(The following persons were invited to attend the hearing :) The Honorable Luther H. Hodges, Governor of the State of North Carolina; the entire North Carolina congressional delegation; Jonathan Daniels, Raleigh, N. C.; Mrs. Semans, Durham, N. Č.; the United States Corps of Engineers. Governor Hodges invited the following: State College (School of Agriculture). John H. Kerr Reservoir Development Com- U. S. Corps of Engineers.. U. S. Soil Conservation Service.. Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation. U. 8. Geological Survey. Association of Soil Conservation, district North Carolina Industrial Council County Commissioners Association. North Carolina Textile Manufacturers Asso- Southeastern Beach Association.. Southern Furniture Manufacturers Associa- Neuse River Basin Authority. North Carolina State Grange.. E. B. Rice. Allen Swindell, president.. Hunter Marshall, secretary Wallace G. Dunham, chairman... Winston-Salem, N. C. (No written invitations were sent out by the committee other than the following telegram which went to each Member of the House from the State of North Carolina :) Special Subcommittee on Water Resources and Power of Committee on Government Operations plans to hold hearings on Hoover Commission Report on Water Resources and Power at Raleigh, N. C., September 28 and 29. Witnesses will be heard on various aspects of water problems in the area. We shall be pleased to have you testify. (Signed) ROBERT E. JONES, Member of Congress, Chairman. STATEMENT OF HON. HAROLD D. COOLEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA Mr. COOLEY. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say on behalf of the North Carolina delegation, for those of us who have attended the hearings, and also the members of the delegation who have not been able to attend, and, for that matter, on behalf of all the witnesses and the people who have attended the hearing and the people of North Caro lina, that we are deeply appreciative of your having arranged this hearing or these hearings. I know that the people are grateful to you and your subcommittee for the manner in which you have heard them, and I am certain that the members of the subcommittee will profit by the information and the testimony which has been furnished by these numerous witnesses, all of whom have, I think, presented splended statements. We do have some great problems in North Carolina, and those problems your subcommittee will have to deal with. I know you can more intelligently deal with those problems when they are so clearly presented, now that you have come to North Carolina and have conferred personally with these men, all of whom are very distinguished citizens of this great Commonwealth. On behalf of all the people of North Carolina, I thank you for coming here and being with us the last 2 days. Mr. JONES. Thank you very much, Mr. Cooley. I have a telegram from Congressman Deane which will be inserted here. (The telegram from Charles B. Deane is as follows:) ROBERT E. JONES, WASHINGTON, D. C., September 28, 1955. Chairman, House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Power, State Department of Agriculture Auditorium, Raleigh, N. C.: Thank you for invitation to testify before your Subcommittee on Water Resources and Power in Raleigh this week. Wish to commend your subcommittee on thorough study you are making of North Carolina and country's water resources. In view of my inability to appear before your subcommittee in Raleigh, kindly accept this telegram for the record. I strongly favor an aggressive, forthright policy dealing with unmanaged streams in North Carolina. Our State is in urgent need of such a policy. Am sure your subcommittee will obtain sufficient overall information on North Carolina's needs regarding conservation and development of water resources during your hearings, that will be highly beneficial. I would be glad to have opportunity to place a more complete statement of my views in your record before the close of your hearings. CHARLES B. DEANE, Member of Congress. Mr. JONES. Without objection, Mr. Deane will be permitted to insert a subsequent statement and each Member of the House delegation from the State of North Carolina will be permitted to extend their remarks if they so desire. Mr. LIPSCOMB. I did not get the opportunity to thank the people of North Carolina for their hospitality to a Yankee, and to thank my colleagues in Congress for their hospitality. I appreciate it very much. Mr. JONES. Thank you. The subcommittee is now adjourned. STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES B. DEANE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA Mr. Chairman, on September 28, I wired your House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Power, then holding a 2-day hearing at Raleigh, N. C., that I would not be able to make a personal appearance and submit remarks but that I would like to have an opportunity to place a statement of my views in the record of your hearings. I am grateful for the opportunity to submit my statement at this time. It is my understanding that the mission of your subcommittee is to determine what water problems exist in various sections of the country, what is being done to solve them, and what would be a proper policy for the Federal Government to take with respect to its participation in handling these problems. You are also concerned with the recent recommendations of the Hoover Commission regarding water resources and power and the Federal Government's relationships with these matters. Ever since I came to Congress 9 years ago today, I have been vitally interested in the water resources of our Nation and Federal legislation bearing on this subject. Through the years, it is becoming increasingly evident to all of us that an adequate supply of water and its control and development are of first importance to every section of this land. Water problems in North Carolina are essentially the same as in other areas of the country, although these problems have assumed a particular acuteness during the droughts that hit the State in 1952, 1953, and 1954 and during the hurricanes that lashed the State in 1954 and 1955. Water supplies in a large number of municipalities of the State and in the industrial sections of the Piedmont Plateau section of the State have dwindled to the point that long-term planning for the conservation and development of the local water resources is a regional "must" item. Floods in eastern North Carolina during September 1955 due to the hurricanes have caused enormous damages to agricultural lands. The State of North Carolina has initiated considerable action to do whatever it can to help meet problems of water shortages and devastating floods. The 1937 session of the State legislature declared a policy of preserving natural resources, including water resources, established a State soil conservation committee, created soil-conservation districts, and set forth the powers of the committee and the districts. The 1951 State legislature established the State stream sanitation committee within the State board of health, and this committee has achieved substantial progress toward abatement of pollution in our streams. This same session of the legislature adopted legislation requiring that any person utilizing surface waters for irrigation shall, prior to such utilization, apply to the director of the conservation department for a permit. The 1955 State legislature created a Board of Water Commissioners of the State of North Carolina to promote a coordinated water program by assembling basic information and by developing a program of planning and education including recommendations for necessary legislation. Regarding the question of what should be a proper policy for the Federal Government to take with respect to participation in handling water problems, I would suggest that such a policy always adhere to the best interests of the Nation as a whole and of the States and areas insofar as these local interests fit in with the national planning. We can no longer shut our eyes to the increasing water demands and the full utilization and development of water resources throughout the country. We must adopt an aggressive, forthright policy on this subject. At this point, I would like to direct the particular attention of your subcommittee to the importance of Federal assistance in dealing with flood-threatening streams and rivers. This is particularly true of North Carolina. One of these great rivers in this region is the Yadkin-Pee Dee which flows through the heart of my congressional district. In the upper Yadkin-Pee Dee River Valley 28 damaging floods occurred during the 32-year period, 1920 through 1951. In one of these floods, which occurred during August 1943, over $3,250,000 worth of damage was done, and the average annual flood toll in that area is $250,000. Many commercial establishments, residences, utilities, highways, bridges, the Southern Railway, and nearly 7,000 acres of cropland in the reach of the Yadkin River between Wilkesboro, N. C., and Donnaha, N. C., are subject to periodic flooding. On July 24, 1946, Congress authorized the construction of 4 flood-detention dams on the Yadkin and its tributary, the Reddies River, in order to afford the upper river valley region needed protection from devastating floods. Since that date, almost 10 years ago, the Army Corps of Engineers has been conducting studies and surveys on this flood-control project and recently recommended that the 4 detention dams proposal be replaced with 2 large detention dams, 1 on the Reddies north of North Wilkesboro, N. C., and 1 on the Yadkin west of Wilkesboro, N. C. Now, the corps is engaged in completing its last survey on this project which deals with the economic feasibility of the project. Likewise, the Corps of Engineers is making a final determination of the advantages of having a conservation lake behind each of the two detention dams in which to store needed water supplies for nearby municipalities, to provide recreational facilities, and to provide downstream flushing of pollution. I sincerely hope that the requisite reports and surveys of the Corps of Englneers on the Yadkin-Pee Dee Rivers project in North Carolina will soon be in hand and that an item can be included in the Federal budget for fiscal year 1957 with which to begin construction on these two dams. The consummation of this flood-control project would go a long way toward relieving devastating floods in this river valley and toward assuring much-needed water resources for constructive year-round use in Piedmont North Carolina. I respectfully invite your subcommittee's cooperation and assistance in the promotion of the Yadkin-Pee Dee flood-control project in North Carolina which was authorized by Congress 10 years ago and which now awaits implementation through congressional appropriation. |