we will not reach a point where our population will exceed our food and fiber supply. Of course, from our best information it is stated that this question of equalizing the population and the food supply is going to be here in just a few years, possibly by as early as 1962. Knowing that it takes many years to construct and put projects into operation and bring new lands into operation, we are hopeful that this committee and all of the Members of the Congress will see that the train does not grind to a halt and that we will be looking forward to taking care of our new citizens as they come into being. Of course, at the same time, we are cognizant of the fact that more than a million acres of agricultural land is being taken out of production each year due to the growth of our cities, expansion of our highways and airports, and other purposes of that kind. Mr. Chairman, at this time we have quite a number of our directors with us and I will just ask them to stand as they are introduced. I will start on the right over here with Harry Polk, our former president from North Dakota, who is representing the present director, Mr. Hoisveen. Next is Mr. Dick Fabrick, director from the State of Montana. Mr. Bert Smith, who is representing Mr. Charles Kaupke, the director from the State of California. I want to apologize for the tardy members of my board of directors who are just coming in, Mr. Chairman. As a rule they always are on time or a little bit ahead of time, but if this kind committee will excuse them for their tardiness I will proceed to introduce them. Mr. Ned Sharp, who is one of the originators of the National Reclamation Association and director from the great State of Idaho, Mr. Frank Raab from Oklahoma, representing our director there, Mr. Ira Husky. Mr. Raab is a very ardent reclamationist. Over here we have from the State of Utah, Mr. Godfrey, director of that State and, of course, from that former section of Texas now known as Colorado we have the Honorable Harold Christy, director of that State. Beginning here we have Mr. Hugh Shamberger, director from the State of Nevada, and Mr. Joe Jarvis, our director who represents the railroads of the West. Next we have, of course, the able director from the State of Oregon, Mr. LaSelle Coles. Next to him is that long-time reclamationist, Hub Moeur of Arizona, director of that State. Next we have the South Dakota representative, Mr. Art Svendby from South Dakota; and from the great State of Washington we have a new director who took Mr. Wells' place. Unfortunately his health prevented him from going on our board but he gave us an able successor, Mr. Lorin Markham of Spokane. We have Mr. Paul Rechard here who is representing Earl Bower of the State of Wyoming, a very able young man, we have found from our work with him. There is no need to, but I will ask Bill Welsh to stand because we think that he is one of the finest men that ever worked for reclamation. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Jackson. I have a few remarks to make and I will follow my notes in order to save time. The Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and our counterpart in the House of Representatives are responsible for studying and reporting legislation that will pave the way for the full development of our western water resources. We must not lull ourselves into a sense of security that all is well and that our problems are being solved successfully. To be sure, we are making progress, but a united front is vital to success. The greatest obstacles that confront the West in the reclamation program are the diversionary tactics constantly being pressed, which tend to hamstring and defeat our efforts toward harnessing our great river basins for full multiple-purpose development. The West has made substantial progress in the last half century, but much remains to be accomplished. Big multiple-purpose dams have been constructed that provide storage for irrigation and other conservation purposes, for flood control, navigation, and recreation. Our public-power installations are assisting in paying irrigation and other costs. At the same time, these development programs are thwarting the monopolistic tendencies of private-power interests which would concentrate on inefficient, single-purpose developments. Many years ago Mr. Dooley, of Chicago fame, wrote that there was a tendency on the part of the Supreme Court to follow the election returns. It would appear wise if the Congress would take a close look at what happened in the West on November 6 last. In Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, where the power issue was sharply drawn, the election returns speak for themselves. Similarly, in Colorado and California there were unmistakable manifestations of the people's wishes on this subject. In most of the senatorial and gubernatorial elections in the West the so-called partnership plan was roundly repudiated. You know, and we know, that the giveaway of the power installation facilities as proposed means the end of financial aid to irrigation from this source. It would thwart the power preference for REA cooperatives, municipalities, and other nonprofit distributors of power in the West. Your association has doubtless recognized the threats to reclamation and western resource development inherent in this proposal. It has been gratifying to note that President Eisenhower has recognized the devastating drought that has been scourging Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, and parts of other States. It is to be hoped that he will come up with constructive proposals to meet the problem. The President has assured us of sympathetic interest in this field and has heretofore recognized that piecemeal development will never do. We must have basinwide programs to be effective. Now, I will be glad to hear from any members of the Reclamation Association further or to hear comments from any of the Senators who wish to speak. Do any members of your organization wish to make any comments on the program? Mr. JACKSON. Mr. Chairman, I know that there are 2 members. here whom we have designated to bring to the attention of the committee the 1 or 2 pertinent items which we believed should be given prompt consideration. I would first like to call upon Mr. Hub Moeur, director from Arizona, who is also the chairman of our legislative committee. Mr. Moeur. 88077-57 STATEMENT OF J. H. MOEUR, DIRECTOR, STATE OF ARIZONA, NATIONAL RECLAMATION ASSOCIATION Mr. MOEUR. Mr. Chairman, let me get the record straight to start with. I am not talking because I want to but because I was told to. The legislative committee of the National Reclamation Association has been in session off and on for the last 2 or 3 days and our report has now been made to the board of directors and the board of directors have approved that report practically in full. You will have in the due course of time at various times communications from Mr. Welsh with regard to the specific items that we covered. We would not have time this morning and it would not be fair to take up all of them. Suffice to say that I do not believe our program will prove to be a burdensome one. It is largely repetitious of things that we have been asking for before and that you have attempted to secure for us and he will in due course of time bring those matters up before you. A good many of them are covered by legislation already proposed or that we understand is being prepared and when the time comes those matters will be presented to you. There is one matter that I want to take a few minutes to discuss with you this morning. It concerns you right now. That is in connection with this memorandum and bulletin that you have issued, No. 281. This memorandum which is issued is entitled, "Conservation and Development of Water Resources." This is a memorandum of the chairman to the members of the Senate Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs and Public Works. You will remember that this deals with the so-called Budget Circular A47 of 1952. You will remember that we discussed that budget circular with you here some 2 or 3 years ago. At that time some of you were surprised at the contents of that circular. We were told that something would be done to modify that and to clarify it. We were told it might be done at executive levels. Nothing much has been done and, of course, you know what happened to your committee and the other committee of the Senate. The Public Works Committee had requested comments from the various interested organizations and the various interested governmental agencies. You have those comments. You have published those comments and I presume that in the course of time you will probably have some implementing legislation in connection with those com ments. All we say to you now and all we have said to you before is that we believe strongly that the province of establishing criteria by which reclamation projects can be evaluated, and the authorization of reclamation projects is a job for the United States Congress and not a job for some agency of the Government by Executive order. You have to put up the money. You have to make the appropriations and we hope that in the legislation that you consider to implement this program that you have initiated-and we think that you have done a nice job in initiating this program-we hope that you will see that in that legislation you still have the reins in your hands and that you can control the situation, because that is our contact with the United States Government. Our contact is with Congress. We can |