Imperial Valley press., 1937-05-27
BRINGING
ALL THE NEWS
TO IMPERIAL
VALLEY
POWER CONTRACT APPROVAL
THE ONLY WAY OUT

THE ONLY WAY OUT
The only way Imperial Valley can to-
day avoid dangerous economic crisis
IS by 100 per cent support of Imperial
Irrigation District directors in approval
OF PWA and REA contracts for cons
truction of a hydro-electric system on
the All American canal. Anything else
would spell disaster in capital letters.
Anything else would shatter q years
OF constructive building.
TO the casual on-looker there may
seem to be two ways open to the district
directors, consideration of the Nevada
California Electric corporations social
ed $35,000,000 offer for canal power. or
continuation of the districts program
for public generation and distribution
of public power
THERE ARE NOT TWO WAYS
OPEN. THERE IS ONLY ONE.
Let us make this a specific discussion.
Leaving criticism of the Nev-Cal offer
itself to another day, let us look closely
at the physical facts of the only pOssl-
bic question before us: how We are to
construct an All American canal power
system. Even the Nev-Cal offer is based
on the theory that We shall do so, other
wise there would be nothing for the Nev-
Cdl 10 Duy.
Stripped to the bone, the fact is this
Unless we approve PWA and REA
contracts when we get the chance on
June 16, we stand to lose, possibly for
ever, the means of building power plants.
We all know what such loss would
mean. We would have to pay for the
All American canal out of taxes. We
would have to pay our present bonded
Indebtedness the same way. We would
lose all chance of revenue from the canal,
which from the beginning we have plan
ned to pay for out of revenue.
Last, but far from least, we would
have to go on buying electricity at hign
rates from a private company which
brings that electricity hundreds of miles
into the valley over expensive transmits
sion lines.
But" you say for the sake of argu-
ment, 1.-The power company has proposed
to buy power generated right here in
the valley, on the All American canal,
and pay US enough to enable US, in turn,
to pay for the canal
Yes. eve still are not considering
jokers in the Nev-Cal proposal) But
remember that the Nev-Cal proposes to
purchase the power We generate on the
canal. The power plants, under the
companyS plan, are TO be Dullt as pup
lie plants. There is the rub.
Unless we approve the contracts, we
cannot build the plants. We need that
federal money to install the generating
equipment, and the only way we can
get it is by voting YES" on June 16.
Now and then we hear the suggestion
that the district could amend its pres
ent PWA application, or put in a new
one. Both are impossible, considering
the time element. Secretary of Interior
Harold Ickes has advised the district
that the application cannot be amended,
and has strongly advised against substl-
tuting for it a new application.
A new application would start at the
foot of the list, below hundreds of 9th
ers. 1t took two years for approval OF
the present application. Since the gov
ernment has embarked on an economy
program-and incidentally refuses any
longer to make outright gifts such as
that authorized to the district-it IS
likely that it would take far more than
an additional two years to get another
application through.
The Nev-Cal proposal came Just year
too late. 1t is economically and morally
inadvisable at this time to let it inter-
fere with PWA and REA contract ap-
proval. To all intents and purposes, 1t
might as we'll be wiped off the slate
right now, for the only thing it can do