the responsibility of administering our water resource development program under existing legislation and under such administrative criteria as it desires to utilize.

The administration's latest position that it will take no steps to revise conservative project evaluation criteria that are already a decade old, is a distinct retreat from its earlier position which promised a change by May 23, as expressed in the President's special message on natural resources.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, we say simply that the President has apparently abandoned his preelection proposal for a Council of Resource and Conservation Advisers in the Office of the President. Administration spokesmen expressed uniform opposition to S. 239. The administration has apparently also abandoned its concept of establishing under the Council of Economic Advisers a Presidential Advisory Committee on Natural Resources, advocated in the President's special message on natural resources. It is, however, our opinion that Senate bill 2246 constitutes an acceptable alternative proposal to establishment of a Council of Resources and Conservation Advisers which has been formally endorsed by resolution of our board of directors.

It is our position that S. 2246 will lend badly needed stimulus to multiple-purpose river basin development, will provide for the participation in the formulation of multiple-purpose river basin development plans by the affected States and will insure that the recommendations for authorization of such projects submitted to Congress conform to Federal policy.

We do, however, wish to express disappointment in the position taken by the administration that submission of S. 2246 to Congress will substitute for badly needed revision of the conservative multiplepurpose project evaluation and cost allocation criteria contained in Budget Bureau Circular A-47. It is our position that Budget Bureau Circular A-47 should be immediately superseded by administrative action as promised by the President in his special message on natural resources of February 13.

We respectfully call to the attention of the committee the fact that the criteria contained in A-47 requires reexamination and reappraisal if for no other reason that it is almost a decade old and is known to be extremely conservative at a time when the Nation must develop virtually all of its fresh water resources if its economy is to grow and

prosper.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Senator ANDERSON. Thank you.

Are there any questions?

If not, thank you very much.

Mr. J. D. Brown, legislative director of the American Public Power Association.

STATEMENT OF J. D. BROWN, LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR, AMERICAN PUBLIC POWER ASSOCIATION

Mr. BROWN. Mr. Chairman, I am J. D. Brown, legislative director, American Public Power Association. The association is a national trade organization representing more than 1,000 local publicly owned electric systems, principally municipally owned utilities, in 44

States. Our headquarters is at 919 18th Street NW., Washington, D.C.

We are pleased to have the opportunity to present testimony concerning S. 2246, the proposed Water Resources Planning Act of 1961. The association's membership has not taken formal action on S. 2246, since the bill was introduced last month and its specific proposals have not been reviewed by the association's committees and membership. Our testimony is presented, then, within the framework of the association's general policies concerning water resource planning and development. The association throughout its history has urged that our Nation's water resources be developed on an orderly and comprehensive basis, and that such development, in the words of our Federal power policy statement, adopted in 1949, "provide for maximum economic utilization of our stream systems." În 1960, and again on April 13 of this year, we testified before the Senate Interior Committee in support of measures to establish a Resources and Conservation Council in the Executive Office of the President.

At the most recent annual convention of the American Public Power Association, in San Antonio, Tex., on April 27, the following resolution was adopted:

Whereas efficient and farsighted planning for use of our national resources, including water, is essential to future national strength and well-being, and Whereas S. 239 and S. 1415 would authorize a Resources and Conservation Council in the Office of the President, assist in establishing a comprehensive natural resources policy, provide for development of broad resources program, and encourage cooperation and coordination in resource administration: Now therefore, be it

Resolved, That the American Public Power Association supports enactment of such legislation for the conservation, development, and utilization of the Nation's natural resources to meet human, economic, and national defense requirements.

S. 2246 appears to be an attempt, in the field of water resources, to achieve the planning, coordination, and cooperation which a resources and Conservation Council would apply to the broad natural resources picture. It is our belief that enactment of the proposed Water ReSources Planning Act of 1961 should not preclude full consideration of establishing a broad natural resources and conservation planning and coordinating unit in the Executive Office of the President, as proposed in S. 239.

The bill now before these committees declares it to be the policy of the Congress

that the conservation, development, and utilization of the water and related land resources of the United States shall be planned and conducted on a comprehensive and coordinated basis with the cooperation of all affected Federal agencies, States, local governments, and others concerned.

There is general agreement that the Nation's "water and related land resources" should be planned and developed "on a comprehensive and coordinated basis." As the report of the Senate Select Committee on National Water Resources says (p. 45):

Comprehensive planning for river basin development has been advocated intermittently since near the beginning of this century when the Inland Waterways Commission made its report to President Theodore Roosevelt.

The Senate select committee, headed by Senator Kerr and including many members of the Senate Interior and Public Works Committees, performed a distinct public service through its extensive studies and its report of January 30.

in many river basins of the United States today, comprehensive planning, even under previous concepts, is not being applied.

The committee report cites

an urgent need in almost every region to adopt an orderly procedure for development of water resources, Our prosperity and our very survival are at stake. The select committee report observes that "differences of opinion" may appear to have slowed progress in river basin development. It makes clear that there will be differences of opinion in the future, but indicates that the urgency of the Nation's water and resources needs demands a positive program.

One of the problems has been coordination and cooperation among the various Federal agencies concerned with water resources, and among Federal, State, and local interests. S. 2246 sets up the machinery-a Cabinet-level Water Resources Council-to achieve the needed coordination and cooperation on water resources planning at the Federal level.

Interdepartmental committees have not always functioned in a highly effective manner in solving urgent national problems. In recent months, in fact, a number of interdepartmental committees have been abolished. In the executive branch, a committee in some cases becomes a substitute for effective decisionmaking by one responsible official.

It would appear desirable, in the future, to establish a Federal department with overall responsibilities in the field of natural resources, including water and related land resources. A Cabinet-level Water Resources Council may accomplish the necessary planning coordination; or it may serve as an interim stage, with the experience gained through the Water Resources Council serving as the eventual basis for the establishment of a Federal natural resources department. In either event, the creation, at this time, of a Cabinet-level Water Resources Council will represent a positive step in pooling water resources planning and research efforts, and in establishing a coordinating mechanism to make recommendations to the President in this vital field.

The Council will have important responsibilities, including establishing with the approval of the President-the principles, standards, and procedures for the preparation of comprehensive regional or river basin plans, and for the formulation and evaluation of Federal water resources projects.

It is our understanding that this latter function will encompass the job of revising Budget Bureau Circular A-47, a document which must be modified to meet the ever-growing water resources needs of the Nation.

With such responsibilities, it is most important that the Water Resources Council have a highly competent staff of sufficient size to carry on continuing studies and to evaluate comprehensive river basin planning proposals. Without an independent, trained staff, the Council will be handicapped in carrying out the duties assigned to it under S. 2246.

In this connection, we feel that the Council's staff director should be made responsible to the Chairman of the Council. The Council Chairman will be designated by the President, and it seems advisable

that there be a clear line of responsibility established from the staff director to the Council Chairman.

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Title II of S. 2246 gives the President authority to create river basin water resources commissions for any region, major river basin, or group of related river basins in the Nation. Each commission would prepare and keep up to date "a comprehensive, integrated joint plan for Federal, State, and local development of water and related land resources," and would "serve as the principal agency for the coordination of Federal, State, and local plans" for water and related land resources in its area. Each commission would submit regular reports on its work to the Water Resources Council.

In addition, it would submit to the council

a comprehensive, integrated, joint plan, and any major necessary revisions thereof, for water and related land resources development—

in its area. Thus, there is provision made for close coordination between the river basin commissions and the Council, with river basin plans subject to review and modification by the Council before their submission to the President and the Congress.

The CHAIRMAN. It is necessary for Senators to go to the floor for a vote. We will return as quickly as we can.

The committee will resume.

Mr. BROWN. The Senate select committee report indicates the significance of this overall review by the Council of river basin commission planning, to fit each river basin into a national picture of programs and purposes. The select committee report says:

*** a water control system in each basin may well become as important to the national productive plant as the National System of Defense and Interstate Highways is to the Nation's transportation network * * *. It may soon become desirable and necessary for the Nation to accept responsibility for a water regulatory system, even though the exact future end use cannot be forecast now.

The select committee report makes the point that-

comprehensive planning should be undertaken on the premise that full regulation of nearly all the Nation's streams is necessary over the long run, and that substantial progress toward this end will have to be made before the end of the present century.

While it is clear that water resources planning and development must be a cooperative effort among various levels of government, it is equally clear that there must be Federal leadership in planning and coordination, because, in the words of the select committee report, "our prosperity and our very survival are at stake."

FEDERAL GRANTS TO STATES

Title III of S. 2246 contains the provisions of S. 1629 concerning Federal grants to the States of $5 million a year for the next 10 years, to assist the States in developing comprehensive water resources plans and in participating in the planning work of the river basin commissions. These grants, to be administered by the Water Resources Council, will supplement State water resources planning funds, and will encourage States in their efforts to plan on a comprehensive basis for water resource development.

The APPA Federal power policy statement, adopted in 1949, declares that "the local interest in every Federal project for the utiliza

tion and control of water should receive recognition, and local participation should be invited to the greatest extent consistent with the responsibilities of the United States." Title III of S. 2246 provides for coordination of State and Federal planning in this field.

HYDROELECTRIC POWER

S. 2246 deals with water resources planning. It does not deal with the construction of projects, but the comprehensive studies envisioned under S. 2246 should serve as the basis for effective action in meeting the Nation's growing water problems. While the bill emphasizes water supply, the construction of storage facilities on the Nation's rivers will also include hydroelectric power generating installations. The select committee report (p. 40) advocates that

advantage should be taken of opportunities for hydroelectric power installations wherever possible, so that the economies inherent in large-scale installations can be passed on to electric power users, and so that the drain on our nonrenewable energy resources by steam-electric powerplants can be minimized.

The APPA Federal power policy statement of 1949 declares that— in order to conserve irreplaceable fuel supplies, every site for the generation of hydroelectric power should be developed if and when such development is economically feasible. In the case of projects to be constructed primarily for some other purpose, such as navigation or flood control, maximum power production consistent with such primary purposes should be provided.

This association had the privilege of presenting to the Senate select committee a report on the future of the electric power industry in relation to water resources (Select Committee Print No. 10, pp. 35–60). This paper cited the importance of hydroelectric power for peaking purposes in the Nation's future power picture. The paper also pointed out that less than one-fourth of the Nation's hydroelectric power potential has been developed.

Electric power has played an important role as a "paying partner" in multipurpose water resource development in the past, and it must continue to receive full attention in the future. S. 2246 refers to obtaining "optimum use of the water and related land resources" of an area, and this suggests that hydroelectric power potential be developed to the fullest extent economically practicable in each river basin. It also suggests that the standards and procedures for evaluating proposed Federal water resources projects be revised to encourage multipurpose comprehensive development of water resources.

In the past Federal hydroelectric projects have been opposed by private power companies and other interests. The result, in cases such as Hells Canyon, has been underdevelopment of water resources, including the electric power potential. The Nation cannot afford such waste of natural resources, just as it cannot afford to waste the power potential at the Hanford plutonium production reactor in the State of Washington. It is vital that water resource development be based on the broad national interest, and that it not be undercut by sectionalism or by selfish interests. Water resource development, as the select committee report makes clear; is no longer just a problem of the West; it is, or will be, a problem throughout the Nation. Comprehensive planning, as proposed in S. 2246, and adequate financing of project construction, will be needed in every river basin.