The term "Upper Colorado River Basin Compact" shall mean that certain compact executed on October 11, 1948, by commissioners representing the States of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, and consented to by the Congress of the United States of America by Act of April 6, 1949 (63 Stat. 31); and

The term "treaty with the United Mexican States" shall mean that certain treaty between the United States of America and the United Mexican States signed at Washington, District of Columbia, February 3, 1944, relating to the utilization of the waters of the Colorado River and other rivers, as amended and supplemented by the protocol dated November 14, 1944, and the understandings recited in the Senate resolution of April 18, 1945, advising and consenting to ratification thereof.

Amend the title so as to read: “A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain initial units of the Colorado River storage project and participating projects and for other purposes."

Senator MILLIKIN. I recognize the Senator from Wyoming.

STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK A. BARRETT, A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING

Senator BARRETT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your courtesy of allowing the Wyoming delegation to take a few moments at the opening of this hearing.

I ask that privilege mainly because in the first instance the Governor of Wyoming is here and he must go back to Wyoming late this afternoon or early in the morning. He came down here to put in an appearance at this hearing and also to intercede with the Department of Agriculture on a matter of drought relief in our State.

Mr. Chairman, also he will witness the swearing in of the Senatordesignate from our State, E. D. Crippa of Rock Springs, who has long supported this project and who lives in the heart of the project in Wyoming.

Now, Mr. Chairman, I wish to take this opportunity to present to the committee the Honorable C. J. "Doc" Rogers, the Governor of Wyoming. The Governor has asked me to say a few words in his behalf, that he is wholeheartedly in favor of this project and the entire project. He is in favor of the Echo Park unit of the project because he believes that it is of utmost importance that that project be constructed, first so that the water can be stored to fulfill our contract with the lower basin States on the Colorado River and, secondly, to develop power that is so badly needed in not only southern Wyoming, but throughout the Upper Colorado River States.

Mr. Chairman, Governor Rogers wants to insert in the record his wholehearted support of this project. He wants to say that he has his State engineer here to testify.

The Governor, I think will take a minute or two now to address the committee.

Senator MILLIKIN. We are delighted to have you here. You are here on several very worthwhile missions.

STATEMENT OF HON. C. J. ROGERS, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

Governor ROGERS. I join my Senators 100 percent.

Senator BARRETT. Now, Senator Millikin, it is my great honor to present to you for his first appearance before a committee as a Senator designate, the Honorable E. D. Crippa, who will be sworn in at

noon today as a Senator from Wyoming, succeeding the late Senator Lester C. Hunt. Senator Crippa was born and reared in Wyoming. He has large business interests in Sweetwater County, and Rock Springs, his hometown, and he has been fighting the battle for the upper Colorado River for a long time, when it was first in its planning stages. He would like to take a few moments to make a statement at this time.

Senator MILLIKIN. We will call you Senator, as it will not be long

now.

We are glad to have you here.

STATEMENT OF HON. E. D. CRIPPA, UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING

Mr. CRIPPA. It is very fortunate for me, Mr. Chairman, that my first statement as Senator from Wyoming should be to speak in behalf of the Colorado River storage bill. Nothing is more important to the people of my hometown or of my State than the early construction of this project and the Wyoming units. I would like at the outset to repeat the position of the people of the West on the matter of the development of our Nation's resources.

No reasonable person can deny that wherever our water resources have been developed, either for irrigation and reclamation or power, new wealth has been brought to the immediate area. This has resulted in a broader tax base, new markets for industrial areas and supplemented the Nation's diet.

For many years I have worked toward fullest development of western resources. The Colorado River storage project, of which the Echo Park Dam and its 13 participating units in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah are a part, definitely would add further proof to the truth I have just mentioned.

The overall project will open to irrigation 380,000 acres of land and bring about the generation-through its power phases of large blocks of vitally needed hydroelectric power for the five-State area.

The project will enable the upper basin States to deliver 75 million acre-feet of water every 10 years to the lower States, and still provide beneficial use of nearly an equal amount. It will serve as a guarantee that the upper States will not lose their priority to their own water by failure to put those waters to beneficial use.

The project will mean much for my own State of Wyoming since it includes four participating units.

Briefly these units-LaBarge, Lyman, Seedskadee, and Eden-will cost nearly $43 million. An expenditure of this size in the southwestern part of my State will go a long way to bolster business and agriculture now and in the years ahead. This particular area is undergoing some economic changes brought about by technological progress. Development of new industries as a result of the construction of the project can be expected to lead the way to providing nearby markets for Wyoming's vast coal deposits whose future use depends upon markets for the chemicals which can be extracted from them by various processes. Currently we are looking forward to such use of our coal and the reemployment of persons dependent on the coal industry.

Construction of the 4 projects within Wyoming will bring irrigation water to 79,390 acres of land for the first time, and supplemental

water to 49,900 acres now under irrigation. This would give our ranching and livestock industry a much-needed shot in the arm. In this connection I would like to suggest that the overall project include the proposed Kendall Reservoir project near the headwaters of the Green River in Wyoming. It is necessary before Wyoming can apply its 14-percent allocation under the Colorado River compact. It would provide supplemental water for the four participating units in Wyoming under the overall plan, and is needed in connection with those projects.

Further study of this 340,000-acre-foot reservoir project is needed to determine the possibility of providing storage to increase project acreage on the Seedskadee project.

The four participating units, not including the Kendall project which I just referred to, would cost as follows: Eden, $7,287,000; Seedskadee, $23,272,000; Lyman, $10,564,000; and LaBarge, $1,673,000.

Irrigation possibilities of the 4 units would be: LaBarge, 7,670 acres new irrigation and 300 acres of supplemental; Lyman project, 40,600 acres of supplemental; Eden, 11,000 acres of new and 9,000 supplemental; and Seedskadee, 60,720 acres of new. The Eden project-already authorized and under construction-involves construction of a 40,000-acre-foot storage reservoir on the Big Sandy, and the Lyman unit contemplates construction of a 43,000 acre-foot storage reservoir.

The Colorado River storage project as envisioned in this legislation with its participating units in Wyoming is the cornerstone to the entire development of the upper Colorado River Basin watershed in southwestern Wyoming. It will enable Wyoming to make full use of its proportionate share of Colorado River Basin water agreed to by the upper Colorado River Basin States.

As to the charge that it is a threat to the prehistoric values of Dinosaur National Monument, I can only state that so far I have not been convinced such a threat exists.

Mr. Chairman, I have a resolution here, passed by the Sportsmen's Federation of the State of Wyoming, and it so states:

To Whom It May Concern:

The Wyoming Federation of the Sportsmen's Clubs at its State convention passed a resolution urging construction of the Echo Park Dam.

I offer that for the record.

Senator MILLIKIN. Senator, may I ask, Is that a statewide organization?

Mr. CRIPPA. Yes, sir.

Senator MILLIKIN. This committee is honored to have your first appearance in the Senate before this committee.

Mr. CRIPPA. Thank you, and I am very honored, I assure you. (The letter of June 24, 1954 follows:)

To Whom It May Concern:

WYOMING FEDERATION OF SPORTSMEN'S CLUBS,
June 24, 1954.

The Wyoming Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs at its State convention passed a resolution urging the construction of the Echo Park Dam project. JOHN C. BORZEA, Secretary.

This is to certify that John C. Borzea is secretary of the Wyoming Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, State of Wyoming and did sign the above statement. [SEAL] CARL F. ASIALA,

City Clerk, City of Rock Springs, Rock Springs, Wyo.

Dated this 25th day of June 1954.

Senator MILLIKIN. Senator Johnson?

Senator Johnson of Colorado is cosponsor of this bill.

STATEMENT OF HON. EDWIN C. JOHNSON, A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF COLORADO

Senator JOHNSON. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am very grateful to you for permitting me to testify early in the hearings. I have already attended one committee meeting this morning, and I have another that is very pressing. So I appreciate the convenience of this opportunity to speak to this committee.

Senator MILLIKIN. We are very glad to have you, sir.

Senator JOHNSON. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I desire to make a statement with respect to S. 1555, the pending legislation providing for storage projects to be constructed in the upper Colorado River Basin. This vast basin comprises an area of more than 110,000 square miles. It includes the southwest corner of Wyoming, the northwest corner of New Mexico, the northeast corner of Arizona, eastern and southern Utah, and the western half of Colorado. Generally speaking, it is rough, mountainous country interspersed with high plateaus and deep canyons, and famous for its scenic attractions. It is sparsely populated, having an average density of three persons per square mile, who for the most part reside in its many rather narrow but rich river valleys.

For many years my home has been in the Colorado section of this basin and I am quite familiar with the geography, topography, geology, potentialities, and aspirations of this portion of the Colorado River Basin. Since Colorado produces more than 72 percent of the water of the upper Colorado River Basin, its citizens have an important stake, interest and concern in S. 1555.

The purpose of the Congress in expending vast sums of public money on this river is to convert a menacing and wastrel river into a great national resource. The projects necessary to develop, regulate, and control the Colorado River are so huge that only the Federal Government has the capital and the capacity to undertake it. That fact places a heavy responsibility on the Congress to see that whatever projects it builds do not give one State or one region undue advantage over other States and other regions. We must bear in mind that neither the States nor their citizens have the financial capacity to do much about this river's development; and yet, if harnessed, it will pay back to the Federal Government every penny expended in its development and, after paying back all of such a capital investment, this harnessed river will continue to bless mankind for thousands of years.

To get a clear picture of the problem of the development of the Colorado River, one must recognize that there are two very distinct Colorado River basins in the United States, plus an area in Mexico, having an established legal claim to a portion of its water.

The lower basin includes California, Nevada, and Arizona. While California does not contribute any water to the Colorado River, she has a great need for the power which the harnessed river can provide and for the water it can conserve, both of which must be transported by transmountain diversion out of the basin.

The States in the lower basin were pressing to develop their part of the Colorado River system before the upper basin States were ready to undertake their own development. However, under the law the first to put public water to beneficial use gains a vested right in that water. This is in accord with the legal principle of "first in use, first in right." In order to permit lower-basin development to proceed without prejudice to the development of the upper basin at some later period, a division of the water as between the upper and lower basins was determined in 1922 by a seven-State compact.

Since this compact set aside the right of title to the water going to the first to put it to beneficial use, the upper States have felt safe to cooperate with the lower States in developing the water in the lower basin first. The upper basin States have relied on the good faith of all seven States, and the compact which all signed to protect them and permit the development of both basins as Congress made Federal funds available without regard to where the first funds might be spent.

Accordingly, the Congress already has spent huge sums in developing the lower basin, but little or nothing in the upper basin, which produces practically all of the water of this great stream. The first step in bringing the river under control was the construction of the Hoover Dam. I emphasize again that all of the funds so far invested in this river have been Federal moneys and not lower basin moneys. In reviewing this historic data, I am grieved to now note that the California Official Board of the Colorado River has taken a strong position against the development of the upper Colorado River Basin and that all but one California Congressman on the House Interior Committee have joined in that opposition.

The one California Congressman who so far takes exception to this breach of good faith is Hon. Clair Engle, and I mean honorable. Congressman Engle points out that California is not serving her own best interests in pursuing such a selfish attitude toward her generous neighbors. But California has great political strength in the House. If she uses that strength to block development of the upper basin and does block it, practically all the water of this river not now being used will be available to the lower States and none of it to the upper States. While under the 7-State compact the upper basin has both the law and justice and equity on its side, yet if California succeeds in keeping Congress from authorizing the funds to develop the upper basin, we cannot put to use the additional portion of the water we produce which will require Federal funds and to which we have the right under the 7-State compact.

Thanks to the Founding Fathers, there is no power that can compel Members of Congress to support or not support any legislative proposals and this is a legislative proposal-just as was the 7-State compact and the appropriation of Federal funds which have developed the lower basin. The upper basin has righteousness in her corner but the lower basin will have all the water of the Colorado River in perpetuity, unless the Congress is fair to both basins in the appropria