Imperial Valley press., 1935-06-03

and the Southern Sieras Power
company, Also. included in the
group was the SierTas Construction
company. which later, after the
major lines had been constructed,
was reorganized into what is known
SIS the Nev-Cal Securities corpora
lion. this being the company now
used to fight the districts proposed
power project il the federal court.
In giving you this history, I want
to point out one principal fact, that
the Southern Sierras Power COM
pany did not build into Imperial
Valley with the idea of helping the
valley to develop, but simply as a
means of saving its own precarious
situation In the words of Mr
West himself in testimony he gave
at one of the rate hearings before
the railroad commission. this fact Is
brought out in the following quota
ton: In other words, in entering
Southern California / don't mean to
convey the idea it was an altruis-
tic move, simply for the benefit OF
the public; it was primarily for the
protection of the company"
Discusses Standby Plants
/ OF course. the power company had
TO have standby service. and so
constructed a steam plant in San
Bernardino. The line it had con-
structed to Imperial Valley was a
single circuit operating at $4,000
volts, and before long had to be
I changed to $4,000 volts. Because OF
Interruptions and poor service which
this line gave, another line was
constructed from El Centro to Rim
con and there a connection made
with the San Diego Consolidated
Gas & Electric corporation, to pro-
vide standby service. but this was
not satisfactory as 1t required about
one-half hour for the San Diego
company to come on the line in case
of trouble; therefore, this line was
later extended from Rincon to San
Bernardino, and mind you, all OF
this cost was simply to provide
standby. Later, the Southern Sier-
ras built power line from San
Bernardino to Seal Beach, and con-
nected with the steam plant of the
Los Angeles Gas and Electric corp
grafton. additional standby.
Now. within the past few years, it
has built a line from San Bernar-
dino to Boulder dam, despite the
fact that it had ample capacity in
its own hydro plant to serve its
entire territory. Also, this addi-
, tional investment was made and
contract entered into with the gov
ernment for power from Boulder
dam. despite the fact that the
Southern SierTas knew the ALL
] American canal would be built, that
on the All-American canal ample
power could be developed to serve
this community for many years,
and that the people of Imperial
] Valley needed the revenue from ALI
American canal power to assist
them in repaying the government
for the cost of the canal.
I submit that there is nothing to
show. or indicate in this entire pro-
ceeding that the Southern SierraS
has had in mind what was best for
Imperial Valley. At no time has
the power company conducted its
operations with view of cooperat-
ing with the development of power
on the All-American canal, but on
the contrary, has made investments
IA line extensions. etc, so as to
/ make it imposs BILE tor that COM
pany to properly utilize All-Ameri-
can canal power. If the company
thought this was the best procedure
and the proper course for it to fol-
low. that was its own affair, but If
il has made mistakes and pursued
the wrong policy, it should not now
demand that the people of Imperial
Valley pay for these mistakes and
saddle themselves forever with the
uniustified investments of the COM
pany.
Let me point out here, that the
Southern Sierras was not forced to
build a line to Boulder dam, it did
so of its own free will, neither was
( the Southern Sierras forced to con-
tract for power from Boulder dam:
certainly the people Of Imperial
Valley did not request the Southern
! Sierras to 50 contract and it has no
effect whatsoever on the success OF
Boulder dam. The amount the
Southern Sierras contracted to take
IS less than one per cent of the out
put Of Boulder dam. This amount
Of less than one per cent will con-
tribute to the surplus over and
above the amount required to repay
the cost Of Boulder dam to the gov
/ ernment and this surplus will go to
Arizona and Nevada. Notwitr
standing. Mr. West now stands be-
fore the people Of Imperial Valley
and says you cannot develop your
uower on the All-American canal
until we have disposed Of all the
poWer we have contracted to take
from Boulder dam. Putting it an
other way he says that the people
Of Imperial Valley must pay tribute
to Arizona and Nevada and must
not utilize their own resources to
help pay for the All-American
canal. without which there would be
no Boulder dam.
Ail-American Canal Power
II this resource belonging 10 the
people of Imperial Valley was in
some other form, its development
might be logically delayed. For in
stance. if we had oil or coal de-