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
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