Mr. JOHNSON. The gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Udall. Mr. JOHNSON. The gentleman from Texas, Mr. White. Mr. WHITE. Well, I certainly want to join in commending you, Mr. Schaefer, for your unselfish attitude because it is not very often that you find this. Can you tell us how many families would be affected in total and how long they have had the property? Mr. SCHAEFER. I think that will come up through the opponents that will come later on. Mr. JOHNSON. We want to thank you for your appearance here. Our next witness is Mr. Walker of the Colorado Commerce and Industry Commission. Is Mr. Walker here? (No response.) Mr. JOHNSON. Then we have Mr. Maynard Sonnenberg, the commercial feedlot operator. Is Mr. Sonnenberg present? Mr. SONNENBERG. Yes, sir. STATEMENT OF MAYNARD A. SONNENBERG, COMMERCIAL FEEDLOT OPERATOR Mr. SONNENBERG. My name is Maynard A. Sonnenberg. I am secretary-treasurer and a director for E. E. Sonnenberg & Sons, Inc., of Sterling, Colo. The principal business of this corporation is cattle feeding, ranching, and farming. We have over 4,000 acres under irrigation. Water is obtained by reservoir storage, surface flow through direct ditches, and by pump. We own stock in four ditch companies and also in the Morgan-Prewitt Reservoir Co. We feed out about 50,000 head of cattle annually in our three feed yards, and consequently, much of our feed must be imported from other States. We are also major stockholders in the Sterling Colorado Beef Co. and one of its incorporators. This plant slaughters approximately 200,000 head each year at the present time but is in the process of doubling its facilities in order to kill 400,000 head annually, making it one of the larger cattle slaughtering plants in the State of Colorado. The 400,000 head that this plant will kill will practically all come from the South Platte Valley from the proposed Narrows Dam, 7 miles west of Fort Morgan, Colo., to the Colorado-Nebraska State line just east of Julesburg, Colo. These 400,000 cattle represent 256 million pounds of beef or enough to feed 200 million Americans for almost 5 days or a total of 882,758,620 days, consisting of over 5 ounces of beef in their diet for every man, woman, child, and baby, based on the per capita consumption of 106 pounds in the United States last year. This does not include the agricultural products grown for cash such as sugar beets, potatoes, and other vegetable crops. Colorado-fed beef is in big demand due to the ideal climate, but Colorado is a big import State for grain to feed all its cattle and livestock. We do not have enough precipitation or irrigation water available for growing more abundant crops for our big livestock industry, particularly in northeastern Colorado where so much water flows out 22-708-69- -8 of State in the off-irrigating season without the on-stream storage. Besides the fact that the most important function of the proposed Narrows Dam would be irrigation, the South Platte River and the Bijou Creek have flooded many times, but the June 1965 flood was the most devastating of all. I can speak with a very vivid memory as we had 20,000 head of cattle to move. Water completely inundated our feedlots as much as 8 feet deep. The cost of this flood to our corporation alone exceeded a half a million dollars. All packinghouses in the State of Colorado also suffered huge financial losses since all the cattle in the flood areas were hopelessly mixed so that many half-fat cattle were being sent to slaughter unknowingly which would not yield and grade for the packers. Mr. Chairman, I would strongly urge you and your committee to bring this before Congress as early as possible in order that this project may proceed as rapidly as funds become available. Mr. JOHNSON. We want to thank you for your very fine statement in behalf of your operation, both in the ranching end of it as well as the feeder end of it, and I presume your packing interests there are very much concerned with the outcome of the first two. The gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Aspinall. Mr. ASPINALL. Do you have very many acres of land which would be involved in the 160-acre limitation provision? What is the ownership that you folks have? Mr. SONNENBERG. Well, ours would exceed the 160-acre limitation as a corporation. Mr. JOHNSON. The gentleman from Idaho, Mr. McClure. Mr. McCLURE. None. Mr. JOHNSON. The gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Udall. Mr. UDALL. Nothing. Mr. JOHNSON. The gentleman from Texas, Mr. White. Mr. WHITE. No questions. Mr. JOHNSON. We want to thank you, Mr. Sonnenberg, for your statement. Now, is Mr. John Lindell present? (No response.) Mr. JOHNSON. If not, his statement will be placed in the record at this point. (The prepared statement of Mr. Lindell, president of the Upper Platte & Beaver Canal Co., for inclusion in the record, follows:) STATEMENT OF JOHN LINDELL, PRESIDENT, UPPER PLATTE & BEAVER CANAL CO. My name is John Lindell. I reside near Brush, Colorado, where I own and operate an irrigated farm. As chairman of the Board of Directors of the Upper Platte and Beaver Canal Company, I have further interest in the hearing here today. We would like to take this opportunty to express our appreciation to the Committee for conducting this hearing in Colorado, and especially in this county. We think it is important that many hundreds of our citizens are thus allowed to participate, and many more witnesses afforded the opportunity to be heard than would otherwise have been the case had they been required to go to Washington. We want to thank the committee, also, for the tremendous support you have given the nation's reclamation program in the Missouri River Basin as well as throughout the West. We appreciate the opportunity to appear before this distinguished committee and on behalf of the Upper Platte and Beaver Canal Company to express strong local support for H.R. 17566 and S.B. 3561, identical bills which would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate and maintain the Narrows Unit. Having farmed in Morgan County all of my life, I fully appreciate what the multi-purpose Narrows Unit would mean for the South Platte Valley. Project water would result in increased, stabilized, and diversified agricultural production not only for irrigators but for the farms which surround the District. The stable agriculture which would be realized through an available and stabilized water supply would also encourage the area's industrial development. The project will make water available for other purposes which will enhance the lives of Coloradans and thousands of outstate travelers and visitors to Colorado. Not to be overlooked is the important water supply this project will provide for future municipal and industrial uses, fish and wildlife and much-needed recreational development. The importance of the Narrows Unit is tremendous and I am pleased to report to you that this project has the strong support of almost all the people in the area. This support has been evident in a number of ways. Initial support in recent years was demonstrated in 1964 when the Conservancy District was formed, thus creating an organization with taxing power and the authority of contracting with the Federal Government to assume the irrigation allotment of costs associated with the development of the Narrows Unit. The objectives of the petition for forming the District included a specific provision that a storage reservoir on the South Platte River be constructed above Fort Morgan. After the 1965 flood with its devastating effects people of the area submitted many resolutions to the Conservancy District and the Congressional delegation from Colorado urging action on Narrows. In our opinion these actions express better than words the local support and interest the people of the Conservancy District and the surrounding area have in the development of the Narrows Unit and in our water resource development in general. The Upper Platte and Beaver Canal Company sincerely appreciates this opportunity to appear before this Committee in support of the early development of the Narrows Unit and urges your favorable consideration of the legislation before the committee so that the construction of the Narrows Unit can begin at an early date. Mr. Chairman, we are grateful that you and the other distinguished members of Congress came to Colorado today. It is our hope that this hearing will speed the way for early authorization of the Narrows Unit. Thank you. Mr. JOHNSON. We also have a statement of Mr. Fiebig, the gentleman who is ill today. His statement will be placed in the record at this point. (The prepared statement of Mr. Fiebig, president of the Schneider Ditch Co., for inclusion in the record, follows:) STATEMENT OF ALEX FIEBIG, ATWOOD, COLO., PRESIDENT OF SCHNEIDER DITCH, FARMER AND RANCHER Mr. Chairman, Mr. Aspinall, and members of the Committee, I am Alex Fiebig of Atwood, Colorado, President of the Schneider Ditch, farmer and rancher in Logan County. I have lived in Logan County for 58 years and have engaged in farming and ranching in the Atwood area all of my life. The Schneider Ditch holds one of the earliest decrees of water, District 64, which decree dates from April 10, 1873. I own an irrigated farm of approximately 280 acres along the banks of the South Platte River. When I purchased this farm and the water rights that were with it in the Schneider Ditch, I was confident that I would never be short of irrigation water. After World War II, many wells were drilled in the South Platte River Basin to supply irrigation water and in 1954 it became necessary for me to drill a well to supplement my water rights in the Schneider Ditch. Since 1954, I have had to rely more and more upon my pump and less and less upon my decreed water rights. There can be no question that today in the South Platte River Valley we are using more water than we are producing each year and conserving for beneficial use. It is perfectly clear that if we are to continue as an agricultural community relying upon irrigation in a large measure for our production of crops, we must begin immediately to conserve water which today is wasted. Not only must we eliminate this waste but we must take steps to protect against flood damage. This can only be done by the construction of the Narrows Project. From time to time, over the period of the past 50 years, the residents of the Lower South Platte River Valley have talked about construction of a dam of the South Platte River at the Narrows. We must now do something constructive other than just talking about this dam. It is for this reason that I urge this Committee and the Ninety-first Congress of the United States for its approval of the Narrows Project, and I am hopeful that funds will be appropriated before we have a reoccurrence of the disastrous flood of 1965. Mr. JOHNSON. And we have the statement of John Lebsack. Is he here? (No response.) Mr. JOHNSON. If not, his statement will be read into the record at this point. (The statement of Mr. Lebsack, banker, feeder, and rancher, for inclusion in the record, follows:) STATEMENT OF JOHN LEBSACK, STERLING, COLO., PRESIDENT OF COMMERCIAL SAVINGS BANK, FARMER AND CATTLE FEEDER Mr. Chairman, Mr. Aspinall, and members of the committee, my name is John Lebsack, I am President of the Commercial Savings Bank of Sterling, Colorado, as well as a farmer and cattle feeder. I appreciate this opportunity to present to this Committee my reasons for supporting and urging you to support the Narrows Project. Northeastern Colorado, and more specifically that area of the South Platte River Valley, below the point where the Narrows Dam would be located is devoted almost entirely to agriculture and related industries. If we are to have a stable, healthy, agricultural economy, we must have an adequate and dependable supply of water for irrigation and municipal purposes. I have resided in Logan County for 51 years and have been engaged principally in irrigated farming and cattle feeding all of my life. I presently own and farm 865 acres of irrigated land and feed several thousand head of cattle, all in Logan County. In connection with my farming and feeding operation, I hold direct river flow rights, storage rights, and use ground water through pumping. I know that my present water rights are inadequate and I am therefore a potential purchaser of water for irrigation from the Narrows Project. Each year vast amounts of water are lost to the State of Colorado and more particularly to the irrigable land in the South Platte River Valley, which is encompassed within the boundaries of the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District. In years when we are plagued with flooding along the South Platte River and its tributaries, this area suffers not only the loss of irrigation water which could and should be conserved and put to beneficial use, but also suffers the ravages of flooding and its accompanying damage. The construction of the Narrows Project cannot only eliminate a major portion of the loss of irrigation water for the State of Colorado, it will also eliminate to a greater extent the damage from flooding. If the water that can be stored behind the Narrows Dam is put to beneficial use, the irrigation, municipal use, recreation and other related uses, the economy of the entire area is going to benefit. As a farmer and businessman interested in my community, I know that the additional irrigation water is needed as well as the protection from flooding. There can be no question concerning its benefits. I am confident that the amount of water which will be made available to the farmers and municipalities can be sold at a price which will repay the cost allocated to this Project. I therefore respectfully urge this Committee and the Ninety-first Congress of the United States to approve of this Project and hopefully to appropriate further for the same so that it may be constructed at the earliest possible minute. Mr. JOHNSON. Now, at this time we are going to hear the opposition witnesses who are here, and at the present time we have Mr. Don Richardson, the first witness in opposition to the project, who represents the Kiowa-Bijou Management District. Is Mr. Richardson here? Mr. RICHARDSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have the dubious distinction of having the first opposition statement today. My name is Don Richardson, and I live in the Bijou area south of Wiggins. I own and operate an irrigated farm solely from irrigation wells. Mr. ASPINALL. Do you have any copies of the statement? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes. I think I will proceed to summarizeMr. JOHNSON. Since you are the first witness here in opposition, you may read your statement in full if you wish. STATEMENT BY DON RICHARDSON, NORTH KIOWA-BIJOU MANAGEMENT DISTRICT Mr. RICHARDSON. The North Kiowa-Bijou Management District is a quasi-municipal tax supported district encompassing ground water in Morgan, Weld, Adams, and Arapahoe Counties along the drainage area of the Kiowa and Bijou Creeks from the Black Forest area near Colorado Springs to the confluence of these streams with the Platte River. This district is entirely supported by agriculture and dependent upon some 700 or 800 irrigation wells as it has no other source of water or surface rights. One of the prime reasons for forming the management district was for the conservation of the water to supply our irrigation wells in that there has been a constantly declining water table. The water supply of the area is declining at the rate of three times the rate of natural recharge. The district's board has not taken an official position for or against the Narrows Dam, although we do favor generally any conservation projects in this State. The water users in this area have, in the past, favored the Hardin site over the Narrows site, and one of the reasons therefor is the fear that a dam constructed at the Narrows site would, as a practical matter, lead to the ignoring of the flood problems on the Bijou Creek. The Bijou Creek joins the Platte River approximately 5 miles east of the proposed Narrows Dam site. The planners of the Narrows project have, from time to time, taken alternate positions in connection with the utilization or effect of the Narrows project as flood control for Bijou Creek. As we were informed, the original plans did not in any way include any control of the Bijou Creek. Later, and particular after the devastating flood of 1965, the planners apparently gave at least some consideration to some type of flood control for Bijou Creek in the Narrows project. Even now the position of the planners of the Narrows Dam is not clearly stated nor is there any guarantee of inclusion of flood control on the Bijou in this project. Until definite and affirmative planning is made in connection with the flood control of the Bijou Creek, our area does not feel that this project answers our problems or accomplishes what was intended. |