Evening star., 1955-11-28
u. S. Reversal
On Dam Sought
BY the Associated Press

The u. S. Court Of Appeals for
the District of Columbia was
asked today to set aside a Fed
Ieral Power Commission order
licensing three private power
dams in the Hells Canyon stretch
lof the Snake River.
Public power groups appealed
from the FPC's August 4 order
approving the Idaho Power Co. S
lthree-dam proposal which would
flood the site of a proposed Fed
Ieral Hells Canyon dam in the
Columbia River tributary bor-
Idering Idaho and Oregon.
| Attorneys Evelyn Cooper and
lLucien Hilmer, representing 10
groups which fought unsuccess-
fully against the company's IL
lcense applications during a year.
long hearing before an FPC ex-
aminer, asked the court to re-
view and reverse the FPC's "act
lof administrative lawlessness,
They said in their review petit
Ition that the FPC grossly mis-
linterprets and misapplies" the
Federal power law and assumes
unlimited discretion to license
projects that would do violence
Ito the Federal comprehensive
Iplan for the Columbia River
basin"
Score Single Area Use
The FPC, the lawyers asserted.
would appropriate a strategic
portion Of that interstate water
way-a portion capable of yield
ling multiple region wide public
benefits Ito a limited and essen
italy single-purpose. single-area
use"
"The commission" they said,
allows its own political pre-
dilections not only to obscure
the statutory objective of maxi
mum public-purpose use Of pub
lie water resources, but to nullify
the statutory priority accorded
| the United States to develop
such resources.
"The commissions opinion and
order" they declared. add up
to a gross abuse Of administrative
power and a dereliction Of the
commissions duty to protect and
promote comprehensive river
basin development and to act
las guardian against waste OF
the Nations river resources"
The lawyers said the FPCs
approval Of the three-dam plan
and refusal to recommend the
Federal dam under the Federal
power law Constitutes. as to
both substance and procedure.
an act of administrative law
lessness.
Called Key Project
They said the proposed $3.50
million Federal dam in the deep
est river gorge on the continent
is a key project in the Army En-
gineer- Reclamation Bureau COM
Iprehensive plan for development
of the Columbia River Basin.
The Federal dam. they said,
would fully develop the Hells
Canyon stretch Of the Snake
River by adding a million kilo-
watts Of power capacity TO the
Federal Columbia River system
and provide flood control, nayi-
CATION and other benefits.
The lawyers said the $l33 mil
lion three-dam plan would pro-
vide only half as much power.
less food control and fewer other
regional benefits.
In itself and as a precedent. !"
they said the three-dam plan
would break up the Federal
comprehensive plan and frustrate
its multipurpose regional objec-
tives."
The company proposal, they
added, would commit an in
terstate public recourse to an
essentially single-purpose intra-
state use" and 1t would "gravely
impair, if not destroy" the Fed
eral plan for the basin.
The court was not asked to
stay the FPC license order pend
ing the appeal.
Although reports from Idaho
indicate the Idaho Power Co. is
getting ready to build the Oxbow
and Brownlee dams Immediate
ly, Mrs. Cooper has expressed
doubt that the company viii
be able TO obtain construction
y1NaI1ass xaftftta fI4o noRa Il in court