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0027&3 -16- ~~~.?~~~:;?~ {:~p~~~,~:~ l:;'tt~;~ - I- I ~::1:;i;tiGi ~i:~~;;:~~ti;l 5;l::.-~:t;~R ._-tff:.-~~- ~1 I ~~~i;~ ,:.',:;-"'-->.:;:?....~-;: I ,-.-,,":. 'h..J _ "'.'. "Unless all project benefits - both primary. and secondary benefits - are fully and adequately evaluated, the interest rate in project formulation will result in many projects being under-designed and others completely rejected. " I think the committee report last year had virtually those same words in it. "We cannot afford under-development of our water resources, and par- ticularly reservoir sites--and let's face it, they are getting more limit,ed all the time--and still meet the water needs of the West and this nation by the year 2020, or before that perhaps. Senator Jordan, of Idaho has recently.been quoted as saying: "The use of high discount rates would have meant that projects like Hoover Dam or the Columbia Basin Project, " which I flew over here about a week ago, and it is marvelous to see what has been done to that great Pacific Northwest area.in the Columbia Basin Project--it never would have been built. Phoenix,. Arizona would probably be still sand and sagebrush under the present interest factor if other benefits were not also taken into account. This business of resource development is not just regional, it is of national concern and national urgency. Dhope all of you gentlemen will take the time to read the Task F,orce Report which, in my opinion, is at least a thrust forward in trying to develop more sophisticated means qf evaluating projects. I seriously and sincerely hope that these thrusts forward in trying to use sophisticated technology to de- velop 'project evaluation are not blown out of the water by the professional economists, and I know that there are a bunch of them that are just laying for it. I think it is most important that you folks in the state assume your share of the burden of not only what your own state water plan is, but in' coop- erating with the Council and with the Federal Government inthe Fed,eral responsibilities. I can promise you right now that insofar as the area, in which I am responsible, within the Department of Interior, I want to get all of the counsel, all of the guidance, all of the help, that you folks can provide. I think if we all work together, we are all going to go down this road together. We are going to see that water resource development in this nation attains a higher scale in the total national goal that this nation has to meet as we go forward in the future. It is my personal opinion, and I think I share it with most of you, that water and soil resource development is as important as expenditure of public funds as there is in this nation today. And I want to tell you right here and now that I want to do everything in my power to help along those lines. ..j.l"tI'flltlliBII.II~1