COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS CLARENCE CANNON, Missouri, Chairman GEORGE H. MAHON, Texas ANTONIO M. FERNANDEZ, New Mexico OTTO E. PASSMAN, Louisiana LOUIS C. RABAUT, Michigan WILLIAM H. NATCHER, Kentucky JOHN TABER, New York RICHARD B. WIGGLESWORTH, Massachu H. CARL ANDERSEN, Minnesota IVOR D. FENTON, Pennsylvania JOHN PHILLIPS, California ERRETT P. SCRIVNER, Kansas FREDERIC R. COUDERT, JR., New York CLIFF CLEVENGER, Ohio EARL WILSON, Indiana GLENN R. DAVIS, Wisconsin BENJAMIN F. JAMES, Pennsylvania GERALD R. FORD, JR., Michigan EDWARD T. MILLER, Maryland KENNETH SPRANKLE, Clerk and Staff Director (II) PUBLIC WORKS APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1957 MAJ. GEN. E. C. ITSCHNER, ASSISTANT CHIEF OF ENGINEERS FOR COL. G. H. WALKER, EXECUTIVE, CIVIL WORKS COL. J. U. ALLEN, ASSISTANT CHIEF OF CIVIL WORKS FOR RIVERS COL. H. W. PENNEY, ASSISTANT CHIEF OF CIVIL WORKS FOR FLOOD COL. R. W. DALRYMPLE, ASSISTANT, CIVIL WORKS C. C. BURGER, ACTING CHIEF, OPERATIONS DIVISION MAJ. F. R. GARRETT, ASSISTANT CHIEF OF CIVIL WORKS FOR C. PAGE, CHIEF, PLANNING DIVISION, CIVIL WORKS B. J. TOFANI, CHIEF, PROGRAMS BRANCH, CIVIL WORKS H. COHEN, ASSISTANT CHIEF, PROGRAMS BRANCH, CIVIL WORKS J. R. BRENNAN, CHIEF, SURVEY BRANCH, CIVIL WORKS BRIG. GEN. J. R. HARDIN, PRESIDENT, MISSISSIPPI RIVER COM- MISSION AND DIVISION ENGINEER, LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY H. V. DARLING, SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR MISSISSIPPI RIVER, CIVIL BRIG. GEN. T. D. WEAVER, PRESIDENT, BEACH EROSION BOARD COL. H. S. MILLER, RESIDENT MEMBER, RIVER AND HARBOR BOARD H. K. HOWES, ASSISTANT CHIEF, BUDGET AND PROGRAMS DIVI- MISS J. P. SMITH, CHIEF, PERSONNEL ESTIMATES AND REPORTS H. MILLER, CHIEF, REVOLVING FUND ACCOUNTING SECTION, OEC BRIG. GEN. W. E. POTTER, DIVISION ENGINEER, MISSOURI RIVER BRIG. GEN. R. J. FLEMING, JR., DIVISION ENGINEER, NEW ENGLAND COL. C. RENSHAW, DIVISION ENGINEER, NORTH ATLANTIC DIVI- BRIG. GEN. P. D. BERRIGAN, DIVISION ENGINEER, NORTH CENTRAL BRIG. GEN. LOUIS H. FOOTE, DIVISION ENGINEER, NORTH PACIFIC COL. J. L. PERSON, DIVISION ENGINEER, OHIO RIVER DIVISION BRIG. GEN. H. J. HOEFFLER, DIVISION ENGINEER, SOUTH ATLANTIC COL. W. F. CASSIDY, DIVISION ENGINEER, SOUTH PACIFIC DIVISION (1) DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY FRED G. AANDAHL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR WATER AND POWER DEVELOPMENT SIDNEY D. LARSON, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF BUDGET AND FINANCE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION W. A. DEXHEIMER, COMMISSIONER S. W. CROSTHWAIT, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER E. G. NIELSEN, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER A. R. GOLZÉ, CHIEF, DIVISION OF PROGRAM COORDINATION AND FINANCE N. B. BENNETT, CHIEF, DIVISION OF PROJECT DEVELOPMENT D. S. CAMPBELL, CHIEF, DIVISION OF POWER F. E. DOMINY, CHIEF, DIVISION OF IRRIGATION R. W. JENNINGS, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, AMARILLO, TEX. CIVIL FUNCTIONS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY Mr. CANNON. The committee will come to order. The committee will hear at this time from General Itschner, for the Chief of Engineers. General Itschner, you have a prepared statement? General ITSCHNER. Yes, sir; I do. Mr. CANNON. You may proceed, if you will. GENERAL STATEMENT OF CHIEF OF ENGINEERS General ITSCHNER. Mr. Chairman, the Chief of Engineers, General Sturgis, asked me to express to you his sincere regret that he is unable to be here today to make the opening statement. General Sturgis is convalescing in the South and is expected to be back in 2 weeks. Mr. CANNON. I am sorry General Sturgis could not be here, but I am confident he sent a very competent representative. General ITSCHNER. I assure you the statement I shall make today was written by General Sturgis, and I will present it just as he prepared it. First I would like to present members of my staff who will testify before your committee and who will be available to answer any questions you may have today. First is Colonel Walker, executive, Civil Works, who will testify on general expenses and some of the studies. Colonel Allen, Assistant Chief of Civil Works for Rivers and Harbors, on navigation projects. Colonel Penney, flood-control projects. Colonel Dalrymple, his assistant, on flood-control projects. Mr. Tofani, Chief of the Programs Branch. Mr. Harry Cohen, Assistant Chief of the Programs Branch. I shall now proceed, sir, to read the statement which was prepared by General Sturgis. Last year I brought to your attention a number of significant accomplishments and improvements in coordination in the field of Federal water resources development which affect our civil works program. I also outlined the major problems confronting us and our progress in meeting the desires of this committee. This year I wish to limit myself to a brief résumé of civil works activity in the year just past and an outline of the more serious problems that would adversely affect the future of the corps. MAJOR FLOODS The outstanding event of the year just past, and one which has had an important impact on the civil works program, was the occurrence of destructive floods in the North Atlantic and New England areas as a result of the hurricanes of last summer and fall storms. These floods required participation by the corps in civil restoration as the action agency of the Federal Civil Defense Agency. This essential work imposed a heavy additional workload upon the corps which affected not only our North Atlantic and New England divisions, but other divisions which sent personnel to the disaster areas. Again, in late December and early January destructive floods occurred in California, Oregon, and Nevada. The occurrence of these floods has focused attention on the need for food protection in these areas and made the people of the United States aware of the flood danger throughout the Nation. Much of the population appeared to be surprised to learn that, although substantial progress has been made in flood control, most of our major river basins still lack adequate protection. In pointing this out, I fully realize that the need for flood control must take its place among other calls on the Federal Treasury, but I can assure you that the need is most urgent. CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM The year just passed has been challenging to the Corps of Engineers and in many respects an important one to the civil works pro! gram. In fiscal year 1956 the Congress appropriated funds to start 111 new projects. This represented the first major infusion of new work into the program since 1949. This chart shows graphically how the volume. of the program and the number of projects started declining in the years following 1949 and the present approach to restoration of a program that will permit reasonable progress in accomplishing the more urgent water resource development and flood control projects. This is a logical result of the increasing public interest in water resource development which I have stressed in previous statements to this committee. The blue line on the map represents the amount of our appropriations, which crested about 1950, dropped off very markedly due to the Korean emergency, reached a low in 1954, and now is back on up again in 1956 and in our 1957 request. Mr. TABER. What do those vertical lines stand for? General ITSCHNER. The solid red bars, the vertical lines, represent the total number of going projects, and the hatched red the number of new starts. You will notice the number of new starts was fairly great in the period prior to 1950, and when the Korean emergency occurred the number of new starts dropped off greatly and remained low for a number of years until in 1956 we had a large number of new starts. The green lines represent the number of States or Territories in which there were civil works projects, and you will note that in the current year the number is 47. There are 3 States in which there are no projects, but, on the other hand, there are 2 Territories in which there are projects. We have continued the large going program, with work underway on 114 projects. Of these, we anticipate that 24 will be completed to permit useful operation by the end of fiscal year 1956. These include 8 navigation improvements, 6 local flood protection works, 2 flood control reservoirs, 2 multiple-purpose reservoirs, and 6 beach erosion control projects. Another feature of the program last year was the approval by Congress, on my recommendation, of the first budget request for funds to start small authorized projects selected by the Secretary of the Army with costs less than $150,000 each. Accordingly, 62 of these projects were chosen from those available in the active authorized program on the basis of urgent need and economic justification. We anticipate that by the end of fiscal year 1956 we will have completed 35 of these small projects. The remainder will be finished next year. On the whole, and in view of the difficulties involved in starting an augmented program, I feel that our construction progress in fiscal year 1956 has been and will be good. The amount for construction, $465 million, in our budget for fiscal year 1957 compares with $449 million appropriated for fiscal year 1956 for that purpose. The increase is moderate in view of the large number of new starts on which work must be continued, the constantly increasing backlog of authorized projects, the great need for flood protection demonstrated by recent floods, the growing awareness that the day is fast approaching when water throughout the Nation mus |