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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />^ <br /> <br />DIVIDING THE POWER: THE COLORADO RIVER <br />BASIN STATES AND THE COLORADO RIVER STORAGE <br />PROJECT <br /> <br />Development in the Upper Basin had been slow <br />and spasmodic, largely because there had <br />been no agreement between the states for <br />dividing the water apportioned to them by <br />the Colorado River Compact, but that <br />situation had not prevented either the <br />states or the Bureau of Reclamation from <br />dreaming. Slowly the largest power and <br />reclamation project ever conceived had begun <br />to take shape on drawing boards. <br /> <br />---John Upton Terrell, War for the <br />Colorado River, Vol. II <br /> <br />In the spring of 1956, Congress authorized the Colorado <br />"River Storage Project (CRSP), a billion dollar, multipurpose <br />reclamation project designed to stimulate economic growth in <br />Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Termed "A project for <br />People", CRSP was expected to provide water for more than 350,000 <br />acres, produce more than one million kilowatts of <br />hydroelectricity, and create new jobs for thousands as a result <br />of agricultural and industrial expansion./l <br /> <br />Revenue from the sale of hydroelectricity produced at Glen <br />Canyon and Flaming Gorge Dams, and the Curecanti Unit'was the key <br />to the CRSP's anticipated succeSSl it would pay for approximately <br />90 percent of the project's reimburs~ble costs and make possible <br />construction of less profitable water development projects. Of <br />critical significance, then, was the immediate and complete sale <br />of all CRSP power generated at firm prices. The Upper Basin <br />states were thus understandably concerned that nothing inhibit <br />the speedy development of power facilities, marketing criteria, <br />allocation and contracts; power made all things possible on the <br />Colorado River Storage Project. <br /> <br />Background <br /> <br />Passage of the CRSP legislation marked the culmination of <br />years of effort by the four states of the Upper Colorado River <br />Basin to begin large-scale development projects within their <br />region. Largely as a result of mushrooming growth in Southern <br />California, the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) had earlier focused <br />its orcject construction in the Lower Basinl Hoover, Parker and <br />Davi= uams were all authorized and work practically completed <br />with"~ thirty years of the signing of the Colorado River Compact <br />in 1~=2. <br /> <br />~~e uoper Basin states had exhibited much anxiety about the <br />river development plans of the Lower Basin states, fearing that <br />wh~n :~eir turn came for a reclamation project the water supply <br /> <br />1 <br />