Evening star., 1935-05-19
"Quoddy'' Tidal PoaUer Project
Once Turned DO,vn as Infedsible
Ten Million Allotted for
Plan U. S. Agencies
Failed to Approve.
High Cost of Electricity
and Lack OF Market
Mentioned in Report.
BY JOHN C. HENRY.

BY JOHN =. HENRY.
The dream Of an engineering life
time today Is in that half world i'm
mediately preceding reality; the tides
of Names Passamaquoddy Bay are
to be harnessed, turned into electri-
cal energy.
With fulfillment of this ingenious
scheme, a number of interesting re-
suits will be obtained. For instance,
an over-abundance of electrical power,
declared by the Federal Power Com
mission to be not cheap power, will
be available in region where sufh-
cient power already is available; be-
tween 10 and So million dollars of
the four -billion-dollar work-relief fund
will be expended to supply this super
fuous power; jobs will be furnished to
varying thousands of men during
what may be a three-year period; !;
private utilities, in this case those
serving New England, will be placed
under a sword of Damocles." and
Dexter P. Cooper, longtime acquaint-
ance of President Roosevelt, will have
the please Of seeing q lifetime OBJ
jective accomplished.
Gratitude of Voters.
In addition, Maine voters, rejectors
of Republicanism and burdened with
an unemployment load of some 10000,
look with gratitude upon an admins
tration which is thus coming to their
aid in no insignificant way.
The project. calling for an initial
allotment of $4,000, 900, and to be
carried out by the Corps of Army
Engineers under immediate direction
of Maj. Phillip B. Fleming. was con-
tanned on the first list of Al such
ventures bearing approval Of the Ad-
visory Committee ON Allotments from
the new work-relief funds. A press
release contains the reassuring state
ment that the project has been found
to be socially desirable and engineer
ingly sound. It will produce large
quantities of power at low cost"
Mr.. Cooper, brother of famed En-
gineer Hugh Cooper, and himself an
engineer of note, is to serve as con-
sulting engineer on the project. Upon
his 20-odd years of experience in
estimating and planning development
of "Quoddy" will be based much of
the work now directed. He has been
q part-time resident Of Maine for
many years.
Long History of Efforts.
The history of efforts to interest
the Government in the Passamaquoddy
project is a long one, becoming con-
siderably more intense when the pres
ent '+yardstick" minded adminiStra-
ton was seeking avenues for expendi-
ture of the first $1,000, ,000, 900 p. w. A.
fund. Failure was all but assured,
however, when both the Federal Pow
division of the P. w. A. submitted
disapproving reports of the project.
Supplementing their disfavor were re-
ports from the State Engineer and
Advisory Board for Maine and the
vigorous oposition of industrial inter
ests in that region. Favorably In
clined were political officeholders from
Maine and Mr.. Cooper.
On March 80. 1884, after conSid-
ering these matters of evidence and
holding hearings at which proponents
were given further opportunity to urge
the proposal, the P. w. A. Board OF
Review submitted report rejecting
the project.
The board cites, for instance, the
findings of the Federal Power Com
mission, as follows:
This report states in substance that
'Quoddy' power Is not cheap power.
It is possible, under very favorable
assumptions, with money at 4 per
cent and no taxes, that the switch
board cost of power would be SIS
mills per kilowatt hour. On this basis,
with a 40 per cent load factor, steam
electric power could be developed In
approximately the same location at a
cost of 5.93 mills. At 80 per cent
load factor, the cost to generate with
steam would drop to 4.16 mills, while
'Quoddy' power would remain at about
5.63 mills. It would be impossible
to sell 'Quoddy' power in the metro
politan area Of Boston because of the
prohibitive cost of transmission, which
would amount to some 3.15 mills per
kilowatt hour.
Cheaper Development.
"The commission believes it pos
sible that existing unused water pow
ers in Maine could be developed more
cheapiy than 'Quoddy' power. Also,
that this development could be car
ried on in steps which the market
could more easily absorb. NO market
now exists for the proposed great
block of 'Quoddy' power"
Even presentation of these findings
on the part of this court of appeals"
within the P. w. A. was not enough
to check efforts In behalf of the
project and it was reported that Mr..
Cooper and members of Names con-
gressional delegation would appeal to
the White HOUSE.
In any event, as the political cam
paign began to warm up In Maine
last August, P. w. A. and Maj. Flem-
ing made a well pubIicized inspection
trip to the Passamaquoddy area.
Upon his return, the administrator
made guarded admissions of interest
in the project, but still declined to
go 50 far rs to allocate funds to the
proposal.
Although the Advisory Committee
on allotments makes the point in
approving the project that it is in
different form from that considered
by the p. w. A.. the only substantial
change is omission Of plans for two
privately operated electro-metaIlurgi-
cal plants which were included by
proponents as their principal argu-
ment to the effect that there would
be demand for the power. Although
this omission would seem to decrease
further any market for the power,
the new committee evidently feels
that its social desirability" out
weighs the economic shortcomings.
Would Utilize Tides.
The Passamaquoddy project, % now
announced by the Advisory Commit
tee, provides for the utilization of the
tidal range OF q normal average tide
of ID feet In Cohscook Bay near East
port for the development of power.
This bay will be made the controlled
basin or lower pool of the project by
the construction Of five rock-earth