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_27 THE DEN V E R PO S T Sundar, No.,. 28. 1971. Pl'rsppctive 'Naders Raiders' Lose a Friend Ry BERT 11Al\"l\"A I'~[ SADLY disiUusioneC:l with Ralph Nader and his "Nader's Raiders," Up to now, I've saluted the Nad{,T effort to protect consumers and taxpayers and to challenge opportunistic and predatory politicians and special interest groups in and out of go\"ernment. But I'm beginning to think he's a phony. What triggers meis the report of a :\ader task force indicting and condemning the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. The report says. in e-ffect. that Western water projt>cts of the bureau, launched in the early yt>ars of this century, were a waste of taxpayers' money. "based on contrived estimates of benefits to be gained.. " The tl"port says that on the basis of the federal go,'ernment's own e~timatps, rec. lamation projects ha,'e rf"suiterl in major environmental changes, whose costs are never calculated in justification of recla. mation worKS, etc. etc. And ....ictims of these wasteful policies, among others, ha....e been Indians, the report maintains. I THIXK IT'S a spf'cious, fooli$h report predicated upon superficial anaiysis by a group of theorists who n('\"('r bothl'l'ed to examine back,l!:round or conduct field stu- dies, but relied only on prejudiced infor. mants. It's really so ridiculous as to warrant no reply from anyone in the \\;'est familiar with what reclamation has accomplished. But I suppose it will receive a lot of cre. dence from 7.ealous en....ironmentalists and the unmformed. The report-or at least the report brief- ings-pa)'s absolutely no attention to the income contributed to the gross national product by Western reclamation and the development ot Western communities based on preciouS water supplies. The report pays no attention to history. It ignores the fact that most reclamation projects ha"e been self.liquidating. reo turning monf')" to the treasury for what has been spent. building economies and a tax base in arf'as that would be impover. ished without water. It ignores. or glo!'ses over. the fact that dams not only produce water for arid lands and municipalities and industries, but also produce a ,'ast amount of hydro. electric power that repays their cost. - -- '- _ -,--- -"'v.-- A former Dem'er Post staff writer, Bert Hanna is thoroughly familiar Idth recla. mation and water resource!' and de\'elop. ment in the west. Before his retirement in 1969, Hanna specialized in covering those fields for The Post. -- --- -- - I DO~'T THIXK the Bureau of Recla- mation is sacrosanct" or without flaws. I know the bureau has made mistakes. I know that some projects, ad,.ocated and pushed through Congress b)' hor!'e,trad. inl':' politicians. have been margina!. I know that some projects on the drawing boards shouldn't be built. But let's take an overall look. In m)' last years as a reporter on The Dem'er Post prior to retirement, I spent much time looking at reclamation proj- ects, not just at a desk but in the field. I im'estigated their financing, construction and operation. I found defects. many things that could be criticized and were criticized. But, on the whole. I must conclude that Western reclamation has justified (",:ery pcnny put into the program. I would like to ask the Nader task force what Phoenix, Ariz" would be today ,,:ith- out the early Salt River Project that made a de~ert bloom into an oasis. I would ask .....hat would have happened to the Cmcompahgre Valle)' in western Colorado had it not been for a project launched in the administration of a great comet\'ationist. 7heoci.ure Rooseveit. who was actually the father of reclamation. The project converted a useless prairie. land into a viable, strong. productive com. munity. What abClut the Imperi:tl and Coachel1a Valle)'s in California? Had it not been for Hoo,'er and Parker-Davis dams, most of this vast national food basket would be undeveloped today and most of southern California's growth would have been stag- nated. l.as Vegas, Xe,'., would still be a cry, dusty, little desert to''''n.' Perhaps that would have been better, the );ader group migr.t say. LET'S TAKE a concrete example close to home. - \ mental water supply has beim placed at more than Sl.5 1::iillion. The project also provides water to town! and cities with a population of 200.860. Where would these people be without that water? One thing apparently paid scant atten- tion by the Xader group is recreation. The "Big Tom" reser....oirs in the mountains collectively have 120 miles of shoreline. most of which have proved highly desira- ble for recreation developments worth millions of dollars. Moreo,'cr, this project. besides prodd. ing a very important source of taxes for support of federal, state and local govern- ments, is paying for its cost in the form of water sales and power revenues. The great Central Arizona Proiect (CAP) shouldn't be built, according to the Nader theorists. because it will benefit only a bunch of irrigators. Nonsense! The CAP must be built to relieve a terri. ble water crisis affecting the economy of -....... ~> '<"6'