Still the wild river runs
Subtitle: Congress, the Sierra Club, and the fight to save Grand Canyon
By: Byron E. Pearson.
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Tucson
Language: eng
Number of pages: 246
Subjects: Sierra Club; Dams -- Political aspects -- Arizona -- Grand Canyon; Dams -- Arizona -- Grand Canyon -- Public opinion; Public opinion -- United States; Environmental policy -- United States
Description: "Between 1963 and 1968, environmentalists were outraged when western water interests sought to construct two dams in Grand Canyon as part of the Central Arizona Project. The Sierra Club led a national campaign opposed to the project, which most environmental historians credit with defeating the dams. In the wake of its victory, the Sierra Club has been lauded as the savior of Grand Canyon.".

"Byron Pearson now takes a closer look at history to show that the Sierra Club's ability to mobilize public opinion did not appreciably influence Congress, where the issue was actually decided. When Arizona congressman Stewart Udall became interior secretary in 1960, he promoted a plan to import water from the Pacific Northwest to California in order to placate that state's opposition to the CAP with its proposed dams.

When this support dissolved in the face of resistance from Washington senator Henry Jackson, who chaired the Senate Interior Committee, the pragmatic Udall sought passage of a bare-bones CAP bill without the dams before he and Arizona senator Carl Hayden retired.".

"Based on research in archives from all over the country, Still the Wild River Runs will itself be a subject of controversy as it challenges long-standing notions about the power of environmental lobbies. By putting this chain of historical events in clearer perspective, it can give citizens concerned with future causes a better understanding of the political process and what really moves it."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-236) and index.
Table of contents: title: "A profitless locality"; title: Think big!; title: The battle is joined; title: "Grand Canyon, Armageddon"; title: Canyon in the balance; title: The hinge of fate; title: A mirage of power.