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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 16, 1955)
TWELVE MET5F0HD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Wednesday March 18, 1953 Neuberger Says 'Five (Great FrSncDples' At Issue in IBiSfl Ifor IHlelDs Canyon Bam Senator Richard Neuberger's remarks on the occasion of in troduction of the Hells Canyon bill were in part as follows: "Mr. President, the struggle over the natural resources which has begun today with the introduction of the Hells Canyon bill will rank in history with the battle over the founding of the U. S. Forest Reserves and the long fight by Senator George W. Norris for Muscle Shoals. Hells Canyon is the greatest natural hydroelectric power site left on our continent, but even more than this is at stake. Hells Canyon is the keystone in the arch of resources out in the great Pacific Northwest. If Hells Canyon is given to private monopoly for far-less-than-full development, other ' resources will likewise pass r fronx the hands of the people. " Principles at Issue Five great principles are at issue in this bill: 1. Will the power resources of the Columbia river and its tribu taries the mightiest hydro electric stream in North Amer ica be tapped for the public or for a favored few? 2. Will power sites in the Co lumbia Basin be used to full ca pacity or to merely a fragment of their possibilities? 3. Will the 308 Report of the Corps of Engineers, which is the master plan for Columbia Basin development, be followed or will it be abandoned? 4. Will Columbia Basin kilo watts be available to farmers, manufacturers and home-owners at low-cost or at high monopolis tic rates? 5. Will the generation of hy droelectric power be accompan ied by such additional multi-purpose benefits as flood control, irrigation, downstream power firming and the protection of wildlife? Hells Canyon in Public Interest If the Hells Canyon bill which we have introduced today is passed by Congress and signed by the President, these ques tions will be answered in the public interest. If the bill fails of passage, Mr. President, these questions will be answered in sorrowful and adverse terms for the American people. I should like to associate my self with my senior colleague from Oregon Mr. Morse) in what he has said about Hells Canyon and its impact on our state, region and nation. I also should like to thank from the bottom of my heart the other ; distinguished benators w n o have joined with Mr. Morse and myself in sponsorship of this bill, which means much to our state of Oregon but also to the United States of America. Mr. President, I first visited Hells Canyon in 1939. I have been there many times since. I have ridden its rapids on the mailboat "Idaho." I have trudged its narrow trails and redden horseback over Freezeout Sad dle, the great pass on the Ore- gon rim of the chasm where Capt. Benjamin L. E. Bonneville and his fellow explorers escaped from the- gorge nearly a century and a quarter ago. Hells Canyon passed into pro tected public possession when Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot set aside the Forest Re serves in 1908. The vast chasm is divided between the Nez Perce and Clearwater National Forests of Idaho and the Wal lowa National Forest of Ore gon. The hydroelectric power resources of Hells Canyon need not be given to the absentee dominated Idaho Power Com pany, if this Congress will only stand by the principles of those progressive Republicans, Theo dore Roosevelt and his Chief Forester, Gifford Pinchot. In deed, Roosevelt and Pinchot de liberately located forest ranger stations along swift rivers at power sites, to keep these sites out of the clutches of what Pinchot called "the Power Octopus." We' are again con fronted by a challenge similar ,to that which sent Roosevelt and Pinchot into action. Position Taken Despite Findings An administrative arm of Congress the Federal Power Commission now has before it a proposal by which a private power company could preempt that section of the Snake river . within the high multi-purpose Hells Canyon dam would be built. Through narrow interpre tation of the Federal Power Act, legal counsel for that body has recommended that licenses be granted to permit building three small private dams in the Hells Canyon area. Through tortured logic, this position was taken de spite findings that the alter native high Hells Canyon Dam would provide superior total multiple-purpose benefits. The Federal Power Act, it seems to me, is fairly clear as to how the Congress intended the Federal Power Commission to function in cases such as the present controversy.. The Act specifically declares that the Commission shall license that r roject best adapted to compre hensive development of a river basin. How can less-than-full de velopment be the best policy, when an alternative will pro duce maximum use? It sounds unbalanced interpretation of the law which has been given by initial recommendation within the present Commission. Water Policy Imperative It is important that this na tional water policy be spelled out here and now. We live in an age when energy for industrial fuel is a dominant factor in social and economic growth. The Columbia River Basin con tains about 42 per cent of the nation's potential hydroelectric energy. WTe have developed ap proximately one-sixth of the pos sible capacity. Here is a chal lenge to American ingenuity and farsightedness. Have we the wisdom to carry on the program which will realize the full pos sibilities of this resource? We must be equal to the challenge, because this nation does not have a world monopoly on choice sites for development of low-cost energy. Failing .to de velop our water power to the fullest and at the lowest cost, industry will go where the cost of energy is cheaper and the sup ply more abundant. We have al ready seen this trend started in the Pacific Northwest where aluminum companies have been forced to locate elsewhere be cause of the recent threat of power shortages. In our region which has no other fuel for an energy base except falling water the economic paralysis from piecemeal high - cost power would be roughly equivalent to a serious economic depression. We cannot allow the race for low-cost energy to be lost by default merely to satisfy the de mands of special corporate in terests. The technique of multi-purpose river development has been uniquely American. In re cent years it has been one of our chief technological exports. The United States is spending millions of dollars to show gov ernments in Europe, Asia and elsewhere how to get the most out of river resources. Our funds and our know-how are being used for power development by governments around the globe. At home, however, such action is labeled by the present Admin istration as "creeping socialism" and "subsidized power." Appar ently, the Administration be lieves that what is good for our allies is not good for us. Administration's Double Standard We in the Columbia Basin states saw the effects of this teeter-totter logic when the Pres ident's budget was presented a few weeks ago. Again the Ad ministration failed to allocate a single dollar for start of a new multi-purpose project on the main stem of the Columbia or its tributaries. At the same time, there were ample funds for far away places. I favor the use of financial aid to help under-developed areas raise their standards t)f living by better use of resources. But it seems singularly incon sistent for the Administration to give its blessing to multi-purpose river projects in foreign lands, and the back of its hand to similar objectives on the Co-, lumbia, the Snake and the' Tennessee rivers. Surely, Baker, Oregon deserves as much con sideration as Bombay, India. ' Continuation of the Adminis tration's double standard for river projects will put the na tion further behind in meeting its prospective power require ments, while power expansion goes on around the world. We must regain our position in the world as the recognized disciples of full nver-basin development. Our leadership in this field of conservation has been an ex ample for the entire world, but I It is suffering under the Admin istration's policy of do-nothing-ism and phony "partnership." Decision Must Shape Destiny What we pass on to the fu ture by our action on the Hells Canyon bill is more than a sin gle dam-site. Our decision on this measure may well shape the destiny of national conservation policy a policy tried and proved for 50 years, until thrust into limbo two years ago under the influence of self-seeking in terests. The issue at Hells Can yon is the very Synthesis of the meaning of resource conserva tion. The question is this: Given the opportunity to put to bene ficial use the greatest natural water-storage site in the contin ent, will Congress decide to re serve for all time the full multi purpose utility of Hells Canyon? Or, will it surrender to short sighted expediency, telling this generation and those to come that they must accept lesa than total productivity from their river resources? ALL IN A DAY Miguel Jose, born Feb. 7, looks into camera with all the nonchalance of a true trouper as he poses with Mom and Dad in his Hollywood photo debut. Mom and Dad are Actor Jose Ferrer and Singer Rosemary Clooney. AT LAKE TAHOE, TOO MAY 1955 I ! 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