Imperial Valley press., 1934-04-05

ces to be taken from the statement.
particularly since statements have
already been carried in valley news
papers that the proposed plant is
to be located in Imperial.
The statement as prepared by
DoWd and finally agreed to by the
| board, follows
In the signing of a contract with
the Hooven, owens, Rentschler
company, yesterday, for a diesel
power plant, the board Of directors
OF the district took another step
in carrying out the policy adopted
several months ago of the district
developing and distributing the
power from the All-American cam
al. 1t has long been realized that
the power which will be developed
as a by-product on the All-Amer-
:can canal represents one of the
: greatest resources available to I'm
perial Valley. Not only will the
developing of this power provide
an everlasting source of cheap cleo
tricity, but it will also provide the
means by which the cost of the
canal will be repaid by the district
to the United States government.
The value of the power was rec
ognized by the Public Works Ad-
ministration as assurance that the
canal would be f-liquidating. 1t
was only after this fact was estab-
lished that PWA approved the laot-
ment of money to construct the
canal, and by reason of this allot-
ment bids will be called for the
first 80 miles of canal construction
within a few days.
In connection with the develop
ment of power on the canal. it will
be necessary to provide a standby
plant, and it is the first unit of
this standby plant which will be
erected under the diesel contract
which was signed yesterday. This
matter has occupied the attention
of the board for number of
months and it has been gone into
very carefully in order that the
work now to be undertaken will fit
i in with and become an integral
part of the future development of
power on the canal.
/ Also, the board realizes that the
plant must finance itself and not
be burden on the land 1t was
therefore necessary to plan the in
itial installation on this basis and
details of the contract have been
carefully prepared with this in
mind. The proposition was sub
mitted to a number of the large
diesel engine manufacturers and
several proposals were received. the
one accepted by the board being
the most favorable to the district
from all angles. The plans have
been prepared by R. w. Shoemaker,
an outstanding electrical engineer
who developed the power plants at
Don Pedro and Exchequer dams,
and the power system for the Tur-
lock Irrigation District, one of the
most successful in the state. Shoe
maker also has done considerable
work in preparing plans for devel-
oping the All-American canal pow
er plants. In addition, in making
the final selection of the equip
ment, the beard also had the SER
vices of Carl Heinz, consulting cleo
trical engineer of Los Angeles, who
was connected with the Bureau of
Power and Light of that city for
over 20 years.
BY starting construction of the
standby plant at this time, and
enlarging it as rapidly as may be
possible, will mean much greater
use and returns from All-American
canal power as soon as possible,
than would otherwise be possible II
nothing were done until the cana!
was completed Also, there will be
an immediate substantial reduction
in the present power rates to con-
sumers, which would not be possible
otherwise.
1t is planned that power from
the first unit of the standby plant
will be distributed in the town OF
Brawley, where the people have al
ready expressed their approval OF
public ownership of power by a re-
cent favorable vote of over two TO
one. Leading citizens in Brawley.
together with the council, had been
considering the installation of
city-owned plant, but recognizing