New-York tribune., 1912-02-29
FULL STATE CONTROL
. OF WATER POWER URGED
Conservation Commissions Bill
Would Provide Government
Monopoly and Distribution.
FOLLOWS CANADIAN PLAN
Sale of Electricity at Cost to
Cities, Towns and Individuals
Promises Great Saving,
Van Kennen Says.
[By Telegraph to. The Tribune.


Albany, Feb. 2s.-Opposng the Ferris leg
islative committees water storage scheme,
which would create practically perpetudi
market monopoly of power for the benent
of the existing riparian owners, the Con
servation Commission to-day announced
plan to generate and furnish electrical en-
ergy at cost FOR the benefit of the ultl-
mate consumer" Commissioner Van Ken
nen told Of the plan at hearing on the
Ferris bills before the Senate and IN"
Assembly judiciary committees. Dlh
amending the conservation law to permit
the commission to carry It out VIII be IN
troduced tomorrow.
This plan is based on that Of the Ontario
Hydro Electric Commission, which mas
been furnishing power at cost to the lnu-
inequalities of Ontario for more than year
with marked success. It contemplates CIV
ing the Conservation Commission au'hoTlS
to build water storage reservoirs ana gen
crate and transmit and market water power
or electric energy anywhere IN tho S'a'''
Instead Of dickcring with riparian owners
and incurTing numerous long drawn OUT
lawsuits over riparian rights and rates OF
compensation. the state. through the Con
seryation Commission. would condemn lana
90 be Hooded I'm building tho storage reser-
voirs and power dam sites to transmit inc
stored water into electrical energy IL
would build its own power plants and erect
its Transmission lines. Two long ones
already have been mapped out-One from
Buffalo TO New York and another from the
St Lawrence To Binghamton, with a loop
along the southern tier Of counties.
1 Nn1f IL
inequalities to furnish power, energy. cleo
tricity or water for lighting public streets,
highways, public and private buildings, and
for heat and power, that the municipality
and the citizens thereof shall secure Al
cost the benefits to be derived from the
utilization ot said power and water
With the introduction Of the commission
bill the Legislature will have two distinct,
diametrically opposite propositions for the
utilization OF water powers of the state be-
fore H. This one, Commissioner Van Ken
men says would reduce the cost Of lighting
municipalities by thousands of dollars
year. would save much money on the cost
Of house lighting, and would foster and
build up manufacturing by reducing the
cost of electrical energy or water power
nldnltdttUlNIs
crai. he says, have followed the working
out OF a similar idea in Ontario.
The scheme embodied in the Ferris bills
contemplatas the state placing its powers
o, eminent domain in the hands OF certain
new creatures, known as water. storage
corporations" which shall develop water
powers Under the scheme the state at the
end OF nfty years would own the storage
reservoirs free and clear and would be IN
!, ccipt of an income from the sale OF
y atcr. but It's market for the waters stored
would he restricted to the riparian owners
along the streams regulated.
Thus a comparatively small group OF In
GIyiduaIs pr corporations would have in
rcrpctuity a control Of practically all the
electrical energy generated from water
rover In the state save that from canal
waters and water powers wholly within
the state forest preserve and on boundary
dreams. the St Lawrence and the Niagara.
Commissioner Van Kennen at the hear
ing compared the cost Of power In various
municipalities Ia this state, their house
holders and power users, AT the prevailing
rates and what it would De Mt the rates at
which the Ontario Hydro Electric Com
mission sells power III ioAH'Sl'l l' sdAAf
the saving would be Nil.0Oo a year; In AL
bany the saving would be Sl5L0d0 year; In
Troy. to2OOO. In Syracuse, $22j,ooO and in
Watertown. 81, coo Watcrtown is a water
power city. The saving there would be
mostly In cost of lightlng-$29ooO a year,
roughly Mr.. Van Kcnnan explained that
power for manufacturers was sold cheaper
in Watcrtown than the Canadian commits
sion could furnish IT,
Senator Ferris. Arthur J. Baldwin, coun-
sci to the Ferris committee, and members
of the judiciary committee. subjected Nh
Van KeIn,n to Il sharp fire Of questions as
to the details Of his plan and the adylsa-
bility of embarking the state in business
senator Ferris said of the plan after the
hearing: -
"It is clcan-cut proposition and must
appeal to anybody VINO believes In putting
rho state into business. don't ] think
the practical difficulties Of IL, though, are
tremendous, aud the cost of building stor-
age reservoirs power plants and trans
mission lines would he stupendous.