at this time, since this is a project in your immediate area. You may face the people first. Mr. HANSEN. Thank you very much. Let me say, Mr. Chairman, how grateful we are in this area to welcome you and members of this subcommittee to Twin Falls, how appreciative we are for your taking the time to come and get a firsthand look at the area and to listen to the testimony of those who are most directly involved. For this we are deeply in your debt. Mr. JOHNSON. We are very glad to have the opportunity to be here. We have two purposes. We want to make sure that we, as a subcommittee, see the project on the ground and that we give an opportunity for all of the people to be heard without incurring the expense of coming to Washington. It is the mandate of chairman of the full committee that we are here. He wants to know what the local people have to say about a project in a field hearing before he sets the final hearings in Washington as far as the House of Representatives is concerned. We do hope that we will be able to hear all of the people who are here today who want to testify. We have a number listed and then if there are others who wish to make comment, we will certainly try to accommodate them so that it will be on the record. When we go out to consider a project, we expect to find differences of opinion as to just what should be built. Also, we hope to learn how a project will affect individuals and organizations. I hope that there are enough present to give a good cross section and that their comments will give us that picture. We must have it all on the record, because the bill will not be final until the end of the long legislative process. At this time, I would like to recognize Hon. Teno Roncalio from your neighboring State of Wyoming. Is there anything you would like to say? Mr. RONCALIO. No, thank you, Mr. Chairman, except that I am happy to be here. The concept of irrigation and reclamation has to continue in this Nation if we are to preserve, in my opinion, the future of the Nation which is founded on family life in small communities in States like Wyoming and Idaho. I have a dual function here, to learn more about irrigation and reclamation, and to see how problems can be solved. In Wyoming we are fortunate in having better water than others, and we have learned that these things can be ironed out to the best interests of all. I am happy to be here this weekend in the best interests of Idaho. Thank you. Mr. JOHNSON. The next gentleman needs no introduction. While he represents the other congressional district in Idaho, he is going to make an honest effort to represent all of Idaho in the U.S. Senate. He is a member of our committee, a very active member, a very able person, and he is in full support of this project, I am sure. Jim, would you like to give us a word or two? Mr. McCLURE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to join with Orval in thanking you and Teno for your presence here. I think people sometimes forget that Members of Congress have many demands in their own districts, and while Orval and I have a natural interest in coming here to try to further a project of such importance to this region of Idaho, you and Teno are sacrificing something of your own time and taking away from your own interests in your own districts to be here, and we are deeply grateful for that time and interest on your part. You have indicated that I am in support of this project, and I am. I think it is important and I think that there are some important conditions and provisions with respect to the respecting of other people's rights as well as the furthering of the interests of people in this project which we will get into as we go through the legislation. I do not intend to make any statement today because I want to give the people from this area the full opportunity to be heard as is their right and the purpose of this hearing. I am in full accord with both your desire and the desire of Congressman Aspinall that the people of the area be afforded an opportunity to express their feelings as to what is best to be done with their resources and their lands. I again thank you very much for taking up your time to be here. Mr. JOHNSON. At this point I would ask that a copy of H.R. 2474, or the contents of that bill, be placed in the record. It was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Hansen and joined by Congressman McClure. Is there objection? Hearing none, so ordered. (A copy of H.R. 2474 follows:) [H.R. 2474, 92d Cong., 1st Sess.] A BILL To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Salmon Falls division, Upper Snake River project, Idaho, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the primary purposes of providing irrigation water supplies and the enhancement of fish and wildlife resources, and other purposes, the Secretary of the Interior, acting pursuant to the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902, 32 Stat. 388, and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto), is authorized to construct, operate, and maintain the Salmon Falls division, Upper Snake River project, Idaho. The principal works of the division shall consist of the Milner pumping plant, the Milner-Salmon Falls Canal, relift pumping stations, water distribution facilities, wells to provide supplemental water, drainage facilities, and related works. SEC. 2. Irrigation repayment contracts shall provide, with respect to any contract unit, for repayment of the irrigation construction costs assigned to the irrigators for repayment over a period of not more than fifty years, exclusive of any development period authorized by law. Construction costs allocated to irrigation beyond the ability of irrigators to repay shall be charged to and returned to the reclamation fund in accordance with the provisions of section 2 of the Act of June 14, 1966 (80 Stat. 200), as amended by section 6 of the Act of September 7, 1966 (80 Stat. 707). SEC. 3. The provision of lands, facilities, and project modifications which furnish fish and wildlife benefits in connection with the Salmon Falls division shall be in accordance with the Federal Water Project Recreation Act (79 Stat. 213). SEC. 4. Power and energy required for irrigation water pumping for the Salmon Falls division shall be made available by the Secretary from the Federal Columbia River power system at charges determined by him. SEC. 5. Any exchanges of water which may be required in connection with the operation of the division authorized by this Act shall be made in conformity with applicable State law and shall in no way jeopardize, diminish, or otherwise alter contractual rights and obligations now in existence or water rights acquired under State law, and shall be without prejudice to, but in enjoyment of, the rights of the appropriator participating in the exchange as a use under his original appropriation. Existing water users shall bear no additional costs as a consequence of any exchange in their service area. SEC. 6. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated for construction of the works herein authorized and for the acquisition of the necessary land and rights the sum of $47,252,000 (January 1969 prices) plus or minus such amounts, if any, as may be required by reason of changes in the cost of construction work of the types involved therein as shown by engineering cost indexes. There are also authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be required for the operation and maintenance of said division. Mr. JOHNSON. I would also like to place in the record a communication from the Interior Department signed by Assistant Secretary James R. Smith, stating its position concerning H.R. 2474, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate and maintain the Salmon Falls division, Upper Snake River project, Idaho, and for other purposes. This report is favorable. There is no objection on the part of the Office of Management and Budget. I also want to say that I think your Idaho delegation has performed a real miracle to get this clearance so that it can be before the committee at this time. The report carries an interest rate of 4%, while the current rate is now 5%. The lower rate evidently has been grandfathered in. Nevertheless, the report from the Secretary and the Office of Management and Budget is a very important one. Is there any objection to the report going in? Hearing none, so ordered. (The departmental report follows:) Hon. WAYNE N. ASPINALL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D.C., June 15, 1971. Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This responds to your request for the views of this Department on H.R. 2474, a bill, "To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Salmon Falls division, Upper Snake River project, Idaho, and for other purposes." We recommend that bill be enacted. The bill would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Salmon Falls division, Upper Snake River project, in Idaho for purposes of irrigation and fish and wildlife enhancement. The Secretary's feasibility report on the Salmon Falls division was transmitted to the Congress on June 29, 1970, with the recommendation that the division be authorized for construction. The report was ordered printed as House Document 359, 91st Congress. The available surface and ground water supplies of the service area have been fully utilized by local interests for irrigation but are inadequate to serve the 49,380 acres presently developed. The proposed facilities of the Salmon Falls division, together with existing facilities, would provide a full supply of water for the irrigation of 64,110 acres of land on the south side of the Snake River in southern Idaho including the lands now developed. Available flows of the Snake River supplemented by waters in existing reservoirs and by ground water pumping, would be delivered to the lands through the proposed facilities. The division would also enhance wildlife resources of the service area, with some 2000 acres of land being reserved for such purposes. The plan of development is designed to supplement local ground and sur face water resources by pumping water from the pool behind Milner Dam, on the Snake River. The water will be conveyed to the lands in a 47-mile canal skirting the service area. Existing wells and pumps in the area and the existing storage and distribution works of the Salmon Falls Canal Company will be integrated into the division and utilized to the extent of their safe yield. Available storage capacity in Ririe, American Falls, and Palisades Reservoirs would be used to conserve the seasonal unregulated spills at Milner Dam, which occur in about 5 years out of every 7 years. However, in years of below-normal flows, the division would suffer intolerable shortages unless some additional source of water supply were made available. To alleviate these shortages, it is proposed to develop a groundwater well field on the Snake River plain on the north side of the Snake River, which is underlain by a very large and productive aquifer. The feasibility report proposed that this well field be developed in the Wendell-Jerome-Deitrich area (North Side Canal Company), which lies directly across Snake River from the project area and is irrigated by diversion from Snake River. The plan is to pump ground water into the existing distribution system serving that area, thereby permitting an equivalent amount of Snake River water to be used by the Salmon Falls division. The language of section 5 of H.R. 2474 is designed to assure water users in the exchange pumping area that the proposed water exchange would not adversely affect their water rights or supply of water or increase their costs. The construction cost of the division, based on January 1969 prices, is estimated at $47,252,000. Total development costs, which include the construction cost, assigned costs for storage, and an irrigation water pumping power allocation, are $51,698,000, of which $51,524,000 are allocated to irrigation and $174,000 to fish and wildlife enhancement. In a 50-year repayment period, following a 10-year development period, the water users would be able to repay $13,117,000 of the cost allocated to irrigation in addition to the suballocation of costs for pumping power. The remainder of the irrigation allocation, $34,253,000, would be returned from revenues of the Columbia River Federal Power System. The Idaho Fish and Game Department has indicated its intent to pay one-half of the separable costs of fish and wildlife enhancement plus interest during construction ($89,800) in accordance with the Federal Water Project Recreation Act. Subsequent to preparation of the feasibility report, some of the irrigators in the Wendell-Jerome-Deitrich area (North Side Canal Company) indicated opposition to participating in the exchange of surface water for ground water as discussed in the report. We have, therefore, developed and evaluated an equally feasible alternative plan involving wells and pumps in a different area of the Snake River plain. The alternative would involve slightly less construction cost but slightly higher operating cost than the plan described in the feasibility report. A reevaluation statement describing the alternative plan is enclosed. We prefer development of this project in accordance with the original plan, on the ground that it involves less water loss than the alternative by virtue of a nearer, more direct, connection between water source and water use in the Salmon Falls division. It would also provide a separate emergency water supply for the North Side Canal water users in the event of a break in their canal or other failure of their system. However, in the event the consent of the North Side Canal water users to the original plan is not obtained, we believe the alternative is feasible and economically justified and only slightly less desirable than the original plan. We believe it desirable to reserve the final choice of a definite plan of development until after authorization of the division. We conclude that sufficient flexibility exists by virtue of the availability of ample amounts of ground water to meet any contingency with regard to project water supply. Should the division be authorized, no construction would be undertaken until the Secretary is satisfied that an adequate water supply is available under valid water rights. Accordingly, we find that the Salmon Falls division is engineeringly and financially feasible. Its economic justification is demonstrated by a ratio of benefits to costs of 1.42 to 1. It has been examined and found to be favorable from an ecologic and environmental standpoint. Enclosed is a statement concerning the estimated employment and expenditures required by 5 U.S.C. 2953 (1966), formerly Public Law 84-801 (5 U.S.C. 642). Also enclosed is a statement of the effects of the bill on the environment as required by section 102 (2) (C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (Public Law 91-190). The Office of Management and Budget has advised that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the Administration's program. Sincerely yours, JAMES R. SMITH, ADDITIONAL DATA REQUIRED FOR PROJECT AUTHORIZATION UNDER 5 U.S.C. 2953 (1966)1 1 Salary levels are those which became effective Dec. 28, 1969. 1st year activity will use general investigations personnel and details from other offices. Data shown in columns for additional positions, additional man-years, and expenditures for additional man-years are based on positions estimated for recruitment outside the Bureau, but within the region. Regional experience would indicate such recruitment is necessary only for the low-grade (GS-3 and GS-4) engineering and clerical positions. The region does not have available experience records as to the effect intra-Bureau transfers to key positions might have on recruitment of non-Bureau personnel. * Estimate for advance planning funds. ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT ON SALMON FALLS DIVISION, UPPER SNAKE RIVER PROJECT, IDAHO, PURSUANT TO SECTION 102(2)(C) oF THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT OF 1969 SUMMARY OF EFFECTS ON QUALITY OF THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT Construction and operation of the Salmon Falls Division, Upper Snake River Project, in Idaho as planned cooperatively by the Bureau of Reclamation and other Federal agencies, the State of Idaho, and interested organizations and individuals with responsibilites and interests for a broad spectrum of resources, would have a significant beneficial effect on the quality of the human environment. This will be achieved through utilization of presently underemployed natural resources. Upland game and waterfowl populations and resulting hunting opportunities would be increased by the development through recommended plans for improving the wildlife habitat in areas of low game bird population. In addition, compensation of expected upland game losses in another area of the Division would be achieved through recommended mitigation measures. NATURE OF THE ACTIVITY Although the field investigation and planning work for the Salmon Falls Division were completed prior to enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (Public Law 91-190), the policies, goals, and directives of the act have been essentially met through provisions of law and Presidential instructions for coordination of planning studies and reports of Federal water resource projects. |