Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-15
NEVADA DEMANDS
BOULDER POWER
Six Other Bidders Compete
for Energy to Be Generated
by Giant Project.
BY FREDERICK WILLIAM VILE.

Boulder Dam. long the bitter bone OF
contention on Capitol Hill, has bounded
into the washington picture again TINS
week with the Seven-cornered flght LOT
ALLEGATION of the vast hydToeleclTlC
mower which the giant project even
EuaIlv will generate. Broadly speaking.
il is a contest between the State OF
Nevada against a field consisting OF the
MetronoIifan Water Area of Southern
California. the City of Los Angeles, and
four private power corporations IN
Southern California. Each of the seven
bidders has filed an application LOT
VARYING slices of the power and Is rep
resented before the Department OF tne
Interior by its own array of spokesman
and advocates. DR.. Ray Lyman Wilbur,
the Secretary of the Interior, functions
more or less as the supreme court 81
the situation. The different applicants
for Boulder Dams liquid energy are
having their days in court, one by one.
It is not likely that Secretary Wllburs
decision OH ALLEGATION will be lmmedl-
ately forthcoming as the issues involved
are innumerable.
Nevada Has Supporters.
Nevada,s Boulder Dam delegation is
headed by George w Malone, Reno,
State engineer and one of the outstand-
ing leaders of the American Legion In
the Western country. He has valiant
supporters in the entire Nevada dele
CATION in Congress, consisting of Sena-
tors Key Pittman, Democrat, and
Tasker l.. Oddie, Republican, and
Representative Samuel S. Arentz, Re-
publican. The Boulder Dam project
act provides that firm contracts shall
be made by the Secretary of the In
terror with responsible bidders for the
sale of the $4,000 firm horsepower to
be developed, which will return the
Government investment of 1921 100000,
including interest, over period of so
years, before construction work may
begin.
Nevada has submitted a bid for one
third of the amount of power to be de-
veloped by this project, which would
amount to approximately $4,000 firm
horsepower, and it is expected that the
availability of this amount of reason
able-priced power will start an unprece-
dented era of development within that
State. Bils have been received for
about two and one-half times the
amount of power to be developed, so
that no difficulty is anticipated in Sc
curing proper contracts in plenty of
time for the regular session of Congress
to make an appropriation under the
terms of the act for the beginning Of
construction in 1880.
Cheapest Power in U. S.
As soon as contracts have been made
by the Interior Department with the
bidders for power, the last great OBJ
stacle will have been removed from the
construction of the Boulder Dam
project-an enterprise with which the
name of Senator Hiram w. johnson,
Republicans of California, will always
be honorably associated. For the past
five years johnson has waged one of
the most tenacious battles ever offered
in Congress on behalf of major piece
of legislation. 1t is expected that
Boulder Dams power will sell at the
switchboard at approximately SIS per
horsepower year. This would be the
cheapest power of any magnitude in
the United States. The expectation is