Evening star., 1924-05-11
river. BILL CHANGE.
! DECIDED IN HOUSE
Provision That Would Tie Hands
of Power Commission and
- Halt Wcrk to Go.
sWEExs REGISTERS PROTEST
Letter Of Secretary and Expression
J.. of o. C, Merrill Prompt Action.

The House committee on rivers and
harbors, after a hearing yesterday,
&decided to strike from the rivers and
q harbors bill as reported to the House
on April 26, as a committee amend
@,nent. when the bill comes up for con-
ksideration, a provision which, if en-
=, acted into law. would place an en-
%hargo against the activities of the
AsFederaI Power Commission and hold
a.up all water-power deyelopment- in
sdefiniteIy5 taking the real iurisdic-
Ation over water powers out. of the
n hands Of the Federal Power Commits
F'Sion and hptting it back in the War
- The acti6E by the rivers and har-
A,hors commiftse. which voted author
"fty to Chairman Dempsey to offer the
Aamendment. Vas taken after o. c.
&AIerrill. executive secretary Of the
Federal Power Commission. had call
Ned tho attention of the House COM
= r?tttee to the paragraph, (which pro
%videS that:.,
. NO permits or licenses for the de-
frelopment of hydro7e4ectric power
. shah be eapproved by the Secretary of
* xnavigable Vk1ream or its tributaries
Nwhen such development will affect
the nayiga blsecapacit of the stream.
until these officers shall have ade
Zen for 4n fn Mhsh ot eeefys # 9fvs
S.inproveriaEt of navigation OF the
rs tream as'Fa whole consistent with
xthe, efficient: development OF its po-
tential watett power" n
War Secretary Opposed.
& Strong argument against, this para
graph was presented in letter to
x,.he con1Fsittee from the Secretary of
War. wss; is also chairman of Che
ri fhSfAha nrnnngad lppiGla tiOD is
r 'unnecesssFHs unwise, and might re-
wdeveiopmehaspG the majority Of our
Secretary Weeks pointed out to the
~committee that "the underlying purpose
sof the paragraph-that license for
,4srower projects on navigable streams
should not be granted unless IN reason
Sable conformity with a comprehensive
scheme of .-development-is a praise
Aworthy one, and is the very provision
;. contained in the federal water power
Eact and the ore in accordance with
:. which the federal power commission is
Eacting in issuing licenses on nayigable
a. s.streams. lnso far therefore. as the para
graph in ttle rivers and harbors bill is
n Aintended as a declaration 6 of general
policy it adds nothing to the existing
aslaw as contained in the federal water
power act. The paragraph in question
a-however, goes much further and. makes
. it mandatory on the Secretary OF war
W nd the the chief of engineers to with
a hold approval of any application for a
8power permit or license on any naviga-
q bic stream until such stream has been
Surveyed and a general plan for Its en-
attire development prepared.
Two Years Making Survey.
'"The War Department has been
n. engaged for, two years in making a
survey of the upper Tennessee River.
IF appropriations are made available
by Congress it expects to complete
. the survey within the next two years
B. that is, four years and more than
a half Rllion dollars will have been
A. requireds4o survey the upper water
z shed of'<efle Tennessee River, COM
wApriSing $4,000 square miles, or about
~ per cent of the area of the United
o. States. Ifswe must await the COM
pletion of Similar surveys on other
Q streams before any water power d e.
- velopments are made upon them, we
y will postpone such development for
~ genera tions.
q "Under the provisions of the fed
eral wafer power act, the commission
a. IS given fdiscretion to authorize or
to declnesto authorize power devel-
n Opme n IS. ops. navigable streams BY
the prdyiESEs of the paragraph in
q questioa. a5s discretion would be
taken awaSApd lodged in the chief
O of engineetS..and the Secretary of
War, who .eould exercise complete
Nveto over any action of the federal
. power commission on any project on
"a navigable stream or it's tribu-
a. IarieS''