Imperial Valley press., 1931-07-21
District Defends
Canal Contract
Continued from page y

Continued from page l.
meeting on July 81, 1881, at the
district headquarters, FL Centre,
California.
The statements herein contained
are to the best knowledge and be-
lief of the ma aiority of the board
of directors of Imperial Irrigation
district, correct, supported by the
provisions Of the proposed Allan
erican canal contract and reliable
as a guide to land owners and wa
ter users and the public generally,
who will be called upon to give final
decision as to whether the contract
is to be accepted or not"
Criticize Objections
1T is an astounding complaint
which Directors Brockman and
Beal make regarding the dangers of
sharing Colorado river water with
adjoining lands in the United
States, when they must know that
until we have the All-American
canal we must continue to share up
to half of our water supply with
lands in Mexico, and under condi-
tions far more exacting, far more
serious in point Of jeopardizing wa
ter rights than any which even they
can imagine under the proposed
All-American canal contract" the
answer says.
Explanations of the provisions of
the contract as affecting repayment
of the canal costs, equalizing the
obligation so that all parts of the
areas served will share equally, saw
ingS resulting from silt removal,
power possibilities, are all contained
in the answer
Regarding power, the answer OBJ
serves that this is the worst time
to try to talk power contracts or
sale of power. 1t cites the situation
at Boulder Canyon before the
Swing-Johnson bill was passed
when power companies were saying
they would not buy Boulder dam
power. But after the Swing john
son bill was passed and power de-
velopment became a certainty, The
power companies fought with each
other to get the lions share of the
power.
The construction of the All-Am-
erican canal is not now an issue,
the answer states. The proposed
contract is the issue. Once a con-
tract is approved and signed and
the time for actual construction ar
rives then power disposition will be
taken up and settled.
In conclusion the answer points
out that the proposed draft of the
contract is a matter for the dircc-
tors to complete and that as soon
as 1t is completed, copies will be sent
TO all the people for study
Charge Misstatements
Opening paragraphs of the an
swer declare that a careful analysis
of the Brockman-Beal letter shows
that it "misrepresents the facts in
many instances ard is so prepared
as to constitute an attack upon the
canal project Itself,
rather than any attempt to give
criticism OF the pro-
posed contract"
1t calls the attention of the pub
lie to the fact that Directors Brock
man and Beal are part of the dis
trict board and that if they have
of the proposed contract
1t is their privilege and duty to call
those defects TO the attention of the
rest of the board so that they can
be considered and, if they exist, to
be remedied.
In the discussion of the criticism
of Brockman-B regarding water
rights, the answer declares that
they quoted only a small part Of
the article dealing with water
rights and that the article as COM
pleted provides recognition of I'M
perial Valleys existing and future
water rights rather than a nullifi-
cation. The answer says: "These
directors (Brockman and BeaD give
you only part of Article IT. A
part of Article II, which is not given
you, provides tthis contract is with
out prejudice to any other or addi-
tional rights which the district may
now have or hereafter acquire in
or to the waters of the Colorado
River Instead Of this article null
lifying our water rights, it recog-
nizes them"
The answer states further that
besides recognition Of present water
rights Of the district the article con-
fers upon the valley tremendous
valuable rights or privileges which
we do not at the present moment
enjoy and cannot enjoy without the
storage facilities provided by the
United States and contract for
use of the same"
The answer explains the reasons
why Imperial Valley under the con-
tract will have ample water supply