Imperial Valley press., 1935-06-03
Continued from Page D

lOOllSll IOI Ille ptOplS Vi 1iIlptildl
Valley to bring in power from a dis
tance of over 450 miles, when it had
ample power facilities on its own
canal system within matter of 40
or so miles. That is the exact
situation in which we find our
selves.
The question of the district going
into the power business is not
new one. 1t is not subject which
has just recently come up in con-
nection with the new deal" re-
ferred to by MIR. West. From the
time of the first surveys for the ALL
American canal it was recognized
that there were important power
possibilities on the canal which
would be an important asset in con-
nection with the feasibility of the
project. The policy adopted by your
board of directors that the people
would themselves develop and dis
tribute All-American canal power
was not arrived at recently, but only
after many Investigations and ma
ture consideration had been given
to the subject. In the various
Swing johnson bills introduced in
congress for the construction of
Boulder dam and the All-American
canal and in the contract between
our people and the United States
government for the repayment of
the cost of the canal, were safe
guarded and held intact. Before
the Public Works Administration
approved the canal project, the
special committee investigated ALI
American canal power in its rela-
ton to the feasibility of the entire
project, and we know that the pow
er asset was one of the determining
factors upon which the PWA ap-
proved the All-American canal.
The All-American canal is under
construction. and by contract the
people of Imperial Valley have
agreed to repay the cost to the gov
ernment. There can be no ques-
ton regarding the necessity for the
canal, even the Southern SierraS
Power company now says that it is
for the construction, although it is
recognized that it bitterly fought the
construction of the canal from the
inception of the project, in fact
after the Boulder dam act was
passed, the power companies did
everything they could to prevent the
canal form being constructed.
While the canal does impose an
obligation upon the people of the
valley, yet it also provides a Won
derful asset in the power posi-
bilities which are made available.
Should the development of this asset
be delayed 10 years or more, as de-
manded by Mr.. West, and then sold
to the power company at such price
as it is willing to pay, or should the
power be Immediately developed by
the people and made available to
the area that will be served by
waters from the All-American
canal.
At the present time power is
costing this area around $1,500,000
O. year. and only small portion of
the rural area has power service
available. The people have to pay
for this power and will continue to
have to pay for this power. If this
same service can be supplied by the
district from All-American canal
power, which is a by-product of the
canal, at considerable saving over
what the service is now costing the
people, and at the same time pro-
vide means whereby major por
tion, if not all, of the cost of the
All-American canal can be repaid,
is this not a logical and reasonable
proposition?
Should the people of Imperial
Valley be forced to continue paying
the price they have been for power
service to the Southern Sierras, and
in addition dig down in their
pockets to pay for the cost of the
All-American canal, when by de-
veloping the power on the ALL
American canal, and delivering it to
themselves, they can actually reduce
the amount they have been having
to pay for power and at the same
time make it unnecessary to pro-
vide additional sums for the ALL
American canal costs.
District Able To Serve
The district now serves the entire
Valley with water, it has offices in
most of the towns and at Imperial
it has it's general machine shops,
store yards, accounting, purchasing
and engineering departments. Be-
cause of the size and extent of the
district and of the problems of con-
trolling floods and silt with which
the district has had to contend, as
we'll as the management of large
private corporation in Mexico, it
has available an organization and
equipment and has had experience
such as to make it able to success
fully include in its activities the
development and distribution of
power with but minor expansion
in administrative and operative
personnel.
Water and power will go hand in
hand. The existing division Of
fices will serve equally we'll for the
distribution of power as for water.
The centralized accounting, pur-
chasing, engineering and other such
departments will be utilized to serve
in similar capacities for power as
they now do for water. There will
result a saving in administration
costs for both water and power.
Where is there any justification to